I get why they weren't using zippers, those require precise machining. But buttons seem really, really simple: Cut a small hole in fabric, stitch around the hole for strength, attach a small object to other fabric. I've made buttons out of scratch materials while camping.
I've seen drawings of ancient clothes that were supposed to be tied with a string to fasten them. I've seen preserved ancient clothes occasionally in museums too. And they never fasten with buttons. Is this one of those things that ancient people did and we just ignore it, like how we think the 1850s were monochrome? Or did they just not think of buttons?
And if it's that they didn't think of buttons, was that true all over the world?
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!