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fatehbaz · 2 years

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Do you have any idea if there were rhinoceros in the Middle East during historic or recent times? Given that, as in some old posts of yours, big felines and elephants were widespread in those areas, the gap between African and Asiatic rhinoceros seems suspicious. Also, do you think that the extinction of large fauna in the Middle East is asociated to deforestation in that region? As I understand it, forests there were larger than in the present.

So sorry that I've only just now seen your message. (I accidentally came across your message when it was displayed to me when I was searching the keyword "rhinoceros" on my own blog.) Great question.

With confidence, I would say that the so-called Fertile Crescent was more densely wooded during the Holocene up to and during the Bronze Age. We know this not just from ecological and paleoenvironmental science but also from clear written historical records that describe the scale of the forests. Forests were so bountiful that, when cedars were cut down and harvested, and then floated down the Euphrates river for transport, the unending rafts of cedar logs appeared like giant snakes ungulating along the river.

Then, with less confidence, we can guess that rhinos would have been rare in southwestern Asia after the end of the Pleistocene, and would have gone extinct earlier in history than other large creatures.

Sounds like you already know that the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, and southwestern Asia were home to elephants, tigers, lions, cheetahs, leopards, ostriches, and other celebrities in the Bronze Age and ancient worlds. But rhinos?

Basically, my guess is that rhinos could have been present in Anatolia during the construction of Gobekli Tepe and Catal Huyuk, and the rhinos would have been, I'm guessing, the now completely extinct genus Stephanorhinus. The youngest known remains of Stephanorhinus come from Siberia and the Far East, and appear to be between 40,000 and 14,000 years old. This means that we have no clear evidence that Stephanorhinus survived into the Holocene.

The Syrian elephant of the Fertile Crescent, in Hellenistic/Roman iconography:

Stephanorhinus, from the Late Pleistocene:

Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus are known to have survived in Late Pleistocene Europe. They both seem relatively common in the Levant during the Middle Pleistocene. Remains of S. hemitoechus are known from Persia. Stephanorhinus also appears on the African continent in the Pleistocene, in modern-day Morocco and along the Mediterranean coast. But S. kirchbergensis seems like it may have been more associated with forests, so I’d guess S. hemitoechus had a better chance of surviving in early Holocene Middle East. I’ve also read that rhino biodiversity was more limited than other creatures by the end of the Middle Pleistocene, so there was less genetic diversity than other types of mammals. This rhino situation differs from the other disappearing megafauna, because the same species the other missing/extinct creatures (Syrian elephant, Caspian tiger, Asiatic lion, Syrian ostrich) still have living relatives within the same genus. But there are no surviving Stephanorhinus creatures left on the planet.

Short answer: remnant populations of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus may have been rare but still present during the early Holocene in southwestern Asia at the time of the construction of the first human cities. (Probably not during, like, Bronze Age, but earlier.)

Here's a look at the distribution range of the white rhino, black rhino, Indian rhino, Sumatran rhino, Javan rhino, Merck's rhino, the woolly rhino, and the legendary Siberian unicorn in the Late Pleistocene, in a map from 2021:

While the extant Asian elephant was once distributed outside of South Asia and into the west and the Middle East, as far as we can tell the extant Indian rhinoceros only lived as far west as the Indus and/or Bactria.

However, both the Javan rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros -- both of which survive as endangered species today -- lived across China much later in history. During the Bronze Age, both rhino species lived as far north as Beijing and the Yellow River. Like the Asian elephant, the rhinos were pushed farther and farther south as urban areas and dam/river infrastructures were developed. Rhinos survived in the north near the Yangtze and modern-day Shanghai around 100 BC during the ascent of the Han dynasty. By 600 AD, rhinos appear to have still been present at least farther north than Guanzhou/Hong Kong.

Though the woolly rhinoceros appears to have survived in the Late Pleistocene, new eDNA studies from 2021 suggest the woolly rhino may have still been present for a couple thousand more years, until maybe 8000 years ago. But the woolly rhino still didn't seem to live far enough south to be present in the Fertile Crescent. Either way, these rhinos wouldn’t have been in the Middle East during the Holocene.

Here's a look at evidence of rhino presence in China:

Isn't this impressive? It's the distribution range contraction of both the Sumatran rhino and Javan rhino over the past 3000 years. The Javan rhino, once ranging across the continent, only survives in one tiny population on a single island.

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Anyway, in the Middle East, for those interested:

What we do know for sure is that tigers, lions, cheetah, caracal, and at least 2 subspecies of leopard were all still alive in Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Kurdish land, the Caucasus, and Persia within the last 100-125 years.

Then, we also know that the Syrian ostrich (Struthio camelus syriacus) was historically present in Palestine, Syria, and Jordan during the 20th century. (During the medieval era, they probably still lived on the Arabian peninsula and western Persia. Gifts of ostriches were given to the imperial Han Chinese court by Parthians, and to Chinese courts by Western Turks in the 600s. Artistic depictions of ostriches still show up in Tang-era China, so ostriches were either still present in Bactria/Sogdiana, or they were present in Persia and shipped along the Silk Road.)

Crocodiles lived along the coastline of the eastern Mediterranean in Palestine into the 20th century. (Whether they were Crocodylus niloticus or Crocodylus suchus is hard to tell. Both species are still alive in Africa and both species were present in Egypt.)

Earlier in prehistory, we of course know about the wacky cave goats of Crete and the dwarf hippos of Mediterranean islands.

We also know that the Asian elephant was more widespread, and present in Anatolia and the Middle East during the Holocene.

You might have guessed that the elephants known to Greeks and Romans would be the African elephant, given the strong connection between the Hellenistic Mediterranean cultures and Egypt. However, it seems that the Asian elephant that was better known in the eastern Mediterranean. There appears to have been a morph or subspecies of Asian elephant that lived along the Persian Gulf’s northern shore (the "Syrian elephant"). Asian elephant remains from the Holocene have been found in Anatolia and Kurdish lands. In the eastern Mediterranean, Assyrian kings boasted of trapping elephants for sport as recently as 3000 years ago. Also, consistent trade and cultural exchange from Persia meant that the Mediterranean peoples had an awareness of Indian/South Asian relationships with elephants.

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Regarding forests:

The fame of cedar trees in Phoenicia (eastern Mediterranean) would explain why Phoenicians could become so well known for boat-building (ships require wood). More widespread forests would also explain why Caspian tigers could be present in what is now modern-day Iraq and Kurdish land.

Translations of ancient Near Eastern texts discuss woodlands. You’ve probably seen me share this excerpt before:

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While some texts simply allude to environmental degradation, such as the Sumerian gardener Shukallituda’s experimentation with agroforestry in the wake of deforestation ... others contain explicit description of forest clearance, including the claim of Gudea of Lagash (2141-2122 BC), who “made a path” into the forest, “cut its cedars,” and sent cedar rafts floating “like giant snakes” down the Euphrates” [...]. Despite declining biological diversity and productivity, the annals of Ashurnasirpal II [king of Assyria from 883 to 859 BC] describe abundant wildlife and a substantial inventory of domesticated livestock. He claimed to have slain 450 lions, killed 390 wild bulls, decapitated 200 ostriches; caught thirty elephants in pitfalls; and captured alive fifty wild bulls, 140 ostriches, and twenty adult lions. In addition, he received five live elephants as tribute, and “organized herds of wild bulls, lions, ostriches, and male and female monkeys.” At a banquet on the occasion of the inauguration of the palace at Kalhu (biblical Calah), his 69,574 guests dined on 1200 head of cattle and 1000 calves; 11,000 sheep and 16,000 lambs; 500 stags; 500 gazelles; 1000 ducks; 1000 geese; 1000 mesuku birds, 1000 qaribu birds, 20,000 doves, and 10,000 other assorted small birds; 10,000 assorted fish; and 10,000 jerboas - along with enormous quanitites of beer and wine, milk, cheese, eggs, bread, fruit and vegetables, and a vast number of other offerings.[...] Hence, many Indigenous societies were disrupted, reconfigured, and dominated prior to formal colonial annexation. The costs of declining biological and cultural diversity are well documented, as are the costs of disturbance and domination in natural and social systems. A Sumerian epic tale, ‘Emmerkar and the Land of Aratta,’ describes an earlier state of peace and security, ending with man’s fall from grace. Descent into chaos is described in the epic, ‘Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur.’ In Western Asia, patterns of [ecological] disturbance and [social] domination emerge with the complex interplay of ascendant Egyptian, Caucasian, Semitic, Indo-European, and Dravidian aristocracies in the fifth millennium BC – patterns that cascade through history.

[End of excerpt.]

Source: Jeffrey A. Gritzner. “Environment, Culture, and the American Presence in Western Asia: An Exploratory Essay.” 2010.

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And yes, I’d say that recent Holocene extinctions in the region would be related to deforestation, at least in the case of the Caspian tiger.

The Caspian tiger had a clear association with the Hyrcanian forests of the southern shore of the Caspian Sea in Persia. These forests resemble temperate rainforests. The distribution of the Caspian tiger throughout Sogdiana and Kwarazmia (modern-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) also seemed closely associated with the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river/riparian corridors, which provided narrow avenues of forested habitat amid the vast deserts of the region. During the imperial Russian and Soviet incursions in Central Asia, when irrigation diverted the rivers for industrial-scale agriculture, the Aral Sea dried up and remaining pockets of woodland were destroyed along with the tiger’s habitat.

The cedar forests of the Fertile Crescent probably hosted oryx and gazelles with nearby populations of Syrian elephant, the Syrian ostrich, the Asiatic lion, cheetahs, leopards, and the Caspian tiger.

Assyrian princes caught elephants in pitfall traps for sport. It was over 4000 years ago that kings ‘“made a path” into the forest, “cut its cedars,” and sent cedar rafts floating “like giant snakes:” down the Euphrates”’

The tiger. Now a ghost. Gone along with the forests.

#my writing #rhinos #extinction #multispecies

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whocookedthelastsupper · 8 months

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“The power and centrality of the first woman-God is one of the best-kept secrets of history. We think today of a number of goddesses, all with different names—Isis, Juno, Demeter —and have forgotten what, 5,000 years ago, every schoolgirl knew; no matter what name or guise she took, there was only one God and her name was woman.

The Roman lawyer Lucius Apuleius was skillfully recycling the whole compendium of contemporary clichés in his portrait of "the Goddess" as she spoke to him in a vision:

I am nature, the universal mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead... Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names, propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me.

Later ages dismissed accounts of Goddess-worship as "myths" or “cults." But since Sir Arthur Evans, discoverer of the lost Minoan civilization at the turn of this century, stated that all the innumerable goddess-figures he had discovered represented "the same Great Mother... whose worship under various names and titles extended over a large part of Asia Minor and the regions beyond," modern scholarship has accepted that "the Great Goddess, the 'Original Mother without a Spouse’, was in full control of all the mythologies" as "a worldwide fact."

Nor was this an isolated or temporary phenomenon. Commentators stress the prominence and prevalence of the Great Mother Goddess as an essential element from the dawn of human life. From its emergence in the cradleland of the steppes of southern Russia her worship ranged geographically throughout the Mediterranean, the Indus Valley, and Asia as far as China, to Africa and Australia. Historically the span is even more startling:

25,000-15,000 B.C.—with the so-called "Venus figurines" of stone and ivory in Europe, of Nile mud in Egypt, "the Great Mother... bursts on the world of men in overwhelming wholeness and perfection."

12,000-9000 B.C.—in Dolni Vestonie, iechoslovakia, and Shanidar, Iraq, ceremonial burials of bodies coated in red ocher, commonly associated with Goddess worship.

7000 B.C.—in Jericho, the first shrines to the Mother Goddess.

6000 B.C.—the village settlement of Catal Huytik in Turkey, a site of only thirty-two acres, contains no less than forty shrines to the Goddess, in three incarnations as maiden, mother and crone.

5000 B.C.—a statuette from Hacilar in Turkey shows the Goddess in the act of making love.

4000 B.C. —the first written language appears on the temple of the Goddess under her title of Queen of Heaven at Erech (modern Urak) in Sumeria.

3000 B.C.—she now appears everywhere in the known world, in statues, shrines and written records.

200 B.C.—tribal Celts send their own priests of the Goddess to the great sacred festival of Cybele in Anatolia.

A.D. 200— at Tralles, in western Anatolia, a woman called Aurelia Aemiliana erects a carving at the temple of the Goddess, recording that she has duly performed her sexual service (sacred intercourse in honor of the Goddess) as her mother and all her female ancestors have done before her.

A.D. 500— Christian emperors forcibly suppress the worship of the Goddess and close down the last of her temples.

As this shows, the sacred status of womanhood lasted for at least 25,000 years— some commentators would push it back further still, to 40,000 or even 50,000. In fact there was never a time at this stage of human history when woman was not special and magical.

As the struggle for survival eased by degrees into the far harder struggle for meaning, woman became both focus and vehicle of the first symbolic thought. The French archaeologist Leroi-Gourhan solved a riddle of the early cave paintings that had defeated anthropologists of more puritanical cultures when he revealed that the recurrent and puzzling "double-eye" figure was a symbol of the vulva. Similarly in a remarkable sculpted frieze of animal and human figures at Angles-sur-l'Anglin, the female forms are represented by pure abstract triangles of women's bodies, with the sexual triangle prominently emphasized.

How did woman assume from the first this special status? One source of it was undoubtedly her moon-linked menstruation and the mystery of her nonfatal yet incurable emission of blood. Another was her close and unique relation to nature, for as gathering gave way to planned horticulture, women consolidated their central importance as the principal food producers. But the real key lies where the exaggerated breasts and belly of the earliest images of woman direct us to look, in the miracle of birth. Before the process of reproduction was understood, babies were simply born to women. No connection was made with intercourse (to this day Australian Aboriginals believe that spirit children dwell in pools and trees, and enter any woman at random when they wish to be born). Men, so it seemed, therefore had no part in the chain of generation. Only women could produce new life, and they were revered accordingly: all the power of nature, and over nature, was theirs.”

-Rosalind Miles; Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women’s History of the World

#radblr #radfem #radical feminism #radical feminist safe #radical feminists do interact #radical feminists do touch #radical feminists please touch #feminism #feminist literature #who cooked the last supper #herstory #womens history #radical feminists please interact #radical feminist community #radical feminist literature #radical feminist theory #radical feminst #feminist library

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amberfaber40 · 2 years

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25 Mysterious Facts about Ancient Cities - Fact Republic

1. Heracleion, an ancient Egyptian city that was swallowed by the Mediterranean Sea 1,200 years ago, was discovered in 2000 and has been the site of an underwater excavation since then. It is thought to have been sunk by an Earthquake.

80 Awesome Ancient Artifacts - Pi Queen

Love archaeology but hate dust, dirt and human remains? You're in luck. The following list of amazing archaeological finds will take you on a trip through time and across the globe, but without all the mess (or the jetlag).

Exploring The Vatican Museum In Search Of Out Of Place Ancient Artifacts - Hidden Inca Tours

Above is a sarcophagus from Egypt, likely made of limestone on display in a courtyard of the Vatican Museum. Likely taken by Emperor Caligula when the Romans took over Egypt. Above is an exceptionally well carved Sphinx, likely a Roman work of course heavily influenced by the earlier dynastic Egyptians, carved out of granite most...

Astrolabe

@Museum of the History of Science, Oxford

Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on the Biblical Philistines

A team of scientists sequenced genomes from people who lived in a port city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel between the 12th and 8th centuries B.C.

- Sponsored Links - 1HeracleionHeracleion, an ancient Egyptian city that was swallowed by the Mediterranean Sea 1,200 years ago, was discovered in 2000 and has been the site of an underwater excavation since then. It is thought to have been sunk by an Earthquake.Source & More2. In the ancient Indian Kingdom of Golconda, the king Ibrahim Wali designed and built a fortress city so acoustically perfect that a hand clap at the fortress gates could be heard at the top of the citadel itself, located on the summit of a 300 foot hill.Source & More3. In Portugal, there is an ancient city named Vilarinho Da Furna that is submerged in water, but during dry spells, the water levels go down enough that you can see it. This 2000-year-old town was destroyed by an electric company when it constructed a dam in 1967.Source & More4. In the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, the citizens, derided by famous writers of the time for their extremely luxurious lifestyles, had canals built that transported wine directly from the countryside into their personal cellars. The cavalry from the ancient city of Sybaris trained their horses to dance to pipe music and then were defeated by an army attacking them with music.Source & More5. The Ancient Egyptians had a city called Crocodilopolis. It contained a sacred lake where crocodiles were worshipped, fed and adorned with jewelry.Source & MoreLatest FactRepublic Video:15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History6JerichoThe ancient city of Jericho (currently in Palestine) is the world’s oldest walled city, with evidence of stone fortifications dating back nearly 9,000 years. Archaeological digs have turned up traces of habitation that are even older up to 11,000 years ago.Source & More7. A huge ancient Mayan city named El Mirador has been discovered in Guatemala and it holds one of the world's largest pyramids. The La Danta temple measures approximately 72 meters (236 feet) tall from the forest floor.Source & More8. In the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali there are an estimated 300,000 or more precolonial African literary manuscripts tucked away in various libraries and private collections, mostly written in Arabic and some in native languages. Topics include herbal medicine, mathematics, astronomy, poetry, law, history, faith, politics, and philosophy.Source & More9. The ancient of city Caral in Peru features Pyramids which were built around the same time period that the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built. The city also shows no traces of warfare, indicating that the site was built as a place for “Commerce and Pleasure.”Source & More10. The ancient city Catal Huyuk (in the present day Turkey) was one of the first recorded cities in history, but it didn't have any streets. The dwellings were clustered like a honeycomb-maze. Most of the houses were accessed by holes in the ceiling and doors on the side of the houses, with doors reached by ladders and stairs.Source & More - Sponsored Links - 11SeuthopolisAn Ancient city named “Seuthopolis” was discovered in the bottom of a lake in Bulgaria. It was founded in 323 B.C. The city was discovered and researched between 1948 and 1954. Unfortunately, this discovery came too late, because the reservoir dam being constructed nearby soon flood the valley and drowned this city. Right now there is a project underway to restore the city.Source & More12. In the ancient city of Memphis, Egypt, so many people worshiped Anubis, the jackal-headed God of death, that the catacombs next to this sacred temple once held nearly 8 million mummified puppies and grown dogs.Source & More13. Nan Madol is the only ancient city ever built upon a coral reef. It is a marvel of ancient engineering. The city, constructed in a lagoon, consists of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals.Source & More14. Hatra, the capital of the "first Arab Empire" known as the Kingdom of Araba (in modern day Iraq) was one of the most diverse cities in the ancient world. It had temples (pantheons) to 5 major religions: Greek, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Aramean, and Arabian.Source & More15. Two ancient Chinese cities were drowned when the valley was flooded for a new hydroelectric power station. He Cheng and Shi Cheng remained forgotten for 40 years until 2001. Shi Cheng was built more than 1300 years ago in 621 AD. It was once the center of politics, economics and culture. He Cheng is even older: established in 208 AD as a business hub.Source & More - Sponsored Links - 16Lost City of ZakynthosWhen snorkelers discovered what appeared to be ancient stonework off the coast of the Greek island of Zakynthos in 2013, archaeologists sent to the site thought the odd rocks might be the ruins of an ancient city. Turns out, the so-called Lost City of Zakynthos was not built by humans, but by methane-eating microbes.Source & More17. In 1963, a man tore down a wall in his house and noticed an enormous and complex tunnel system behind it. He had rediscovered the ancient underground city Derinkuyu in Turkey. The city had 9 levels, used to house 20,000 people and had amenities such as stables, wineries, schools, and chapels. It was built between 1200 and 800 B.C.Source & More18. The ancient city of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey built in 10,000 B.C., is twice as old as Stonehenge, and completely disrupts our ideas of human development and agriculture. Carvings on a stone located at the site depict a comet strike that researchers have theorized caused a worldwide cataclysmic event, which in turn brought on a 1000 year ice age known as the Younger Dryas. It predates the invention of known tools, cities/communities, and the written word. The oldest known sphinx was found in Gobekli Tepe, Turkey and it was dated to 9,500 BC.Source & More19. The Aztec capital Tenochtitlán was the largest city in the Americas with over 200,000 people. It was built on a man-made island in the middle of a lake - connected to the shore by 3 causeways. It contained huge pyramids, floating gardens, aqueducts, and canals. It was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521.Source & More20. The Greek city of Helike sank in an earthquake in 373 B.C., and all of the inhabitants died. Over time, it was silted over and was thought to be legendary until it was rediscovered in 2001.Source & More21UrukThe Ancient city of Uruk at 2900 B.C. had 50,000 - 80,000 residents living in its 6 square km of walled area, making it the largest city in the world at the time.Source & More22. Almost every home in the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro from over 4000 years ago was equipped with a private bathing area with drains to take the dirty water out into a larger drain that emptied into a sewage drain.Source & More23. The city-states of the ancient Maya were dominated by two cities, Tikal and Calakmul, who fought a series of conflicts through proxy states. Some experts have compared these conflicts to US-Soviet fighting by proxy during the Cold War.Source & More24. The largest brick arch in the world, the 121-foot (37 m) tall Taq-i Kisra, is nearly 1,500 years old and it is the only surviving structure from the ancient city of Ctesiphon.Source & More25. There is a ruined and uninhabited medieval Armenian city-site named Ani in Turkey that has lay empty for over 3 centuries. Even as a ruin it is still disputed.Source & More Sign up to our Newsletter & get FREE!! 1000 Facts E-BOOK Email Address * - Sponsored Links -

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akalle · 7 years

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Muse Calliope, Greco-Roman marble statue C2nd A.D., State Hermitage Museum

PE′GASIS (Pêgasis) i. e. descended from Pegasus or originating by him; hence it is applied to the well Hippocrene, which was called forth by the hoof of Pegasus (Mosch. iii. 78; Ov. Trist. iii. 7. 15). The Muses themselves also are sometimes called Pegasides, as well as other nymphs of wells and brooks. (Virg. Catal. 71. 2; Ov. Heroid. xv. 27; Propert. iii. 1. 19; Quint. Smyrn. iii. 301; comp. Heyne, ad Apollo. p. 301.)

#Muse #Muses #greek goddess #greek gods #Pegasus #religion

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protisipun1987 · 5 years

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Furniture Style, Construction And Development Through History

New Post has been published on https://www.homeguide411.com/furniture-style-construction-and-development-through-history/

Furniture Style, Construction And Development Through History

Image by/from WikiMedia Commons

Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., chairs, stools, and sofas), eating (tables), and sleeping (e.g., beds). Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work (as horizontal surfaces above the ground, such as tables and desks), or to store things (e.g., cupboards and shelves). Furniture can be a product of design and is considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture’s functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from many materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflect the local culture.

People have been using natural objects, such as tree stumps, rocks and moss, as furniture since the beginning of human civilisation. Archaeological research shows that from around 30,000 years ago, people began constructing and carving their own furniture, using wood, stone, and animal bones. Early furniture from this period is known from artwork such as a Venus figurine found in Russia, depicting the goddess on a throne. The first surviving extant furniture is in the homes of Skara Brae in Scotland, and includes cupboards, dressers and beds all constructed from stone. Complex construction techniques such as joinery began in the early dynastic period of ancient Egypt. This era saw constructed wooden pieces, including stools and tables, sometimes decorated with valuable metals or ivory. The evolution of furniture design continued in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, with thrones being commonplace as well as the klinai, multipurpose couches used for relaxing, eating, and sleeping. The furniture of the Middle Ages was usually heavy, oak, and ornamented. Furniture design expanded during the Italian Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. The seventeenth century, in both Southern and Northern Europe, was characterized by opulent, often gilded Baroque designs. The nineteenth century is usually defined by revival styles. The first three-quarters of the twentieth century are often seen as the march towards Modernism. One unique outgrowth of post-modern furniture design is a return to natural shapes and textures.

The English word furniture is derived from the French word fourniture, the noun form of fournir, which means to supply or provide. Thus fourniture in French means supplies or provisions. The English usage, referring specifically to household objects, is specific to that language; French and other Romance languages as well as German use variants of the word meubles, which derives from Latin mobilia, meaning “moveable goods”.

The practice of using natural objects as rudimentary pieces of furniture likely dates to the beginning of human civilisation. Early humans are likely to have used tree stumps as seats, rocks as rudimentary tables, and mossy areas for sleeping. During the late palaeolithic or early neolithic period, from around 30,000 years ago, people began constructing and carving their own furniture, using wood, stone and animal bones. The earliest evidence for the existence of constructed furniture is a Venus figurine found at the Gagarino site in Russia, which depicts the goddess in a sitting position, on a throne. A similar statue of a Mother Goddess was found in Catal Huyuk in Turkey, dating to between 6000 and 5500 BCE. The inclusion of such a seat in the figurines implies that these were already common artefacts of that age.

A range of unique stone furniture has been excavated in Skara Brae, a Neolithic village in Orkney, Scotland. The site dates from 3100-2500 BCE and due to a shortage of wood in Orkney, the people of Skara Brae were forced to build with stone, a readily available material that could be worked easily and turned into items for use within the household. Each house shows a high degree of sophistication and was equipped with an extensive assortment of stone furniture, ranging from cupboards, dressers and beds to shelves, stone seats, and limpet tanks. The stone dresser was regarded as the most important as it symbolically faces the entrance in each house and is therefore the first item seen when entering, perhaps displaying symbolic objects, including decorative artwork such as several Neolithic Carved Stone Balls also found at the site.

Ancient furniture has been excavated from the 8th-century BCE Phrygian tumulus, the Midas Mound, in Gordion, Turkey. Pieces found here include tables and inlaid serving stands. There are also surviving works from the 9th-8th-century BCE Assyrian palace of Nimrud. The earliest surviving carpet, the Pazyryk Carpet was discovered in a frozen tomb in Siberia and has been dated between the 6th and 3rd century BCE.

Civilisation in ancient Egypt began with the clearance and irrigation of land along the banks of the River Nile, which began in about 6000 BCE. By that time, society in the Nile Valley was already engaged in organized agriculture and the construction of large buildings. At this period, Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing large buildings. Mortar was in use by around 4000 BCE The inhabitants of the Nile Valley and delta were self-sufficient and were raising barley and emmer (an early variety of wheat) and stored it in pits lined with reed mats. They raised cattle, goats and pigs and they wove linens and baskets. Evidence of furniture from the predynastic period is scarce, but samples from First Dynasty tombs indicate an already advanced use of furnishings in the houses of the age.

During the dynastic period, which began in around 3200 BCE, Egyptian art developed significantly, and this included furniture design. Egyptian furniture was primarily constructed using wood, but other materials were sometimes used, such as leather, and pieces were often adorned with gold, silver, ivory and ebony, for decoration. Wood found in Egypt was not suitable for furniture construction, so had to be imported into the country from other places, particularly Phoenicia. The scarcity of wood necessitated innovation in construction techniques. The use of scarf joints to join two shorter pieces together and form a longer beam was one example of this, as well as construction of veneers in which low quality cheap wood was used as the main building material, with a thin layer of expensive wood on the surface.

The earliest used seating furniture in the dynastic period was the stool, which was used throughout Egyptian society, from the royal family down to ordinary citizens. Various different designs were used, including stools with four vertical legs, and others with crossed splayed legs; almost all had rectangular seats, however. Examples include the workman’s stool, a simple three legged structure with a concave seat, designed for comfort during labour, and the much more ornate folding stool, with crossed folding legs, which were decorated with carved duck heads and ivory, and had hinges made of bronze. Full chairs were much rarer in early Egypt, being limited to only wealthy and high ranking people, and seen as a status symbol; they did not reach ordinary households until the eighteenth dynasty. Early examples were formed by adding a straight back to a stool, while later chairs had an inclined back. Other furniture types in ancient Egypt include tables, which are heavily represented in art, but almost nonexistent as preserved items – perhaps because they were placed outside tombs rather than within, as well as beds and storage chests.

Stool with woven seat; 1991-1450 BC; wood & reed; height: 13 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jewelry chest of Sithathoryunet; 1887-1813 BC; ebony, ivory, gold, carnelian, blue faience and silver; height: 36.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Throne of Tutankhamun; 1336-1327 BC; wood covered with sheets of gold, silver, semi-precious and other stones, faience, glass and bronze; height: 1 m; Egyptian Museum (Cairo)

Chair of Hatnefer; 1492-1473 BC; boxwood, cypress, ebony & linen cord; height: 53 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Historical knowledge of Greek furniture is derived from various sources, including literature, terracotta, sculptures, statuettes, and painted vases. Some pieces survive to this day, primarily those constructed from metals, including bronze, or marble. Wood was an important material in Greek furniture, both domestic and imported. A common technique was to construct the main sections of the furniture with cheap solid wood, then apply a veneer using an expensive wood, such as maple or ebony. Greek furniture construction also made use of dowels and tenons for joining the wooden parts of a piece together. Wood was shaped by carving, steam treatment, and the lathe, and furniture is known to have been decorated with ivory, tortoise shell, glass, gold or other precious materials.

The modern word “throne” is derived from the ancient Greek thronos (Greek singular: tronos), which was a seat designated for deities or individuals of high status or honor. The colossal chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia, constructed by Phidias and lost in antiquity, featured the god Zeus seated on an elaborate throne, which was decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony and ivory, according to Pausanias. Other Greek seats included the klismos, an elegant Greek chair with a curved backrest and legs whose form was copied by the Romans and is now part of the vocabulary of furniture design, the backless stool (diphros), which existed in most Greek homes, and folding stool. The kline, used from the late seventh century BCE, was a multipurpose piece used as a bed, but also as a sofa and for reclining during meals. It was rectangular and supported on four legs, two of which could be longer than the other, providing support for an armrest or headboard. Mattresses, rugs, and blankets may have been used, but there is no evidence for sheets.

In general, Greek tables were low and often appear in depictions alongside klinai. The most common type of Greek table had a rectangular top supported on three legs, although numerous configurations exist, including trapezoid and circular. Tables in ancient Greece were used mostly for dining purposes – in depictions of banquets, it appears as though each participant would have utilized a single table, rather than a collective use of a larger piece. Tables also figured prominently in religious contexts, as indicated in vase paintings, for example, the wine vessel associated with Dionysus, dating to around 450 BCE and now housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Chests were used for storage of clothes and personal items, and were usually rectangular with hinged lids. Chests depicted in terracotta show elaborate patterns and design, including the Greek fret.

Foot in the form of a sphinx; circa 600 BC; bronze; overall: 27.6 x 20.3 x 16.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Rod tripod stand; early 6th century BC; bronze; overall: 75.2 x 44.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Block IV from the east frieze of the Parthenon, with images of seated gods, c. 447-433 BCE

Three illustrations of ancient Greek chairs, each being notated with a letter: a, b-klismos, and c-chair

Roman furniture was based heavily on Greek furniture, in style and construction. Rome gradually superseded Greece as the foremost culture of Europe, leading eventually to Greece becoming a province of Rome in 146 BC. Rome thus took over production and distribution of Greek furniture, and the boundary between the two is blurred. The Romans did have some limited innovation outside of Greek influence, and styles distinctly their own.

Roman furniture was constructed principally using wood, metal and stone, with marble and limestone used for outside furniture. Very little wooden furniture survives intact, but there is evidence that a variety of woods were used, including maple, citron, beech, oak, and holly. Some imported wood such as satinwood was used for decoration. The most commonly used metal was bronze, of which numerous examples have survived, for example, headrests for couches and metal stools. Similar to the Greeks, Romans used tenons, dowels, nails, and glue to join wooden pieces together, and also practised veneering.

The 1738 and 1748 excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii revealed Roman furniture, preserved in the ashes of the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius.

Illustration of Roman furniture details, from 1900, very similar with Empire style furniture

Tripod base; circa 100 BC; bronze; overall: 77 x 32.3 x 28 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)

Treasure chest with a sacrifice of Jupiter depicted on it; 1st century AD; wood, iron and bronze, with ageminature; from Pompeii; Naples National Archaeological Museum (Naples, Italy)

Couch and footstool with bone carvings and glass inlays; 1st-2nd century AD; wood, bone and glass; couch: 105.4 × 76.2 × 214.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

In contrast to the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, there is comparatively little evidence of furniture from the 5th to the 15th century. Very few extant pieces survive, and evidence in literature is also scarce. It is likely that the style of furniture prevalent in late antiquity persisted throughout the middle ages. For example, a throne similar to that of Zeus is depicted in a sixth-century diptych, while the Bayeux tapestry shows Edward the Confessor and Harold seated on seats similar to the Roman sella curulis.

The furniture of the Middle Ages was usually heavy, oak, and ornamented with carved designs. Along with the other arts, the Italian Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth century marked a rebirth in design, often inspired by the Greco-Roman tradition. A similar explosion of design, and renaissance of culture in general occurred in Northern Europe, starting in the fifteenth century. The seventeenth century, in both Southern and Northern Europe, was characterized by opulent, often gilded Baroque designs that frequently incorporated a profusion of vegetal and scrolling ornament. Starting in the eighteenth century, furniture designs began to develop more rapidly. Although there were some styles that belonged primarily to one nation, such as Palladianism in Great Britain or Louis Quinze in French furniture, others, such as the Rococo and Neoclassicism were perpetuated throughout Western Europe.

Gothic German coffret (Minnekastchen); circa 1325-1350; oak, inlay, tempera, wrought-iron mounts; overall: 12.1 x 27.3 x 16.5; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Gothic Spanish paschal candlestick; circa 1450-1500; wood with paint and gilding; 195.6 × 43.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Renaissance cassone (chest); mid 16th century; walnut, carved and partially gilded, coniferous wood; height: 73.6 cm, width: 1.7 m, depth: 63.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

French Renaissance dresser (dressoir aux harpies); circa 1570-1590; carved walnut with interior elements of oak, pine, and some iron accessories; height: 144.8 cm, width: 137.8 cm, depth: 50.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the eighteenth century, the fashion was set in England by the French art. In the beginning of the century Boulle cabinets were at the peak of their popularity and Louis XIV was reigning in France. In this era, most of the furniture had metal and enamelled decorations in it and some of the furniture was covered in inlays of marbles lapis lazuli, and porphyry and other stones. By mid-century this Baroque style was displaced by the graceful curves, shining ormolu, and intricate marquetry of the Rococo style, which in turn gave way around 1770 to the more severe lines of Neoclassicism, modeled after the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.

Dutch wardrobe; 1625-1650; oak with ebony and rosewood veneers; overall: 244.5 x 224.3 x 85.2 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, US)

Console table depicting Chronos, or the father time; 1695; painted and gilded wood, with marble at its top; overall: 95.3 x 107.3 x 62.9 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art

Gaming Table; circa 1735; wood and ivory marquetry; overall: 78.7 x 94 x 54.6 cm; from Mainz (Germany); Cleveland Museum of Art

French commode; by Gilles Joubert; circa 1735; oak and walnut, veneered with tulipwood, ebony, holly, other woods, gilt bronze and imitation marble; Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, USA)

Parisian commode; 1745-1749; pine and oak veneered with amaranth and bois satine, walnut, gilt-bronze mounts, and portoro marble top; 87.6 x 139.7 x 57.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Armchair (fauteuil a la reine); circa 1754-1756; carved and gilded beech, wool and silk tapestry; overall: 103.8 × 73.7 × 66 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rococo chest of drawers; circa 1750; oak, tulipwood marquetry, gilt metal mounts and marble; overall: 88 x 156.5 x 69.9 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art

German armchair; circa 1750-1760; carved and gilded beech, covered in blue damask not original to the armchair; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Cabinet; 1770s; gilded walnut wood; height: 373 cm, width: 190 cm, depth: 67.5 cm; Hallwyl Museum (Stockholm, Sweden)

Drop-front desk (secretaire a abattant or secretaire en cabinet); circa 1776; oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, holly, and sycamore, six Sevres soft-paste porcelain plaques and many other materials; 110.1 x 102.9 x 32.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drop-front secretary (Secretaire en armoire); 1783; oak veneered with ebony and 17th-century Japanese lacquer, gilt-bronze mounts, marble top and many other materials; overall: 144.8 × 109.2 × 40.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Armchair (fauteuil) from Louis XVI’s Salon des Jeux at Saint Cloud; 1788; carved and gilded walnut, gold brocaded silk (not original); overall: 100 × 74.9 × 65.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

The nineteenth century is usually defined by concurrent revival styles, including Gothic, Neoclassicism, and Rococo. The design reforms of the late century introduced the Aesthetic movement and the Arts and Crafts movement. Art Nouveau was influenced by both of these movements.

Armchair; 1805-15; mahogany; 84.1 x 51.8 x 42.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

French Empire desk chair; circa 1805-1808; mahogany, gilt bronze and satin-velvet upholstery; 87.6 × 59.7 × 64.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egyptian revival coin cabinet; 1809-1819; mahogany (probably Swietenia mahagoni), with applied and inlaid silver; 90.2 x 50.2 x 37.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Book table; by Charles-Honore Lannuier; circa 1815; Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA)

Gothic Revival chair; 1845-1865; walnut frame with upholstered seat and back; Huntington Museum of Art (Huntington, West Virginia, USA)

Gothic Revival chair; by William Burns; 1853; wood; 99 x 50.2 x 49.9 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, USA)

British settee; circa 1885; ebony, box and sandalwood, cedar, ivory inlay, incrustations of mother-of-pearl and brass; 90.2 x 148 x 71.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

This design was in many ways rooted in necessity and emphasizes both form and materials. Early British Colonial American[vague] chairs and tables are often constructed with turned spindles and chair backs often constructed with steaming to bend the wood. Wood choices tend to be deciduous hardwoods with a particular emphasis on the wood of edible or fruit bearing trees such as cherry or walnut.

The first three-quarters of the twentieth century is often seen as the march towards Modernism. Art Deco, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Jugendstil, Wiener Werkstatte, and Vienna Secession designers all worked to some degree within the Modernist idiom. Born from the Bauhaus and Art Deco/Streamline styles came the post WWII “Mid-Century Modern” style using materials developed during the war including laminated plywood, plastics, and fiberglass. Prime examples include furniture designed by George Nelson Associates, Charles and Ray Eames, Paul McCobb, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Eero Saarinen, Harvey Probber, Vladamir Kagan and Danish modern designers including Finn Juhl and Arne Jacobsen. Postmodern design, intersecting the Pop art movement, gained steam in the 1960s and 70s, promoted in the 80s by groups such as the Italy-based Memphis movement. Transitional furniture is intended to fill a place between Traditional and Modern tastes.

Great efforts from individuals, governments, and companies has led to the manufacturing of products with higher sustainability known as Ecodesign. This new line of furniture is based on environmentally friendly design. Its use and popularity are increasing each year.

One unique outgrowth of post-modern furniture design is Live edge, heralding a return to natural shapes and textures within the home.

Asian furniture has a quite distinct history. The traditions out of India, China, Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia (Bali and Java) and Japan are some of the best known, but places such as Mongolia, and the countries of South East Asia have unique facets of their own.

The use of uncarved wood and bamboo and the use of heavy lacquers are well known Chinese styles. It is worth noting that Chinese furniture varies dramatically from one dynasty to the next.

Traditional Japanese furniture is well known for its minimalist style, extensive use of wood, high-quality craftsmanship and reliance on wood grain instead of painting or thick lacquer. Japanese chests are known as Tansu, known for elaborate decorative iron work, and are some of the most sought-after of Japanese antiques. The antiques available generally date back to the Tokugawa and Meiji periods.

Chinese low-back armchair; late 16th-18th century (late Ming dynasty to Qing dynasty); huanghuali rosewood; Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Washington D.C.)

Japanese chest with cartouche showing figures on donkeys in a landscape; 1750-1800; carved red lacquer on wood core with metal fittings and jade lock; 30.64 x 30.16 x 12.7 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA)

Chinese moon-gate bed; circa 1876; satinwood (huang lu), other Asian woods and ivory; Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts, USA)

Chinese canopy bed; late 19th or early 20th century; carved lacquered and gilded wood; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, Canada)

Seating is amongst the oldest known furniture types, and authors including Encyclopadia Britannica regard it as the most important. In additional to the functional design, seating has had an important decorative element from ancient times to the present day. This includes carved and sculpted pieces intended as works of art, as well as the styling of seats to indicate social importance, with senior figures or leaders granted the use of specially designed seats.

The simplest form of seat is the chair, which is a piece of furniture designed to allow a single person to sit down, which has a back and legs, as well as a platform for sitting. Chairs often feature cushions made from various fabrics.

All different types of woods have unique signature marks that can help in easy identification of the type. Both hardwoods and softwoods are used in furniture manufacturing, and each has their own specific uses. Most commonly, quality furniture is made out of hardwood which is made from oak, maple, mahogany, teak, walnut, cherry and birch. Highest quality wood will have been air dried to rid it of its moisture.

#Furniture

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