According to a recent report, the people of China may have been the earliest people to make textile from silk fiber. The report comes from a group of scholars from the University of Science and Technology of China.

Scientists inspected silk fibroin through soil samples collected from three tombs at the Neolithic site of Jiahu, Henan province. Rough weaving tools and bone needles were also excavated from the site. This indicated that residents of Jiahu from as old as 8,500 years may have possessed basic weaving and sewing skills necessary for producing textiles.

Although earlier studies have provided evidence of the early emergence of weaving, there has long been a lack of direct evidence proving the existence of silk. According to the report, this new finding may be of great help to the study of early silk production as well as civilisation during the Neolithic Age by nearly 4,000 years.