Dhuweila

One of these episodes, dating to the Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 4450–3000 BCE), is notable for leaving some of the earliest known traces of cotton fabric in the world.

[4][5] In the millennia following the abandonment of the Late Neolithic settlement, Dhuweila was occasionally revisited by nomadic Bedouin, presumably because of the shelter offered by the prehistoric ruins.

Microscopic fibres recovered from these pieces were identified as domestic cotton and directly dated to the Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 4450–3000 BCE).

Betts and colleagues conclude that it was probably brought to the site as scraps of waste fabric acquired from villages elsewhere, indicating the long-distance connections North Arabian nomads had with other cultures at the time.

[3] The remains from Dhuweila were the earliest known evidence of cotton fabric until 2002, when earlier examples were discovered at Mehrgarh in Pakistan.