Interesting Old Times Past

The Possible Inventor of Underpants

English philosopher Jeremy Bentham has been dead since 1832, but he resides on the ground floor of University College London's Student Centre in a glass case,

When he died n 1832, Bentham left instructions for his body to be dissected and permanently preserved as an "auto-icon" (or self-image).

Motivated by rationality and his battle against superstition, Bentham was inspired by the need for bodies for medical education and research.

Before 1832, the Murder Act 1752 stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection.

The Anatomy Act of 1832, allowed the legal procurement of corpses of bodies that remained unclaimed 48 hours after death.

Almost no-one donated their body to science, so Jeremy Bentham donated his own.

Bentham's skeleton is still dressed in his own clothes, but has a wax head. The original mummified head was damaged, and fears that it would frighten people saw it replaced with one of wax.

The philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), "auto-icon"

Head of the philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

As a social reformer and radical, Bentham is also famous for the prison Panopticon, which allowed the observation of many prisoners by a single security guard.

About animals, Bentham said: "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?". An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789.

He was also ahead of his time by wearing underpants and there are claims that Bentham actually invented underpants (1.)

However, when Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's (1341 BC – c. 1323 BCE) tomb in 1922, among the treasures were also 145 loincloths. Do they count as underpants?

Oldest Civilisations. What is a Civilisation?

The word civilisation comes from the Latin word civis, meaning citizen, and civitas, meaning city.

A civilisation pertains to organised social and political structure, while culture focuses on shared beliefs, values, and customs.

The oldest civilisations are Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, and Ancient China.

A civilisation is a complex human society that has certain features. These are: Living in settled organised groups like towns, not in small tribes or isolated family groups, division of labor, some form of keeping records, social stratification, a written script, central government providing infrastructure and administration, division of labour, with people working on specialised tasks, agriculture, monuments like Egyptian Pyramids.

Civilization first appeared in Mesopotamia and Egypt by c. 3000 BCE, India by c. 2800 BCE, China by about c. 1500 BCE.

The Fertile Crescent (circa 7500 BCE), often called the “cradle of civilization”, which stretches from parts of modern Palestine and Israel through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq to the Zagros Mountains in Iran, are the oldest areas in the world where agriculture was practiced and probably the first where the first sedentary farming villages existed.

Mesopotamia, centered between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (present-day Iraq), developed one of the first written scripts around 3000 BCE, using wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets. Excavations have revealed human settlements dating to 10,000 BCE in Mesopotamia.

Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)

Ancient Egyptian civilisation in northeastern Africa dates from the 4th millennium BCE. This civilisation lasted for almost 30 centuries. Hieroglyphics, the writing system invented in Egypt, emerged around 5000 years ago.

The Indus River Valley Civilization (Harappan Civilization), 3300-1300 BCE, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan. This civilisation is noted for its urban panning with baked brick houses, complex drainage systems and water supply systems.

Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro, Sindh province, Pakistan, showing the Great Bath in the foreground. Mohenjo-daro, on the right bank of the Indus River, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first site in South Asia to be so declared. Saqib Qayyum

Ancient China had various distinct civilisations and ethnic groups, including the Yellow River civilization, the Yangtze civilization, and Liao civilization. Millet agriculture in China dates to around 7000 BCE.

These Chinese civilisations had craftsmen and administrators, and the earliest form of proto-writing in China were the Jiahu symbols (6600 BCE).

1258 BCE: The World's First Peace Treaty

The Treaty of Kadesh of 1258 BCE, between Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and king of the Hittite empire Ḫattušili III, is considered the first-ever formal peace treaty between two nations.

The treaty was signed, ending a two centuries long war between the Hittite Empire and the Egyptians, over control the eastern Mediterranean.

After the attempted Egyptian invasion in 1274 BCE, repelled by the Hittites in the city of Kadesh, now Syria, the Egyptians and Hittites had heavy casualties, but neither triumphed. The conflict then continued for another 15 years.

Finally, with Egypt threatened by the “Sea Peoples” and the Hittites alarmed by Assyria to the east, both wanted to end the conflict.

So, intermediaries met and negotiated without the two monarchs ever meeting, with the treaty ratified in 1258 BCE.

Eight years after the treaty was signed, the Hittite Empire collapsed.

The Egyptian version of the peace treaty was engraved in hieroglyphics on the walls of two temples belonging to Pharaoh Ramesses II in Thebes.

The Hittite clay tablet versions were found in the Hittite capital of Hattusa in present-day Turkey.

Two of the Hittite tablets are displayed at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, part of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. While the third is displayed in the Berlin State Museums in Germany.

The Egyptian version of the peace treaty was engraved in hieroglyphics on the walls of two temples belonging to Pharaoh Ramesses II in Thebes, at the Temple of Karnak. The Hittite version was found in the Hittite capital of Hattusa, in today Turkey (Boğazköy) and is preserved on baked clay tablets uncovered among the Hittite royal palace's sizable archives.

Egyptian-Hethite peace treaty on the western outer wall of the Cachette farm in the temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt.

The Oldest Trousers Found

Two pairs of trousers discovered in a cemetery in western China when Radiocarbon dated, were revealed to be made between the thirteenth and tenth centuries B.C., making them the oldest known surviving pants by almost 1,000 years.

Mayke Wagner, from the German Archaeological Institute, said the dates amazed the study team. He said, “In most places on Earth, 3,000-year-old garments are destroyed by microorganisms and chemicals in the soil”.

It is believed that the people buried wearing the pants were probably prestigious warriors who functioned like police officers, wearing trousers while riding on horseback.

“The trousers were part of their uniform, and the fact that they were made between 100 and 200 years apart means it was a standard, traditional design,” says Wagner, whose team worked with a fashion designer to re-create the garments. “They are surprisingly good-looking, but they are not particularly comfortable for walking.”

The Oldest Trousers Found. Two pairs of trousers discovered in a cemetery in western China, made between the thirteenth and tenth centuries B.C.

The Lebombo bone: The Oldest Known Mathematical Tool

The Lebombo bone, the oldest known mathematical tool, has 29 distinct notches that were deliberately cut.

The bone tool, made from a baboon fibula, was discovered in the Lebombo Mountains, located between South Africa and Eswatini.

The bone is between 44,200 and 43,000 years old, according to 24 radiocarbon datings.

Many Archaeologists believe that the Lebombo bone is a tally stick, a device used to record and document numbers, quantities and messages.

Another view is that it may have been used as a lunar phase counter for menstrual cycles (The Universal Book of Mathematics, 2004).

However, the Lebombo bone is likely the first mathematical object in the world.

The Ishango bone is on permanent exhibition at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

A 2000 Year-Old Child's Shoe

A child's shoe found by archeologists in the western village of Dürrnberg, Austria, is believed to be more than 2,000 years old.

The shoe was found, along with a fragment of a wooden shovel blade and remains of fur with lacing, perhaps from a fur hood, in an area where rock salt mining took place from as early as the Iron Age.

The shoe is in outstanding condition, as salt is good for preserving organic remains.

The leather shoe's size roughly corresponds to EU 30 (US 12).

The 2000 Year-Old Bridge That Connected England and Wales

Crossing the River Wye at Chepstow in the UK, archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old wooden bridge connecting England and Wales.

Although the bridge was discovered and partially excavated in 1911, it has since been buried in mud, and detective work was required to discover the bridge's exact location.

Evidence of a wooden bridge connecting England and Wales around 2,000 years ago

The bridge, believed to have been built by the Romans 2,000 years ago, was found preserved in mud about half a mile upstream of Chepstow to the village of Tutshill in Gloucestershire.

Timber samples will undergo carbon dating to determine the exact age of the bridge.

Previously, evidence of prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon fortifications were found at Chepstow, and a 12th-century Norman castle built by he Norman Lord William FitzOsbern is located there.

Chepstow Castle (Welsh: Castell Cas-gwent) at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain

When 50 percent of Europe's population Died

Millions of people in Europe died from plague during the Black Death, though areas were not uniformly devastated by the epidemic.

The Black Death was an illness caused by bacteria (yersinia pestis) carried by fleas that lived on black rats. It caused fever, vomiting, coughing up blood, black pustules on the skin, and swollen lymph nodes. Then, 3 days later, often death.

Plague had killed millions in the early 1840s in China, India, Persia, Syria and Egypt.

In Florence, about 60% of people died of plague in 1648.

In 1348/9, plague came to Britain killing between 30-40% of the population. This is at a time when the population of Britain is estimated at 5-6 million people.

Frighteningly, it is estimated that up to two-thirds of the clergy of England died within a single year.

Milan, an Italian city-state, had a ruler, Visconti Luchino, a dictator who was able to stop almost all travellers into the city. Milan’s death rate was about 15 percent.

The 13th and 14th centuries in Europe had already been a time of great hardship. The climate had cooled, weather patterns were erratic, and crops often failed.

During the Great Famine of 1315–17, about 15% of the population of England and Wales died. Bodies found from this period are shorter and show signs of manuitrition. So, by the time the Black Death arrived, populations were already weakened.

However, weak and poor died alike. As chronicler Gilles Li Muisis wrote in France, where about half of the population died from plague, "neither the rich, the middling sort, nor the pauper was secure; each had to await God's will".

Olive Oil First Used for Lighting Lamps

The olive plant, from fossil evidence, dates from the Oligocene period, about 20 to 40 million years ago.

Some research claims that around 100,000 years ago, olives were used by people on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, for fuel management and probably for consumption. (1.)

Domestication of the olive plant dates from between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago, in the Eastern Mediterranean. (Levant: modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel)

During an excavation, 8,000-year-old olive oil was found in ancient clay pots, in the Lower Galilee region of northern Israel.

While the oldest oil lamp was found in the cave of Lasceau, France, in a cave inhabited between 15,000 and 10,000 BC, olive oil is believed to have been first used to light lamps in the Mediterranean.

The earliest lamps were simply a bowl filled with olive oil, with a wick.

The earliest evidence of olive fruit processing (olive presses) to make olive oil, dates to about 7,000 years ago, in the Jordan Valley, Israel.

Israel, Jerusalem, BYU Center, A reproduction of an ancient lever based press for extracting olive oil on display

Olive trees can live and bear fruit for thousands of years.

Archaeological evidence suggests that Early Bronze Age trade (from 3300 BC to 1200 BC) in edible olives and olive oil was extensive.

Liberty Biblical Museum claims that olive oil lamps evolved through the Bronze Age.

The export of olive oil from Palestine to Egypt is well documented in the Bronze Age.

A 2,300-year-old olive Oil lamp, in good condition, was found on Israel's West Bank.

A nearly completely intact clay oil lamp from 2,300 years ago was found near a stone bath during recent conservation work at the Mount Gerizim National Park

The first known European recipe book called De Re Coquinaria, written around the first century C.E., has instructions on how to keep olives fresh enough to press them for oil.

Since Byzantine times, olive oil was used to light lamps in temples and monasteries.

In 2021, a 2000-year-old amphora, ceramic pot, used to transport olive oil in Roman times, was found in a Swiss riverbed. The earliest surviving olive oil amphorae dates to 3,500 BC.

The Oldest Musical Instrument

The 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute is the oldest musical instrument in the world, carved by Homo neanderthalensis (the Neanderthals).

The Neanderthal Flute was found in the cave of Divje Babe (Witch Cave) in Slovenia, amongst the remnants of a Neanderthal fire pit.

The 60,000 year-old Neanderthal Flute, is carved from the bone (femur) of a cave bear and was discovered in Slovenia in 1995.

Neanderthals are a species of hominid with which we share a common ancestor.

The 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute is the oldest musical instrument in the world, discovered in Slovenia in 1995

The Dejbjerg Wagon

The Dejbjerg wagon, is a composite of two ceremonial wagons, and was ritually placed in the bog, near Ringkøbing in western Jutland, Denmark. around 100 BCE.

Two wagons were dismantled and laid in a peat bog, fenced in with branches and wattles.

The iron in the carriage bodies was forged from continental mountain ore, and the carriages are believed to be made in central Europe by Celtic artisans.

In the first century BC Tacitus, the Roman writer, describes the use by the Germani of sacred carriages. He wrote:

"that they universally join in the worship of Nerthus; that is to say, Mother Earth. They believe she interposes in the affairs of man, and drives around to the various peoples. On an island in the Ocean stands a sacred grove, and in it stands a chariot dedicated to the goddess, covered over with a curtain. Only one priest may touch it. He senses when the goddess is present, and with profound veneration attends the motion of the chariot, which is always drawn by yoked cows. Then it is that days of rejoicing always ensue, and in all places whatsoever which she descends to honour with a visit and her company, feasts and recreation abound."

The wagon body is ornamented with male faces with curly hair and moustache.

1st Cent BCE Dejbjerg wagon - made in a Celtic workshop in southern Germany or northeastern France.

Tutankhamun's trumpets

Tutankhamun's trumpets were found in 1922 by Howard Carter during the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Engraved with decorative images of the gods Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, and Amun, the trumpets are considered to be the oldest operational trumpets in the world.

One of the trumpets is made of sterling silver and one of bronze or copper.

The trumpets were sounded during an international BBC broadcast aired on 16 April 1939. This being the first time the trumpets were played for over 3,000 years.

Ancient Egyptian trumpet, mute and bells.

Tutankhamun was about 8-9 years of age when he ascended the throne and became pharaoh. He was buried in a tomb that was unusually small for his status. There were 5,398 items found in the tomb, including a solid gold coffin, thrones, face mask, archery bows, sandals, trumpets, a lotus chalice, gold toe stalls, furniture, food, wine, and fresh linen underwear.

Detail of the throne of King Tutankhamun that was found in his tomb (KV62) at the Valley of the Kings

Tutankhamun ruled from 1333 BCE until his death in 1323 BCE.

The Ancient City of Memphis

Located at the entrance of the Nile delta, 20km south of Cairo, Memphis was the first capital of the unified kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypts.

According to the historian, Herodotus, Memphis was founded around 3100 BC by Menes, a pharaoh of the first dynasty of ancient Egypt.

In Ancient Egypt, Memphis was also known as Ankh Tawy ("That which binds the Two Lands").

Later Memphis was known as Inbu-Hedj, meaning "White Walls", as the city was built of mud bricks which were painted white and would gleam in the sunlight.

The name Memphis, however, is a Greek translation of the Egyptian name Men-nefer, a nearby pyramid built in the 6th Dynasty.

During its 300 years of history, Memphis was an important administrative and religious centre, located strategically on a narrow part of the Valley, which enabled traffic control and the ability to resist invasions.

The Temple of Ptah (god of craftsman and architects) also turned Memphis into an important religious centre. And it was also the place where the Pharaohs were crowned.

Interestingly, many of the pyramids near Cairo were built in the period when Memphis was the most important city in Egypt and possibly the world.

In 2240 BCE, Thebes, the city of Luxor today, replaced Memphis as the capital city.

Memphis was abandoned by the 7th century CE and the remains of temples and other buildings were used in the construction of the city of Cairo.

Memphis, Egypt, in 1924

In the Bible, Memphis is called Moph or Noph.

A 3,200-year-old statue of Ramesses II was discovered in 1820 at the Great Temple of Ptah near Memphis. It is made from red granite and weighs 83 tons.

The open-air museum of Memphis displays artefacts from the ancient ruins, including statues and an enormous colossus of Ramses II.

A colossal statue of Ramesses II,in the Open-Air Museum at Memphis, Egypt.

Memphis Open Air Museum, Egypt