Spectrum of ancient ‘firsts’ for the Rainbow Nation
Spectrum of ancient ‘firsts’ for the Rainbow Nation
South Africa can boast a number of ancient firsts – the first controlled use of fire (1-1.8 million years ago), some of the earliest stone tools (2 million years ago), the earliest sharp-pointed bone, shell and horn tools (1.5 million years ago), the first paint pot (a perlemoen shell containing ochre paint, 100 000 years old, now on display at Iziko South African Museum), the earliest known abstract artwork (engraved ochre artefact, 77 000 years old) and the first mathematical device (Lunar Stick, 37 000 years old).
Now the oldest bed (by far) has been found in South Africa, dating from about 77 000 years ago, and it’s a bed with a difference.
We ‘make a bed’ today because people in the Middle Ages did just that – they rolled out a cloth bag of straw and slept on it. If it was cold, they pulled a blanket or coat over them. Later mattresses were filled with down, feathers, wool, hair, cotton, wood shavings, sea moss, sawdust or corn husks, in descending order of comfort.
In the first beds, the mattress was supported by a lattice of ropes strung tight from the bed frame (hence the expression ‘sleep tight’). Spring mattresses were only invented in 1865, but early versions were dangerous as the springs occasionally sprung out and impaled their occupants.
South Africa’s ‘first bed’ was discovered by Professor Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand while excavating a site at Sibudu. This is a rock shelter on a cliff face on the banks of the uThongathi River, 40 km north of Durban, where she has been working as an archaeologist since 1998. At this site, the sediments are more than 3 metres deep, and it was only in October/November 2010 that she excavated down to the 77 000 year old layers.
At this depth, she made the extraordinary discovery of a bed (about 1 x 2 metres in size) made from bundles of sedge laid directly on the ground, which would have created a comfortable mattress about 50 cm thick. What was special about the bed was that it was covered with a layer of aromatic leaves from a plant called the River Wild-Quince (Cryptocarya woodii).
No other tree leaves were found on the bedding so the leaves were not there as a result of random leaf fall. What’s more, we know now that the leaves of the River Wild-Quince have insect-repellent properties, especially against mosquitoes, so these bed makers clearly had a good knowledge of herbal medicine. There is also evidence at the site that the bedding was occasionally burnt, presumably to get rid of residual bugs.
The bed makers were Middle Stone Age humans (Homo sapiens) like us, who were also skilled in making stone tools, including spearheads, knives and scrapers, as well as perforated shell jewellery. They also made bone tools and mixed ochre, which may also have been used as an insect repellent or as paint.
Prior to this extraordinary discovery, the earliest known beds were about 25 000 years old, and the earliest known use of herbal medicine about 5 000 years ago, so we are clearly in the first league of early bed makers.
But it seems that the development of bed making went backwards in our species. During the Middle Ages in Europe, their feather, wool or straw mattresses were infested with cockroaches, bed bugs, lice, spiders and mites, sometimes even rats and mice. They didn’t have a clue about how to repel these pests. Recent research has revealed that even modern mattresses and pillows harbour formidable populations of body lice, head lice and bedbugs, which appear to be making a comeback, perhaps because they are becoming resistant to our artificial insecticides.
Perhaps we could learn a lesson or two from our Middle Stone Age ancestors?
