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When does the earliest evidence of weaving date from?
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An annotated diagram showing how an operator uses a hand wheel, rollers, and spindles on a spinning jenny to draw and twist unspun fiber into thread.
The earliest evidence of weaving dates from Neolithic cultures of approximately 5000 BCE. This practice is closely related to basketry, and it is believed that woven fabrics likely originated from the techniques used in basket weaving.1
While weaving itself dates to about 5000 BCE, the earliest evidence of the use of a loom is a representation of a horizontal two-bar loom found on a pottery dish in Egypt, dating to 4400 BCE.2