Survey 1

Fashion and tools in Ancient Egypt

For my Survey one blog post I chose ancient Egypt as my time period. The two topics I chose to focus on are tools and sciences, as well as fashion. Ancient Egypt was a fascinating portion of history that we are lucky to have well-kept records of. Let’s get into it.

I found it easier to find information on tools rather than sciences for this period as Egyptians were geniuses when it came to engineering. The Egyptians made incredible jumps in innovation and productivity with their inventions, many of which are still in use today to some extent.

Let us begin with time. The sundial was one of the two main kinds of clocks used by the Egyptians. It was presumably invented in the 8th century BCE and was a device that used shadows cast by the sun to tell time. Time was crucial to ancient Egypt as they had advanced systems for farming and yearly flooding of the Nial River. They invented their own calendar to keep track of the years, and irrigation systems to redistribute floodwaters and allow for control over more land.

Egypt also has some of the first evidence of door locks. Pin locks, much like the ones used today in our own homes, were found in buildings. They were much larger and presumably much easier to lockpick but nevertheless, it was a system of locking that has never gone out of style.

Fashion was also important to the Egyptian people. Both men and women wore wigs and makeup. They wore kohl on their eyes and ochre on their cheeks. Many fashion items were worn to signify and display wealth and sexuality.

Nudity was commonplace in Ancient Egypt and not taboo. Women would wear Kalas which were thin sheer dresses to protect their skin but also allow themselves to stay cool. Men were almost always seen wearing Shenti’s which were white skirts to protect their genitals from the work they were doing. People with money and importance would wear their shenti starched and stiff with lots of space in the front to represent their massive… amounts of fertility.

We also can’t forget about the headdresses. The one we are all most familiar with is the Nemes, which was made of stripped starched linen and is commonly seen represented on the tombs and sarcophaguses of pharaohs.

There is a lot we have taken and kept from Ancient Egypt, from their eyeliner to their irrigation systems and we would not be where we are today without the engineers of that time period.