Linen is a term used to describe both the thread and any cloth made from flax. Flax is a bast fibre obtained from the stem of a plant of the Linaceae family (Linum, especially Linum usitatissimum). Examples of linen cloth have been found at various archaeological sites that date back to at least the fifth millennium BC (from the Middle Eastern sites of Nahal and Çatal Hüyük) and the use of linen may have started even earlier.