World’s Oldest Ground Stone Needles Found in Tibet, Dated to 9,000 Years Old!

In 2020, archaeologists excavating near the shore of Lake Xiada Co in western Tibet uncovered six distinctive stone artifacts. Each artifact measured about half the length of a golf tee, featuring a pointed tip at one end and an eye-like opening at the other. These artifacts, dated to 9,000 years ago, represent the oldest sewing needles on record and the oldest stone tools made by grinding. Found on the Tibetan Plateau, this is an area notorious for exposing its ancient inhabitants to a harsh climate, much like today.

A Significant Technological Advance

According to a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, the development of the “eyed” needle was a significant advancement in human civilization. This innovation enabled our ancestors to produce more durable and protective clothing and shelters, facilitating exploration of new environments and permanent habitation in colder regions.

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A closer view of the “eye” of one of the needles. (Yun Chen/Sichuan University)

Previously, the oldest known needles were made of bone, with some dating back approximately 50,000 years from Russia’s Denisova Cave. The oldest stone needles, until now, were only 2700 years old, found in Henan province, China.

Scientific Analysis: Why Stone Instead of Bone

Yun Chen, a graduate student at Sichuan University, along with her supervisor Hongliang Lu and colleagues, discovered six needles made of tremolite, serpentine, actinolite, and talc. These stones ranged in color from green to cream, with tremolite being nearly 70 times harder than talc. Only two needles were intact, and four had preserved eyes.

Analysis using ultra–deep-field microscopy and 3D modeling revealed that Needle 1—the longest, widest, and thickest of the specimens—had dense and deep marks along its length, indicative of scraping. These marks were overlaid with finer, multidirectional grinding marks, suggesting the needle was initially scraped into shape and then ground to form a tip.

The tip displayed horizontal grinding marks covered by oblique scraping marks, indicating further scraping to sharpen it. The top of the needle was drilled to create an eye, with the largest hole measuring 3 millimeters wide and the smallest 1.37 millimeters, reports Arkeonews.

The other needles exhibited similar stripe patterns, indicating they were made using the same technique. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal fragments and animal bones found with the needles placed them between 7049 and 6568 BC.

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Example of flat bone sewing needles dating to Upper Paleolithic, between 17,000 and 10,000 BC, Gourdan–Polignan, Haute-Garonne, France. (Muséum de Toulouse/CC BY-SA 4.0)

To verify the manufacturing process, researchers replicated the scraping, grinding, and drilling using tremolite slabs and obsidian—a hard stone with tiny flecks embedded in Needle 1. The team recreated the scraping stripes on the needles in about 50 minutes. Grinding the second slab on a rough pebble for about 30 minutes produced the characteristic grinding marks.

Hand-drilling the eye with a pointy obsidian “drill” took 5 hours, resulting in a smooth hole identical to those in the recovered needles. The entire process took at least seven times longer than making softer, more pliable bone needles, suggesting the ancient Tibetans had specific reasons for using stone instead of bone.

“Since they were harder and thicker than bone needles, we concluded that these stone needles may have been used to sew thicker materials, such as a tent,” Chen told the journal Science.

Needle and Ochre: A History on the Tibetan Plateau

Moreover, the needles' significance extends beyond their shape. Microscopic examination of Needle 6 revealed traces of vivid red paint, rich in ochre pigment, that once covered the entire needle. This discovery pushes back the earliest use of ochre on the Tibetan Plateau by 4500 years and identifies the needle as the oldest cultural symbol from Tibet.

According to the researchers, red held profound religious significance for ancient Tibetans, believed to imbue stone tools with life and energy and to ward off evil spirits.

Yue Hu, a study team member from Sichuan University, notes that the dimensions of the stone needles are more akin to those of bone needles than to stone pendants. Additionally, the wear patterns on the tips of the stone needles closely resemble those observed on the tips of bone needles.

However, researchers not affiliated with the new study, have raised some doubts about the findings, airing their concerns in the same Science report. Some believe that the needles are "too blunt" for sewing, suggesting instead that they might have been "personal ornaments." Others speculate that the needles could have been used to construct fishing nets, considering their discovery near a lake.

Top image: The oldest stone needles that have been found in Tibet.     Source: Yun Chen/Sichuan University

By Sahir Pandey