WORLD'S OLDEST DRESS (TARKHAN DRESS)

  Tarkhan Dress

 

The Tarkhan Dress, named after the Tarkhan Cemetery, south of Cairo in Egypt, where it was excavated in 1913, is a linen garment that is over 5000 years old that was confirmed as the world's oldest piece of women's clothing. Dress coded UC28614B is currently in the collection of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology at University College London (UCL). Radiocarbon testing in 1978 dated the item to around 2362 BC, although another test in 2015, by the University of Oxford, confirms 95% accuracy that the dress dates to between 3482 and 3102 BC.

Dress

The dress has 22–23 warp weaves per centimeter, and 13–14 wefts per centimeter warp, forming a brown stripe, possibly for a decorative effect. 

 

 

The main part of the dress was a single piece of straight material 76 cm wide. The hem of the dress is missing, making the original length unknown.

Discovery

The dress was discovered in 1913 during the second session of the excavation of Sir Flinders Petrie's Tarkhan Cemetery. and was sanded, preserving the artifacts. The linen was sent to University College London for analysis, where it remained untouched for sixty-five years. The costume was rediscovered in 1977 by conservationists at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who were sorting and cleaning 'funery rags'.