Page 37 - General_Knowledge_5

Enlighten Me!

How we figured out to keep ourselves warm

It must have been a very intelligent human who

looked at a sheep walking past and thought of
the use its fleece might have! Although the oldest
surviving textile made out of wool is around 3,500
years old, the oldest fine woolen fabric dates to

the fifth century BC (about 2,500 years ago) and
was found in an ancient Greek colony.Wool was
probably the first fiber to be woven into a textile.
Because when primitive man stopped hunting and

started herding animals, it was his first step from
a primitive life to a civilised one. Sheep were sort
of a stone age convenience store for the nomadic
lifestyle of our primitive ancestors, a walking food

supply that required little care. Sheep provided
for all the basic needs – meat and milk for food,
skin and bones for clothing, shelter and tools. The
loose wool was less essential, but as the animals

shed their coats each spring, tufts of fleece were
gathered and used to soften some of life’s harder edges. Slowly, it dawned upon someone
that the fleece was the best part of the sheep. Eventually, sheep destined for mutton
roasts and sheep destined for fine woven rugs were distinguished, as good eating does not

necessarily mean good quality wool. Early wild species of sheep had long, coarse outer hair
protecting their short fleece undercoats. It is this under-layer that is desirable for textile
use and has been selectively bred into modern sheep. Early civilizations tended flocks of
sheep and great empires were built on the backs of sheep and their wool. Around 1800

BC, the civilization of Babylonia was famous for its wool. In 45 AD, the Romans conquered
Spain, where they bred their own sheep with breeds from Africa and Europe, and in the
process, developed a new breed that would come to be known as the Spanish Merino,
with the whitest, finest wool ever known. Today, the Merino is the most highly regarded

breed in the world. Spain and Great Britain rose to power on the strength of their wool
industries.

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