Pillow Talk
Unusual Ancient Egyptian Pillow Analyzed
Oh HELL yeah! w00t! I steadfastly refuse to believe that the ancient Egyptians exclusively used wooden headrests for pillows, despite the ridiculous assertion of physiologists about the benefits for the spine, etc. that the Egyptians would have discovered. Fuck that New Age woo-woo noise.
Actually, no. What I mean to say is fuck that outdated, ethnocentric, Victorian Era Great White Scientist Meditating Upon the Ways of the Savages woo-woo noise. The Egyptians were all about comfort. They would not have just wadded up linens in an infrequent attempt to pad those headrests. THEY WOULD HAVE USED PILLOWS. The only problem is, nothing has ever supported my intractable stance on this position.
Until now.
*dances the dance of the insufferably smug*
In the "...um, duh" thought for the day, the notion that the pillows might have been made from biodegradable materials that did not endure while the wooden headrests did is now being considered as possible. Wow. YOU THINK?
How the Ancient Egyptians Put Their Feet Up, a nice article with photos of artifacts I've actually had the pleasure of seeing for myself.
A link to concise summaries on everything from furniture trends to wood-working to homes across time and civilizations.
Some more info on the types of microscopy used to analyze the pillow: UV light, electron, and IR (although this last one might be tad on the technical side for some folks so, hmm. Well, this article offers an easy-to-follow explanation on the molecular analysis possible by combining FT-IR spectroscopy and optic microscopy.
And, erm, that acronym stands for Fourier Transform-Infrared if y'all really wanna waste some time. *g* Since FT-IR is one of the simplest and handiest methods of molecular analysis out there, I'm quite fond of it.
Basically, a FT-IR spectrometer utilizes a lot of fancy twiddly bits to acquire and digitize a quick shot of all infrared frequencies transmitted through a sample surface simultaneously. The resulting interferogram (one of my favorite science words, ever) has to be Fourier transformed in order to generate a single beam spectrum that actually makes sense. (Oh, here. This FT link has pictures. Much less daunting than the derivation.)
My main reason for loving this method is because it was used in an awesomely awesome study of Egyptian mummies to determine which embalmers in antiquity were great big liarheads about what they were actually using in their embalming recipes versus what they were claiming to use. Not surprisingly, the mummies prepped by the great big liarheads, who apparently just used (IIR) some olive oil with a pinch of salt and cinnamon, were the most badly decomposed. Hee. I would love to be able to pop back in time and warn folks about which embalmers were fleecing them.
AND ALSO WHILE I WAS THERE TO PICK UP A PILLOW THAT I KNOW THEY HAD.
*knowing look* Betcha didn't think I even remembered what the point of this entry was any more, did you? HAH.
Still dancing, still insufferable, still smug, and most assuredly still yours ever-
-researchgrrrl
ETA this cool link that utilizies none of the techniques I described but shows the results of virtual unwrapping of mummies and is, just generally speaking, the coolest article I've read today.
Oh HELL yeah! w00t! I steadfastly refuse to believe that the ancient Egyptians exclusively used wooden headrests for pillows, despite the ridiculous assertion of physiologists about the benefits for the spine, etc. that the Egyptians would have discovered. Fuck that New Age woo-woo noise.
Actually, no. What I mean to say is fuck that outdated, ethnocentric, Victorian Era Great White Scientist Meditating Upon the Ways of the Savages woo-woo noise. The Egyptians were all about comfort. They would not have just wadded up linens in an infrequent attempt to pad those headrests. THEY WOULD HAVE USED PILLOWS. The only problem is, nothing has ever supported my intractable stance on this position.
Until now.
*dances the dance of the insufferably smug*
In the "...um, duh" thought for the day, the notion that the pillows might have been made from biodegradable materials that did not endure while the wooden headrests did is now being considered as possible. Wow. YOU THINK?
How the Ancient Egyptians Put Their Feet Up, a nice article with photos of artifacts I've actually had the pleasure of seeing for myself.
A link to concise summaries on everything from furniture trends to wood-working to homes across time and civilizations.
Some more info on the types of microscopy used to analyze the pillow: UV light, electron, and IR (although this last one might be tad on the technical side for some folks so, hmm. Well, this article offers an easy-to-follow explanation on the molecular analysis possible by combining FT-IR spectroscopy and optic microscopy.
And, erm, that acronym stands for Fourier Transform-Infrared if y'all really wanna waste some time. *g* Since FT-IR is one of the simplest and handiest methods of molecular analysis out there, I'm quite fond of it.
Basically, a FT-IR spectrometer utilizes a lot of fancy twiddly bits to acquire and digitize a quick shot of all infrared frequencies transmitted through a sample surface simultaneously. The resulting interferogram (one of my favorite science words, ever) has to be Fourier transformed in order to generate a single beam spectrum that actually makes sense. (Oh, here. This FT link has pictures. Much less daunting than the derivation.)
My main reason for loving this method is because it was used in an awesomely awesome study of Egyptian mummies to determine which embalmers in antiquity were great big liarheads about what they were actually using in their embalming recipes versus what they were claiming to use. Not surprisingly, the mummies prepped by the great big liarheads, who apparently just used (IIR) some olive oil with a pinch of salt and cinnamon, were the most badly decomposed. Hee. I would love to be able to pop back in time and warn folks about which embalmers were fleecing them.
AND ALSO WHILE I WAS THERE TO PICK UP A PILLOW THAT I KNOW THEY HAD.
*knowing look* Betcha didn't think I even remembered what the point of this entry was any more, did you? HAH.
Still dancing, still insufferable, still smug, and most assuredly still yours ever-
-researchgrrrl
ETA this cool link that utilizies none of the techniques I described but shows the results of virtual unwrapping of mummies and is, just generally speaking, the coolest article I've read today.