History of leather
If we look at the history of human life from the beginning to today, we will find that leather is one of the first human achievements. After discovering fire, man used it to cook food in addition to heating himself. He hunted animals to provide part of his needs. Shortly after that, he realized that animal skin can be used to cover the body against the cold and also to cover the living space.
Serra da Capivara cave painting in Brazil
Many of the paintings in this cave belong to 25,000 years ago. The subject of paintings in this cave is hunting, dances, humans, animals and wars.
The history of leather production and its use dates back to thousands of years before Christ. The petroglyphs and paintings inside the caves show that humans have been hunting animals for more than 3 million years. In fact, the use of leather, and in fact the skin of animals, is the same generation of hunters and goes back to the Stone Age. In cold regions, after hunting, they used the meat of the animal for sustenance and its skin for the aforementioned purposes. In fact, they are the creators of the knowledge of using animal skins.
In the beginning, humans met their needs in the simplest way from the skin. With the increase in hunting, man tried to discover and combine natural materials to increase the durability of this valuable product and prevent its corruption. After meeting the basic needs and developing skin applications, the tanning industry grew, and the diversified man, who was no longer involved in meeting the basic needs, sought to make changes in the skin for more and more optimal uses.
Like other arts and industries, after fulfilling the primary needs, people went to the secondary needs, which were related to the aesthetic, practical and decorative aspects, and more professional methods were needed to achieve these needs. This feeling of wanting and in fact extravagance made man to discover different materials and methods.
The most basic human use of leather was as clothing, footwear and storage containers in the form of large containers such as water containers or meat storage containers and the like. Some of these uses are still popular in some parts of Iran. Little by little, with the optimization of the methods of converting skin to leather and after meeting the basic needs and increasing the amount of production, leather became a commercial product.
Arni-1 shoe, the oldest known leather clog in the world, is a 5500-year-old leather shoe and one piece, which was discovered in 2008 in the Arni-1 cave complex located in Vayotsjur Province, Armenia.
With the growth of knowledge and the development of urban life, the desire of people to use luxury goods such as leather increased, and on the other hand, the sense of diversity and beauty of people caused the variety of products in type, color and design. In this way, beautiful leathers were produced from various skins and due to the great acceptance of this valuable product, this art and industry grew rapidly and until today, its quality, types and applications have increased.
More than 3 million years ago, people in the Stone Age used stone tools for daily tasks, but there is no definitive documentation to show that these tools were used to cut or tear the skin of animals. The oldest tools used by humans to cut animal skins date back to 400,000 years before Christ.
Among the first leather tools, evidence was discovered that dates back to 5,000 years before Christ in ancient Sumer (present-day Iraq, which was a part of Iran at that time). The use of leather products in the Mesopotamian civilization is from Sumerian to Assyrian rule.
The evidence related to three thousand years before the Christ shows that the use of leather for various purposes such as clothing, footwear, and war tools was abundant. The skill that humans have in preparing these items from leather definitely requires a history of several hundred years. or is thousands of years old. Man’s expertise in preparing different clothes and weapons and life tools in that era shows a long background in the use of animal skins and leather.
The oldest written sources related to leather in ancient Egypt were written around 1300 BC. In ancient Greece, the works obtained show that the Greeks used leather sandals due to the heat of the air. These shoes were often made of leather strips.
leather sandals – ancient Greece
In ancient Rome, Egypt and Greece, leather was used for war tools, clothes and chariot belts. In ancient Rome, around 8 to 4 BC, the Romans used leather in the production of clothing, shoes, tents, horse saddles and harnesses, water containers and dozens of other products. In fact, leather has been an important material in the daily life of different layers of society. The Romans made great progress in the leather industry at that time and discovered tanning with plant materials, which was called alum tanning. Egyptians also had great skill in using leather. Evidence shows that the Egyptians were the first people who started writing and painting on leather in 2,000 to 300 BC.
In ancient China, leather making was a flourishing profession, but what the evidence shows is that the use of leather in China is not as old as the use of leather in ancient Egypt.
With the passage of many years in the millennia BC, the tanning and leather industry gradually grew. But in the centuries after AD, the growth of this industry has been rapid and leapfrogging. In the Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th centuries) in Europe, the leather industry developed a lot and became a large business. In this period, leather represented the social class and in addition to making tools, clothes, shoes, horse saddles, and life tools, it was used to make books, boxes, and artistic uses.
In the Renaissance period (around 1350 to 1650 AD) along with social and economic changes, there were also changes in the leather industry. During this period, leather handicrafts developed and the use of leather, in addition to necessities, also made its way to accessories, leather suits, bags, chairs, and decorative items and was used abundantly. The Renaissance period is the period of rebirth and revival. The Renaissance period was the beginning of a scientific, industrial, religious and artistic revolution. From the renaissance period onward, social growth in various dimensions accelerated greatly, and we reached today’s advanced world in about 400 years. The course of evolution that man went through in 2 million years was the background and the beginning of the developments of the last 400 years.
Along with the industrial revolution (1750 to 1900 AD), great changes were made in the leather industry. Leather production machines were developed and caused the speed of leather production to grow significantly. In 1858, chromium salt tanning was invented. Tanning with chromium salt triples the durability of the leather and enables faster leather production. Tanning with chromium salt also made it possible to produce thinner and softer leather. As a result, more beautiful, more diverse and better quality products entered the market.
The wide acceptance of leather products by different nations led to the development of this industry and art in different countries and the development of communication between different nations.
History of leather in Iran
Although there are no Musnaqimi documents indicating the use of leather and the existence of leather tools in the current country of Iran that belong to thousands of years before Christ, but in the area of ancient Iran in thousands of years before Christ, when the geographical area of Iran reached millions of kilometers, Iranians in the industry Leather has also been pioneered and developed. If we believe that after becoming proficient in hunting and using animal meat, the human hunter discovered how to use animal skins for various purposes such as water containers, food containers, equipment carriers, covering the living area, covering the body, etc. To use it, there are wall paintings belonging to today’s Iran, which show that hunter-gatherers were able to capture animals in thousands of years before Christ. Paintings of hunting animals by humans in Lorestan caves are proof of this claim.
In the Achaemenid period (550 to 330 BC), the geographical extent of Iran reached from east and west to the Balkans and Eastern Europe to the Indus Valley. At that time, Iran had a territory of more than 5.5 million kilometers (equivalent to 1.2 million miles). Since the size of the country of Iran in ancient times from the north, east and west, it included many lands and countries today. Therefore, it can be said that Iran is the cradle of many arts. In other words, it can be said that the works obtained from areas such as Sumer, Armenia, Indus Valley, Mesopotamia (now Iraq) etc., all of which were part of Iran’s soil at that time, showed the development of various arts and industries in Iran. Evidence obtained from Lorestan cave paintings show that humans were hunters in present-day Iran between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago and were able to use animals. Certainly, a person who was able to domesticate animals and provide tools and colors for painting on stone and make tools to meet his needs could also use animal skins. Some paintings and petroglyphs show that at that time, people used covers to cover a part of their body. The type of these covers is not clear in the paintings, but due to the cold weather in areas like Lorestan, these covers must protect people from the cold, in which case it seems to be made of woven wool or animal skin.
If we want to talk about the history of leather industrialization in Iran, like other parts of the world, we must mention the development of the industry and the scientific and industrial revolution that happened after the Renaissance period.
What is available from the documents, the boom of leather in the post-Islam era is quite evident. The use of leather in the manufacture of weapons, footwear, clothes, leather covers, reins and stirrups, and musk were among the most widely used leather products at that time, which were done in a completely professional manner. The growth of the leather industry and this level of evolution of this industry during that time shows a history of several thousand years.
If we want to talk about the heyday of this industry, in fact, the Safavid era is a brilliant era. Although this profession had not yet become industrial and factory, it was done in a workshop.
Perhaps the year 1308 can be considered as the beginning of leather industrialization in Iran. In this year, the first leather production factory was launched in Tabriz. But the first modern mechanized leather factory was founded in 1311 in Hamedan city by Ardeshir Yegangi, perhaps this year can be called the year of industrialization of leather in Iran. After that, many factories were established in different cities of Iran and helped the development and prosperity of the leather industry. The growing acceptance of leather products and their sales in other countries made this industry even more prosperous. In fact, the export of these products to other countries, in addition to increasing the income for the producers of this industry, also got to know the interests and tastes of the buyers and to get to know the products of other countries as commercial competitors, which led to an increase in the variety of designs and colors of leather and leather products. became
Today, leather is produced from the skins of various animals. Cow, sheep, buffalo, camel, snake, fish, crocodile, ostrich are some of the most important animals whose skin produces beautiful leather that is in great demand. Various products are produced from leather as a luxury item. All kinds of bags, shoes, clothes, gloves, furniture and chair covers, carpets and decorative items and use in musical instruments are among the most widely used.
