An odd topic but one that interests me. In research  I read of  a patch of fabric made from sewn mouse skins probably iron age time and that begged many a question - who, how and why? How is enough for starters - a very fine needle would be needed and how were they made? Piercing and threading are possible , of course. So when did the current eyed needle develop? Bone and horn first, at a guess and then metal. A good needle must have been a precious thing, yonks ago.

I swear my mother gave up some of her strong will  to live because she misplaced a certain needle she used in craft wool work. Without it she was bereft - and I bought dozens but none was right, it seemed. The missing needle came to light eventually tucked into a very very safe place and forgotten. Too late I found out what was special - and I use it alot myself - and yes I keep it very safely too. But now I know what to find on line to replace it.

And along with very fine needles there must have been very fine thread - few threads today are really fine - not the sort that is sold in shops, anyway. Machine thread can be very fine, I know. All right, all right, a boring topic but it interests me!

I'm mightily impressed that someone had the persistence to sew together a sheet of fabric made from mouse skins - and not just because of the delicate sewing work needed but also because of the requirement to skin and preserve all the tiny little pelts. It's almost on a par with the construction of Naglfar, which in Norse mythology was a boat made entirely from the fingernails and toenails of the dead.

Animal skins - even those of wee timorous beasties - are fairly tough, so I assume proper eyed needles were preceded by a simple awl or gimlet to make the hole and then push the thread through. Nevertheless true sewing needles with eyes to carry a loop of thread seem to have been invented very early on and I think even predate the invention of twisted/spun, multi-strand thread.

The history of needles is about as boring as the history of digging tunnels P. That is not boring at all. But then, as Meles has suggested, the use of awls and gimlets makes the tools of sewing boring by definition. The same applies to the machinery used in excavating tunnels. 

A needle with a tunnel inside it is a hypodermic needle. Feather quills are said to have been used as hypodermic needles dating back to the 17th century but it's not clear what the practical use would have been back then. I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have been for human medical use but perhaps veterinary or agricultural. Even at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Edward Jenner's vaccinations were performed by scratching or cutting the skin with a blade. It wasn't until the 1840s that the first steel hypodermic needle was developed by Dublin doctor Francis Rynd.

Needles are also used in the art of tattooing. Otzi the Iceman has no less than 61 tattoos dating the practice to at least 5,300 years ago.

Iceman Tattoos

The practice is widespread ranging from New Zealand & the Pacific Islands to Ancient Egypt and the Americas.

Cactus spine needles bound with yucca leaves and still stained with ink, used as a tattooing tool, found in the Turkey Pen Ruins, Grand Gulch, Utah. This is an ancient site associated with the Anasazi (Pueblo) peoples:

The mention of needles has made me think perhaps I should at some time have a day out to Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch (which was a centre for needle making in times gone by - I think needles are still manufactured in Studley, Worcestershire).  I think the museum deals with needles of Victorian times rather than prehistoric but it could still be interesting (to me at least).  It's not too far from Bordesley Abbey.

Does anyone know if there are any other needles besides sewing machine needles which have the eye at the pointy end?

Needle is a very old using gadget. A basic and most important tool used in swing. It was firstly discovered by Prophet Idrees(A.S). It is made of steel because it is strong than other things and easily used for swing

Baiting needles have the hole (or a barb) at the pointed end,

Thanks for the info, GG.

I think I've mentioned "knooking" before - a knook or knooking needle is like a crochet hook except it has an eye at the end away from the hook.  https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/knook-beginner-set-leisure-arts-979011    It produces a textile which looks like knitting rather than crochet.  I thought of having a go at it but decided not to because I can already knit.  A knooking needle looks very much like a locker hook but that's used for making rugs.