Inventions & Discoveries · Tools and materials
Sewing needle
A sewing needle is a slender pointed tool with an eye at one end to carry thread through material. A needle of bird bone found in Denisova Cave and attributed to the Denisovans is estimated to be about 50,000 years old, and a bone needle from Potok Cave in Slovenia dates to the Aurignacian, 47,000 to 41,000 years ago. Bone and ivory needles come from Xiaogushan in Liaoning and from Kostenki in Russia, and Flinders Petrie found copper sewing needles at Naqada in Egypt dating from 4400 to 3000 BCE. Iron needles are known from the third century BCE, and needle-making began at Redditch in England in 1639.
On the inventions tree
- First known
- c. 50,000 years ago
- Where
- Denisova Cave
NoteBone awls from Blombos Cave in southern Africa date to 73,000–70,000 years ago, and a point from Sibudu Cave in South Africa, 61,000 years old, might be from a bone needle.
See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sewing needle. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sewing-needle
- MLA
- “Sewing needle.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sewing-needle. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Sewing needle.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sewing-needle.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sewing needle’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sewing-needle (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻