We do not know which of our ancestors first worked out how to tan leather, the craft of preserving and softening animal skin. What we do know is that, alongside the preservation of food, it ranks among the most important discoveries in human history. This is the story of leather through the ages, and in particular how the great early civilisations of the Middle East and the Far East turned a raw hide into culture, trade and fashion.
Tanning sits beside the preservation of food as one of the quiet inventions that made human life as we know it possible.
The Accidental Birth of Tanning
Our earliest ancestors had already learned to preserve food by salting, smoking and drying. None of those methods, however, made an animal skin pleasant to wear. A dried hide is stiff and unyielding, closer to touching a board than a piece of clothing.
The breakthrough almost certainly came by accident, then improved through long trial and error. Someone discovered that a skin could be transformed by drying it, boiling it with tree bark, and then rubbing it with fresh animal fat, bending and working the hide until it finally turned soft. That same early tanner probably noticed something useful too: because water and fat do not mix, the soft, slightly greasy skin was also water resistant.
The First Clothes
The need for warm clothing likely arose first in the colder regions of northern Europe. Cave paintings suggest that Neanderthal people draped skins over their shoulders and used crude ropes to tie them around the waist or head. A genetic study of body lice, which only exist where clothing is worn, suggests humans began covering themselves somewhere between 42,000 and 72,000 years ago, almost certainly with animal skins.
By the time Cro-Magnon people moved into Europe around 40,000 years ago, garments had grown more sophisticated. They were laced or sewn together with string made from hides, using the bone needles that still turn up at archaeological sites. There is even evidence of a taste for fashion as early as 20,000 to 26,000 years ago. Skeletons found near Moscow were covered in thousands of mammoth ivory beads arranged in patterns, hand sewn onto a garment that has long since decomposed, most likely one made of leather. The oldest leather garment that actually survives, a simple loincloth, dates to roughly 3300 BC and belonged to Ă–tzi the Iceman, found in an Alpine glacier in 1991.
Leather in the Middle East
Because our distant ancestors could not write, and because time has destroyed almost everything they wore, we rely on the earliest written and artistic records to trace leather’s place in fashion. The Middle East gives us some of the richest.
In Mesopotamia, somewhere between the fifth and third millennium BC, the Sumerians used animal skins to make women’s dresses. We know this from their depiction on urns, vessels and wall paintings, and the use of colour hints that organic dyes were already part of the tanning process. The Egyptians were even more accomplished, skilled in mineral, vegetable and oil based tanning. Leather artefacts have been recovered from tombs built as early as 3000 BC, telling us that the Pharaohs wore leather sandals and other garments. One loincloth made of gazelle skin, worn by an Eighteenth Dynasty workman between 1580 and 1350 BC, has survived almost perfectly and is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The written record adds more. The Old Testament refers to leather many times and credits the Hebrews with an oak bark tanning process. Out on the water, the Phoenicians of Babylon, famous as great seafarers, traded leather goods all across the Mediterranean. One of the red dyes they used is still known today as Phoenician Red, a small but lasting trace of their reach.
Leather in the Far East
Far to the east, a parallel tradition was taking shape. The ancient Chinese worked leather into elaborately decorated boxes, screens and chests, treating it as a material for fine objects as much as for clothing. Their earliest method of tanning relied on a smoke and salt process. In time this gave way to a different system that used animal fat, bone marrow and animal brains to soften and preserve the hide, a technique that produced supple, long lasting leather.
From Ancient Craft to Modern Wardrobe
What is striking is how little the essentials have changed. The instinct that drove a prehistoric tanner to soften a hide for warmth is the same one that draws us to leather today. A piece like our sheepskin shearling coat answers the very same need that sent early humans reaching for animal skins in the cold.
The taste for character and patina is just as old. A rugged distressed vintage leather jacket carries the marks of wear as proudly as any ancient hide, while a classic brown waxed leather jacket keeps alive the water resistant quality that the first tanners stumbled upon thousands of years ago.
Conclusion
From an accidental discovery beside a fire to the workshops of Sumer, Egypt, Babylon and ancient China, leather has travelled an extraordinary road. It clothed the first humans against the cold, dressed Pharaohs and Sumerian women, crossed the Mediterranean in Phoenician ships, and was crafted into treasures in the Far East. To wear leather today is to take part in one of the oldest and most human stories there is.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the oldest surviving leather garment?
The oldest surviving leather garment is a loincloth that dates to around 3300 BC, worn by Ă–tzi the Iceman, whose body was discovered in a glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991.
How did ancient people discover tanning?
Tanning was almost certainly discovered by accident and refined through trial and error. Early tanners dried a skin, boiled it with tree bark, then worked in fresh animal fat until it turned soft, supple and even water resistant.
Who were the most skilled leather makers of the ancient world?
The ancient Egyptians were especially adept, using mineral, vegetable and oil based tanning. The Sumerians, Hebrews, Phoenicians and ancient Chinese also developed their own distinct leather traditions.
What was Phoenician Red?
Phoenician Red is a red dye used by the Phoenicians of Babylon, the great seafaring traders who carried leather goods across the Mediterranean. The colour still carries their name today.
Centuries of leather craft tradition live on in every Buneri men’s leather jacket.
