Cavemen Wore Colorful Clothing? Yabba Dabba Do Duds - StyleList

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Cavemen Wore Colorful Clothing? Yabba Dabba Do Duds

Posted Sep 11th 2009 at 3:45PM by Erin Donnelly (Subscribe to Erin Donnelly's posts)

Filed under: News

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Geico Caveman Fashion

Cro-Magnon couture: The GEICO caveman hits a charity fashion show in March. Photo: Michael Loccisano, Getty Images

PETA might not win over the fur-loving stylephiles they're protesting over at New York Fashion Week, but at least they've got the caveman caucus on their side. Maybe.

Pink, turquoise and black clothing fibers found by archaeologists in the Republic of Georgia suggest that Stone Agers wore colorful clothing, not animal furs and pelts as previously thought, The Daily Mail reports.

In other words, they might have looked less like Fred Flintstone and more like ... er, Paris Hilton. (Who else wears pink and turquoise?)

According to the paper, archaeologists searching for fossils found the flax fibers caked in clay from a cave floor in the remote Georgia hills. The scientists, who reported their findings in the journal Science, used carbon dating to determine that the soil surrounding the fibers are approximately 30,000 to 34,000 years old.

Researchers speculate, the paper reports, that the fibers -- some of which were naturally dyed using plants and roots -- were used to make linen and thread, which could have a variety of uses, including clothing.

"This was a critical invention for early humans," says Professor Ofer Bar-Yose of Harvard University, the paper reports. "They might have used this fiber to create parts of clothing, ropes, or baskets, for items that were mainly used for domestic activities."

It's hard to imagine hairy cavemen and women throwing spears at woolly mammoths while wearing Paul Smith suits, but don't take our word for it. We got everything we know about prehistoric life from "Encino Man."

Whether or not the cavemen were entirely fur-free, but one modern-day company is.

Tags: archaeology, caveman, caveman clothing, cavemen, clothing, encino man, fred flintstone, FredFlintstone, fur, ofer bar-yose, peta, republic of georgia, RepublicOfGeorgia, science, stone age, stone age fashion, StoneAge

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