Experiments by our adult female team members have confirmed that tangas of forms 1 and 2 exactly cover the pubis (Mound of Venus) and permit the normal movements and exigencies of everyday life.
The suspension holes have been examined to ascertain the extent and duration of wear but in practice the results are equivocal and only some tangas have obvious use-wear marks.
If tangas were worn everyday by the whole female population, there ought to be a very large number of them.
From this observation she suggested that the plain tangas were appropriate to mature women, while the ornamental forms were reserved for young girls at the stage of initiation (Schaan 2003).
It is therefore probable that the coarse curvilinear painting on one of these miniature tangas was created by a man.
Were the tangas worn only by women, and if so were they restricted to women of particular age or rank?
