The cloth scraps at Huaca Prieta were found sandwiched in-between layers of a ramp that led up to the temple. According to the report, the Indigo-Dyed Fabric that is used by Peru dates back approximately 6,200 years.
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A frayed and ancient textile fragment discovered in Peru represents the oldest piece of indigo-dyed fabric known, according to an anthropologist from George Washington University.
Dr Splitstoser said the lack of indigo components in three of the samples might be due to age, where the indigo either washed out over time or was degraded.
“You could see blue in some of the samples but they were mostly gray”.
“And that’s not the only cotton connection we made in this excavation – we may well not have had blue jeans if it weren’t for the ancient South Americans”, he said.
Traditional indigo dye comes from an organic compound called indigoid, generally found in plants such as the plant Indigofera, the likely source of the Huaca Prieta indigo dye. And even that part is far from intuitive. “In order to get the blue, you dip the clothes in the water with the dissolved indigo molecule, then when you pull it out it oxidizes, and that’s when it turns blue”.
Huaca Prieta was a prehistoric ceremonial mound first excavated in the 1940s and is famous for producing the oldest-known cotton fabrics decorated with recognisable art in the Americas. Whatever the goal of the fabric – or the significance of its blue stripes – the fact that the dyeing process took place at all speaks to some incredibly advanced textile production.
Some of the world’s most important technological achievements were first developed in the New World, Dr. Splitstoser said, but many people are mostly unaware of the achievements because their technologies were replaced by European systems.
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However, Splitstoser also additionally clarified that the predominant filaments and rich coloring, turning and weaving rehearses created by old South Americans were rapidly co-picked by Europeans. “I think this finding just shows that that’s a mistake”, stated Splitstoser.
