How did they live

Just look around you and try to discover something that is not - or has not been produced without - a tool. There is the tree, a cloud, the bird...But everything else is or requires a tool: the house you live, the car you drive, the food you eat, the work you do, and so on.... So, I was just wondering, what would mankind be without tools? When did the first tool entered our lives? Yes, in the stone age, we know that, but stone age is such a big period of time...Stone age covers a little less than 3 million years! It’s beginning has been dated back 2.9 million years ago and it ended about 5.000 years ago. In this time, the humans have created tools that now, we regard them as “primitive”. They would be like the first computers that took up a whole room, comparing it with a tablet. Or like the first chubby mobile phones...But we know that without these beginnings, we wouldn't have now the tablets or the smartphones, right? So, someone, 3 million years ago, started the trend and

Like now, the middle age society was governed by men. But like now, those men, being brave, smart, powerful, were also insecure. Their problem was adultery. They judged everybody in accordance with their own behavior. So, if they were infidel to their wives, they assumed the wives did the same.  This is a painting by Vasily Polenov, that I found in Wikipedia.  It represents a father bringing his daughter to his lord. Look at the posture of the lord... It looks like he is counting his sheep! If the household of common people was a little more relaxed, being a matter of economy involved (as being able to work and feed the family), the nobles’ households were very strict regarding the women physical freedom. Maybe those restrictions were coming via church, were the men were in power over “weaker souls” that could be easier seduced by other men (that could have been husbands too) and fall into sin. Women were closely watched for any sign of “deviant” behavior. If caught, or even

Abu Hureyra is a place now buried under the Lake Assad, in Syria. Before the waters invaded the place, there was a mound and, as usually where there is a mound there is digging, a team of archeologists came to unearth the remains of a Neolithic village.  After digging, washing, brushing, cleaning, classifying and annalizing they came to some conclusion about how did people lived in Neolithic, especially in the period when they settled to live in one place, cultivating plants and raising livestock versus migrating from place to place, fallowing the animal herds and crop seasons.  According with the book "The early human world" by Peter Robertshaw and Jill Rubalcaba, that follows the discoveries at Abu Hureyra, the life of Neolithic people was very hard: hours and hours and long physical work, repetitive (and boring according with modern standards) daily jobs, and enduring, alienating illnesses.  The conclusions revealed by archeologists after digging and

Clovis, second king of France (481-511) The hair is one part of the human body that got the most attention during centuries of history. Even today grooming our hair is a daily routine, taking anyway from one minute to over an hour, depending on how much emphasis one put on it. From ancient egyptians, who used wigs and fake beards, to 18th century nobilities who created skyscrapers powdered wigs, the decoration of the head was taken beyond anyone’s imagination. In this post I will tell you about the hairstyle of early franks. Let’s start with a short description that Sidoine Apollinaire (a gallo-roman writer, who lived between 430 and 486 A.D.) made about franks, referring to men. “They tied up their flexen or light-brown hair above their foreheads, into a kind of tuft, and then made it fall behind the head like a horse’s tail. The face was clean shaved, with the exception of two long mustaches” (Medieval Life, Paul Lacroix, Arcturus Publishing Ltd, 2011, p. 514). So, they

The Complete History of Costume and Fashion from Ancient Egypt to Present Days By Bronwyn Cosgrave Table of Content: Introduction The Ancient Egypt: The first fashion style Crete: Minoan splendor Ancient Greece: Classical Elegance Ancient Rome: Roman Extravagance The Byzantine Period: Lavish Imperialism The Middle Ages: Medieval Europe The Renaissance: Early Renaissance Syle Baroque Period: The Age of French Dominance Eighteenth Century: The Rococo Nineteenth Century: The Birth of the Dandy Twentieth Century: The Age of Diversity Index Bibliography Acknowledgements 256 p First published in Great Britain in 2000, by Hamlyn, a division of Octopus Publishing Group Limited My Notes: There are beautiful pictures of historical sources, sometimes 2 per page, sometimes one picture covers the whole page. Not to many details about costumes or ornaments, just basic information and description, enough for a non professional reader. As a plus

Marriage was probably the worst thing that could happen to a women in the past, till at least two centuries ago. During the late Middle Ages and Renaissance or even in the modern centuries, marriage was often a reason for cry and grief. Until early in the 20th centuries in some countries there was a great sobbing coming from the bride on the day of her wedding. Why was marriage so bad? Because: ninety percent of the time was no love involved (the percent represents my personal estimate); because your husband basically owned you and he had the right to apply coercions if he felt was right, in other words he could bit up his wife at will; because you couldn't get a divorce; because a woman had no right what so ever unless she was rich and there was money involved, money wanted also by a male. Girl inspectin a Hope Chest. 1929, author Poul Friis Nybo. U.S. public domain from Wiki Commons So, how did the couples got married? First, the marriages were based on interests and