A small piece of cord discovered at Abris du Muras, in south-eastern France, has been dated to around 50,000 years ago.

Early depictions of twine are few, but one of the around 200 Venus figurines that have been found across Eurasia is depicted as wearing a "string skirt" (the Venus of Lespugue, dated to 25,000 years ago). Barber notes that not only is each twist in the strings carved in detail, but also "the bottom end of each string [is shown] fraying