Evolution Of Beds
Posted by Arron on 15/01/2010 under Beds.
Evolution Of Beds
Sleep has been an essential part of life ever since living beings were created. The most important requirement for sleeping is a comfortable place. In the ancient times, the pre-historic living beings used as their beds whatever soft natural material that they could lay their hands on. They would lay these materials on the ground and sleep on them. However, gradually, they felt the need to raise the bed above the ground so that they could escape the bothersome pests and dirt. Ancient records show that people started making wooden legs with wooden pieces to connect the legs. Across these pieces they would make a network of rope so that they could get some comfortable spring action.
The Egyptian civilisation took the process of evolution forward by making high bedsteads and to climb the bed they made steps. They used to have pillows and curtains hanging around the bed. The elite of the Egyptian society had their beds made of wood and gilded with gold. The next innovation took place when they started using head-rests which were made with either stone, metal or wood and were semi-cylindrical in shape. Later on, artisans were employed to decorate the beds with gold, silver or ivory inlays. The Persians and the Greek added to the modernization of the bed with further improvements and decorations. They added a board at the head and laced bands of hide on it and placed skins on top. Silver, bronze and ivory veneering was also used to decorate the bedsteads.
The Romans made different types of beds for different purposes such as the chamber bed, the marriage bed, the table bed, the study bed and the bed for carrying the dead. Throughout the medieval ages and up to the modern times, the designs of beds kept changing in tune with the needs of the times ranging from large to small, heavy to light, and completely enclosed or partially enclosed with curtains.
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