The most signiicant invention in the history of humanity isn’t the wheel: it’s the needle.
Before they came up with the brilliant idea of sewing, our hairy, somewhat foreheady ancestors could throw on an animal skin poncho but, in a really cold snap, they’d have been stuck in their cave, doing wall paintings or playing on their phones.
Being able to stitch together skins to make robust, weatherproof clothes and boots enabled them to venture further north to hunt, to herd animals and to colonise far lung regions. Clothes delivered a huge evolutionary advantage.