By: The Scribe on Friday, May 17, 2013
Believe it or not, people have been losing pairs of scissors in their homes for thousands of years! Sadly, for most generations, the concept of a dollar store didn’t exist, which meant that losing your only pair of scissors made life just that much more inconvenient.
But really, who made the first pair of scissors? Who thought that would be a good idea? And did the first scissor-maker try using two knives first?
While we don’t have all the answers, the belief among historians is that scissors were first invented around 1500 BC by the Ancient Egyptians or the people of Mesopotamia.
The earliest scissors in the archaeological record are “spring scissors”, which means that the object is made of two bronze blades that connect at the base by a thin, flexible piece of curved bronze. This “handle” held the blades aligned and allowed for some give so that the blades could be squeezed together and come apart afterward.
The Romans, being overachievers, decided they could make a better pair of scissors and changed the design in 100 A.D.—just a bit—to create pivoted scissors. These were bronze or iron implements that used a pivot point for the blades, allowing them to cross between tips and handle. 
Not sure what a pivot point is? Go find your own scissors (if you can!) and take a look at where the blades are joined. That’s a pivot point!
It wasn’t long before this variety became the common form in Rome, with China, Japan, and Korea adopting the pivoted scissors afterward. These were the direct ancestor of today’s modern scissors—even though Europeans didn’t bother to change their scissor variety until the 16th century.
The next time you pick up a pair of scissors? Thank the Romans. Your office products have a long history!
By: The Scribe on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
How many of us have heard snarky kids shouting, “If God wanted me to use a fork, why’d he give me fingers?” when told to use their table utensils? While the common table fork seems like a fairly modern invention—considering that, yes, we do have fingers and they work pretty darn well when it comes to picking stuff up—it’s a little older than you might think.
That said, compared to the knife and spoon? The fork is the baby of the family.
Archaeologists have found evidence of forks being used in Ancient Egypt, though it’s thought that these forks weren’t part of the place setting. Instead, they were used to pick things up off platters, out of fire pits, or from cooking cauldrons… and diners used their fingers and their own knife to actually eat.
There have also been bone forks found in Bronze Age Qijia Culture burials (2400-1900 BC), and some late Chinese dynasty tombs, but contextually there’s little confirmation on whether these were used the same way the Egyptians used them or if they were actually used to put food to mouth.
When the Ancient Greeks had their heyday, forks became a little more common in the dining room (for men, the andron) as a serving utensil—getting a little closer to the mouth, but still not exactly a fork in the way we know it. Romans called forks the furca, which means “pitchfork”—representative of the implement’s three-pronged, small pitchfork design.
As the Roman Empire progressed, smaller forks made of silver and bronze appeared on tables of the privileged, though the particular use of these items varied according to social class, the food being served, and customs of the area… sound familiar? (Ever tried to figure out which is the shrimp fork and which is the salad fork?) By the 4th-century AD in the Byzantine Empire, table forks were far more common.
Over the centuries, usage spread, though it was still more typical for upper classes to use forks as opposed to the “common” people. In the 1600s, it wasn’t unusual for a guest of the French court to attend dinner with a special box called a cadena, which contained his own fork and spoon!
But here’s a fork fact that you probably don’t know: In Perrault’s famous fairy tale “La Belle au bois dormant” from 1697 (ie. "Sleeping Beauty”), the original French text describes how each fairy attending the baby’s christening is given an exquisite “fork holder” as their party favor.
By: The Scribe on Monday, May 13, 2013
Okay, so maybe the ancient shrew from the Late Miocene period wasn’t technically man-eating—and we’re not sure if it was even a carnivore at all—but it might as well have been! Its name, deinogalerix, comes from the ancient Greek words for “terrible” and “shrew,” and one look at its remains is enough to make any animal-lover take a step back!
The Deinogalerix lived on Gargano Island, part of Italy on what is now called the Gargano Peninsula. The island is known for having been home to several species of larger-than-usual creatures during prehistoric times, all of which evolved very differently here than their relatives elsewhere in the world.
Deinogalerix had a 20cm long skull, with the rest of the body covering another 40cm. It would have looked like a hairy, rat-like hedgehog without quills—with a long, conical face, a long tail, long hair, and tiny pointed ears.
They may have lived off bugs like crickets, beetles, and dragonflies, though the bigger the creature grew? The more likely it is to have eaten small mammals, or birds and reptiles. With a jaw of at least 20cm, that’s certainly believable!
Fossils of these creatures have been found in caves on the Gargano Peninsula, dating back to 15 million years ago.
A new study on these fossils was released in the journal Geobios in January 2013—so it may only be a matter of time before we know plenty more about the giant, terrible shrew of prehistoric times!
By: The Scribe on Friday, May 10, 2013
In the first post of this series, we learned about the origins of the ancient position known as Dalai Lama—leader of a Buddhist monastic sect which has been around for many centuries (and continues with the 14th Dalai Lama, alive today).
The first Dalai Lama came from humble beginnings as the son of Gonpo Dorjee and Jomo Namkha Kyi—nomadic tribespeople in central Tibet. Born in a cowshed in 1391 and given the name Pema Dorjee, he was raised as a shepherd until seven years old… when he was placed in the Narthang Monastery.
At the age of 20, he became a full-fledged monk and received his new name, Gedun Drup, as part of the vows. It wasn’t long before Gedun showed himself to be worthy of the position of abbot, and he quickly rose to prominence as one of the foremost scholar-saints in Tibet.
According to Buddhist tradition, Gedun received a vision from the sacred lake Lhamo La-tso’s female guardian spirit, Palden Lhamo, which said that she would protect the reincarnation lineage of the Dalai Lamas—essentially promising his reincarnation in a successor.
During his time as an influential scholar and spiritual man, Gedun founded several monasteries and wrote a number of philosophical texts. And unlike the Dalai Lamas of today, Gedun held no political power whatsoever.
It’s also notable that it wasn’t until long after his death in 1474—while meditating at 84 years old!—that he received the title Dalai Lama.
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Believe it or not, people have been losing pairs of scissors in their homes for thousands of years! Sadly, for most generations, the concept of a dollar store didn’t exist, which meant that losing your only pair of scissors made life just that much more inconvenient.
