Phytoliths reveal the earliest fine reedy textile in China at the Tianluoshan site

Abstract

Textiles are among the longest and most widespread technologies in human history, although poor preservation of perishable artifacts in Paleolithic and Neolithic contexts makes them difficult to unearth and has hampered study of their production and use. Here we report evidence of a plain-woven mat from the Tianluoshan site, Zhejiang, Eastern China. Phytolith and AMS dating from the mat and modern reference collections shown that the mat was made of reeds (Phragmites australis (Cav.)) and dated to 6775–6645 cal. yr. BP. This is the earliest directly dated fiber artifact so far known in China, over at least one thousand years earlier than any established dates for woven remains elsewhere. The evidence of the mat and other related remains suggest that textile products might occur earlier than 7000–8000 years ago and are significant for understanding the history of textiles, as well as production and human adaptation in Neolithic China.