Ian Gilligan
My research examines the origin of clothing and the role of textiles in the transition to agriculture. Also, I explore psychological aspects and philosophical implications of wearing clothes.
Born in Sydney, Australia, I attended Sydney Technical High School and graduated in psychology (BSc Hons, UNSW), medicine (MB BS, Uni. Sydney), prehistoric archaeology (MPhil, Uni. Sydney) and biological anthropology (PhD, ANU).
Supervisors: Professor Joseph Forgas (B.Sc. Hons thesis in psychology, University of New South Wales), Dr J Peter White (M.Phil. thesis in prehistoric archaeology, University of Sydney), and Professor Colin Groves (Ph.D. thesis in palaeoanthropology, Australian National University)
Phone: +61 2 9351 2862
Address: School of Humanities
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The University of Sydney
2006 Australia
Born in Sydney, Australia, I attended Sydney Technical High School and graduated in psychology (BSc Hons, UNSW), medicine (MB BS, Uni. Sydney), prehistoric archaeology (MPhil, Uni. Sydney) and biological anthropology (PhD, ANU).
Supervisors: Professor Joseph Forgas (B.Sc. Hons thesis in psychology, University of New South Wales), Dr J Peter White (M.Phil. thesis in prehistoric archaeology, University of Sydney), and Professor Colin Groves (Ph.D. thesis in palaeoanthropology, Australian National University)
Phone: +61 2 9351 2862
Address: School of Humanities
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The University of Sydney
2006 Australia
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Media by Ian Gilligan
Story by Anne Le Duigou, illustrations by Virginia Power.
Interview with Marc Bain.
Story by Sarah Zhang.
"... a major breakthrough in our understanding of when humans first began tailoring clothes," says prehistoric clothing specialist Ian Gilligan of Australia's University of Sydney (School of Humanities), who was not involved in the study. "It's particularly interesting because it suggests that it was at that very place and time - in south-western Europe around 40,000 years ago, when the climate was getting colder - that they started making better clothes to keep warm. Since we have no remains of clothing even from this period, any archaeological evidence of clothing manufacture is very significant."
In this episode, Tristan with the help of Ian Gilligan, delves deep into our prehistory to uncover why and how our human ancestors may have begun to cover up, and how climate change, from the Pleistocene to the last ice age, may have also influenced this.
Ian Gilligan is a prehistorian at the University of Sydney. He is the author of Climate, Clothing, and Agriculture in Prehistory: Linking Evidence, Causes, and Effects.
Produced by Elena Guthrie. Mixed by Thomas Ntinas.
Books by Ian Gilligan
The book comprises two parts; the first part explores the origins of clothing. Evidence from ethnography, thermal physiology and climatology is covered, beginning with our biological nakedness. The key proposition is that although we have no archaeological remains of clothes from the Ice Age, we do have indirect evidence in the form of technologies linked to the manufacture of garments from animal skins – stone scrapers and blades, and bone awls and needles. When all of the evidence from archaeology, climatology, biology and ethnography is taken into account, it would seem that our ancestors first invented clothes to keep warm.
The second section looks at the impact of climate change after the last Ice Age; specifically, the problems posed by warmer and more humid conditions. The Holocene epoch witnessed a revolution in clothing technology: in many parts of the world, people changed from wearing the skins of animals to making garments from woven fabrics. The reason for changing clothes was a physiological need to manage two problems with moisture: first, increased body perspiration in the warmer weather, and second, reduced evaporation of sweat due to higher humidity levels. Porous fabrics solved these moisture issues, creating a new demand for textile fibres. The book presents evidence for production of fibres (as well as food) in early farming contexts, and shows how textiles can help resolve fundamental enigmas about the origin of agriculture.
Winner, 2020 PROSE Award for Best Book, category Archeology & Ancient History
Book Chapters by Ian Gilligan
Anthropological evidence provides support for an association between theism and social complexity, in addition to more complete body covering with clothes for social reasons. Animism is commonplace in egalitarian hunter-gatherer contexts, whereas theistic religions become more common with social hierarchies and inequalities. Supreme gods emerge with the centralised political authority of city-states and monarchies, culminating in a single supreme god. A heightened moralism in polytheistic and monotheistic religions is associated with the intensified political authority of elites, and also with the use of clothing as cover for reasons of modesty.
As body covering and, at a minimum, genital covering, clothes act as a technological instrument of sexual restriction. The purpose of sexual concealment applies regardless of any other functions served by clothes such as protection from cold, social display and even sexual display, or eroticism.
Story by Anne Le Duigou, illustrations by Virginia Power.
Interview with Marc Bain.
Story by Sarah Zhang.
"... a major breakthrough in our understanding of when humans first began tailoring clothes," says prehistoric clothing specialist Ian Gilligan of Australia's University of Sydney (School of Humanities), who was not involved in the study. "It's particularly interesting because it suggests that it was at that very place and time - in south-western Europe around 40,000 years ago, when the climate was getting colder - that they started making better clothes to keep warm. Since we have no remains of clothing even from this period, any archaeological evidence of clothing manufacture is very significant."
In this episode, Tristan with the help of Ian Gilligan, delves deep into our prehistory to uncover why and how our human ancestors may have begun to cover up, and how climate change, from the Pleistocene to the last ice age, may have also influenced this.
Ian Gilligan is a prehistorian at the University of Sydney. He is the author of Climate, Clothing, and Agriculture in Prehistory: Linking Evidence, Causes, and Effects.
Produced by Elena Guthrie. Mixed by Thomas Ntinas.
The book comprises two parts; the first part explores the origins of clothing. Evidence from ethnography, thermal physiology and climatology is covered, beginning with our biological nakedness. The key proposition is that although we have no archaeological remains of clothes from the Ice Age, we do have indirect evidence in the form of technologies linked to the manufacture of garments from animal skins – stone scrapers and blades, and bone awls and needles. When all of the evidence from archaeology, climatology, biology and ethnography is taken into account, it would seem that our ancestors first invented clothes to keep warm.
The second section looks at the impact of climate change after the last Ice Age; specifically, the problems posed by warmer and more humid conditions. The Holocene epoch witnessed a revolution in clothing technology: in many parts of the world, people changed from wearing the skins of animals to making garments from woven fabrics. The reason for changing clothes was a physiological need to manage two problems with moisture: first, increased body perspiration in the warmer weather, and second, reduced evaporation of sweat due to higher humidity levels. Porous fabrics solved these moisture issues, creating a new demand for textile fibres. The book presents evidence for production of fibres (as well as food) in early farming contexts, and shows how textiles can help resolve fundamental enigmas about the origin of agriculture.
Winner, 2020 PROSE Award for Best Book, category Archeology & Ancient History
Anthropological evidence provides support for an association between theism and social complexity, in addition to more complete body covering with clothes for social reasons. Animism is commonplace in egalitarian hunter-gatherer contexts, whereas theistic religions become more common with social hierarchies and inequalities. Supreme gods emerge with the centralised political authority of city-states and monarchies, culminating in a single supreme god. A heightened moralism in polytheistic and monotheistic religions is associated with the intensified political authority of elites, and also with the use of clothing as cover for reasons of modesty.
As body covering and, at a minimum, genital covering, clothes act as a technological instrument of sexual restriction. The purpose of sexual concealment applies regardless of any other functions served by clothes such as protection from cold, social display and even sexual display, or eroticism.
Ceramic technology was a relatively late innovation in human prehistory. Recent research indicates that people began making pottery in north-eastern Asia towards the end of the last Ice Age, around 16,000 years ago. In comparison, technologies such as manufacturing tools from stone and bone, controlling fire and preparing animal skins for clothing, predate pottery by a million years or more. Despite this delayed appearance in the archaeological record, ceramics were traditionally viewed as a significant technology associated with a major transition, from the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) to the Neolithic (New Stone Age). This volume brings together papers from leading researchers to address key questions, namely, why was pottery invented and what role did ceramics play in the dramatic Neolithic changes? A functional role in cooking gave pottery some advantages over alternative technologies, though not always. As a sign of sedentism, agriculture or social complexity, pottery is quite unreliable. Indeed, the consensus emerging from these contributions is at odds with the historical significance granted to pottery. The privileging of pottery likely reflects its durability and visibility in the archaeological record, lending ceramics a prominence at the expense of perishable technologies like wood and fiber. Collectively, these papers make a compelling case that ceramic technology was never essential for human survival or adaptation and the advent of pottery was, surprisingly, almost irrelevant.
The meanings of dress, clothing and fashion are so intermingled nowadays that it is hard to speak about one without inferring the others. Dress is mainly about appearance, the visual, while fashion includes the social meanings and functions of dress. Clothing occupies a central place in contemporary dress and fashion, but clothing is also a technology with properties and functions unrelated to dress and fashion. For these reasons, the overlap between dress and clothing can create problems when considering questions of origins.
Early modern humans dressed for ice age success - Neanderthals, not so much.
Although Ian tried very hard to present the image of a Mr. Reasonable, Conservative, Serious Medical Student stereotype, he is really as far from this image as one could possibly imagine. His interests include anthropology, British TV shows (especially Minder), learning to ski, and driving like Jack Brabham in his red Fiat, which could always be heard from a great distance because of its noisy exhaust.
When not on the wards or cramming for exams in the library, Ian could be seen drinking unlimited cups of coffee during tutorials, or smoking Benson and Hedges cigarettes.
"Gilligan traces the emergence of clothing through climate changes over millennia... Gilligan suggests rising temperatures and increased humidity at the end of the Ice Age caused a change from skins to woven textiles; he goes on to argue that the need for fibres for textiles was the main reason for Neolithisation: sheep and goats were domesticated for their wool rather than for meat and cereals were grown for fodder rather than food. In this, he turns much well-established knowledge upside down."
“This attractive book… a most rewarding and refreshing read… challenges much received wisdom in prehistoric archaeology… and it will certainly stimulate lively discussion.”