History of beds

You really don’t consider the origins of your bed, yet you spend such a lot of your lifetime in it. It’s funny how contradictory we humans may be. Well, let me flicker your curiosity with this fascinating fact: the bed you have got in your bedroom, during which you spend most of your nights sleeping or not, has some rich history behind it, and no, it’s not as simple as: “it’s a king-size because kings want to sleep in such a bed”.

The earliest history of bed sizes is under confusion as historians couldn’t agree on one thing. There are records dating 77 000 years back in the African country, where evidence from the traditional people of Sibudu was seen within the kind of a bed structure.

Their beds were made of sedge grass where the aromatic leaves acted as a real insecticide repelling mosquitos and creating a friendly ambience for sleeping.

Since the Sibudu people were believed to be wanderers who travelled often, these beds were burned and there are hardly any traces left behind. Another standing for the earliest bed dates 10 000 years ago during the Neolithic period when it’s believed the primary primitive beds were invented.

For prehistoric migratory people, life on the move meant that nights were typically spent resting on a pile of leaves or grass heaped into a pit within the ground.

At Hinds sink southwestern Texas, archaeologists believe the shallow, grass-lined pits discovered were used as sleeping pits for the various bands of hunter-gatherers who used the spot as a momentary home.

Most likely they slept curved in a very fetal position so as to suit the small, rounded spaces. Perhaps this kept the sleeper warm and cosy during the night.

Ancient Egyptians designed the raised bed. This kept the sleeper off the cold ground and also made it more problematic for rodents, insects or snakes to crawl over the bed.

Their beds were manufactured from plain wood (if you were a commoner) or covered with gold, jewels and ebony if you were of high colonial status, the simple bed was topped with a mattress made from wool cushions. Linen sheets and a stone or wooden head support added extra comfort.

The wealthier residents of ancient Rome slept on raised beds fabricated from metal, with woven metal supports to carry the feather or straw-stuffed mattress. Less fortunate people had similar beds made of wood, with wool strings holding up the mattress.