The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and the Indus Valley Civilization in Ancient India (modern-day Pakistan and some parts of India). Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.

The earliest evidence of cotton use in South Asia has been found at the site of Mehrgarh, Pakistan, where cotton threads have been found preserved in copper beads; these finds have been dated to Neolithic (between 6000 and 5000 BCE). Cotton cultivation in the region is dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, which covered parts of modern eastern Pakistan and northwestern India between 3300 and 1300 BCE The Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India. Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became widespread across much of India. For example, it has been found at the site of Hallus in Karnataka dating from around 1000 BC.

Answer this series of questions:

1. Where was cotton used earliest?
2. What is the fiber usually spun into?
3. And what is it used to make?
4. Fabric discovered in Mexico was dated from when?
5. What is Ancient India now called?
6. Was there an invention that lowered production costs?
7. What was it?
8. What is the most commonly used material in clothing today?
9. Where was the earliest evidence of cotton being in use found?
10. At what particular site?
11. What have threads been found preserved in?
12. To what period have they been dated?
13. What is the range of years in that period?
14. When did cotton become common across India?
15. Has it been found in Karnataka?
16. At what location?
17. From what time?
18. Was cotton grown in the Indus Valley?
19. What parts did this Valley cover?
20. In what time period?
1. since prehistoric times
2. into yarn or thread
3. a soft, breathable textile
4. from 5000 BC
5. modern-day Pakistan and some parts of India
6. yes
7. the cotton gin
8. cotton
9. South Asia
10. at the site of Mehrgarh, Pakistan
11. copper beads
12. to Neolithic
13. between 6000 and 5000 BCE
14. Between 2000 and 1000 BC
15. yes
16. at the site of Hallus
17. around 1000 BC
18. yes
19. parts of modern eastern Pakistan and northwestern India
20. between 3300 and 1300 BCE