section_path: History
section_name: History
paragraph_text: History
  
  Textiles themselves are too fragile to survive across millennia; the tools used for spinning and weaving make up most of the prehistoric evidence for textile work. The earliest tool for spinning was the spindle, to which a whorl was eventually added. The weight of the whorl improved the thickness and twist of the spun thread. Later, the spinning wheel was invented. Historians are unsure where; some say China, others India.
  
  The precursors of today's textiles include leaves, barks, fur pelts, and felted cloths.
  
  The Banton Burial Cloth, the oldest existing example of warp ikat in Southeast Asia, is displayed at the National Museum of the Philippines. The cloth was most likely made by the native Asian people of northwest Romblon.The first clothes, worn at least 70,000 years ago and perhaps much earlier, were probably made of animal skins and helped protect early humans from the elements. At some point, people learned to weave plant fibers into textiles.The discovery of dyed flax fibers in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated to 34,000 BCE suggests that textile-like materials were made as early as the Paleolithic era.
  
  The speed and scale of textile production have been altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization and the introduction of modern manufacturing techniques.