The Invention of Trousers: A History of the Garment That Transformed Humanity

Trousers, pants, slacks—nno matter the name, they are an integral part of our everyday wardrobe. What began as a practical solution to a practical problem has become a staple of fashion across cultures. But have you ever stopped to ponder the origins of this garment? When did our ancestors decide to ditch the tunic, robe, or loincloth in favor of trousers? In this article, we will delve into the intriguing history of the invention of trousers.

Prehistoric Beginnings

The exact origins of trousers remain somewhat unclear, largely due to the absence of ancient textiles that have survived through the millennia. However, archaeological evidence has provided some intriguing clues. In 2014, a study published in the journal Quaternary International discovered the earliest known examples of trousers in western China, dating back to around 3,000 to 3,300 BC.

These ancient trousers were made of wool and designed with straight legs and a wide crotch. This wide crotch, often referred to as a steppe crotch, had a slit that might have been used to tie the trousers around the waist. Archaeologists speculate that these trousers were invented for riding, as they provide protection while allowing the rider flexibility and freedom of movement.

Development and Spread

The use of trousers began to spread with the advent of horseback riding and the strategic advantage it provided for warfare. This new mode of transportation necessitated a new type of clothing that allowed for greater flexibility and protection. As the popularity of horseback riding grew, so did the prevalence of trousers.

Trousers found their way to the Mediterranean world through cultural contact with Persians and other cultures of the East. Greek historians such as Herodotus described the Persian use of trousers in the 5th century BC, and it wasn't long before the Greeks and Romans adopted this practical garment, although not without some cultural resistance, as it was initially seen as 'barbarian' dress.

It is worth noting that while trousers were predominantly a male garment in many cultures, women also wore trousers in certain societies, particularly those where horse riding was common for both genders.

Evolution through the Ages

Over the centuries, the basic design of trousers evolved in various directions according to cultural needs and aesthetic trends. Breeches, a type of trouser that ends just below the knee, became common in Europe from the 16th to the early 19th centuries. These were often worn with stockings and were a standard part of men's dress.

As Europe transitioned into the Industrial Revolution, the design of trousers changed again. The need for practical and durable clothing for factory and manual work led to the invention of denim jeans in the United States in the late 19th century, a style that has persisted to this day.

Meanwhile, women's fashion began to incorporate trousers more frequently in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the context of the women's rights movement. The advent of World Wars I and II accelerated this trend as many women entered the workforce and required practical clothing.

Trousers Today

In today's global society, trousers have transcended cultural boundaries and become a universally accepted form of clothing. They come in an endless variety of styles, from casual jeans to formal tuxedo pants, serving a plethora of purposes. The evolution of trousers continues in response to changes in societal norms, technology, and fashion trends.

Whether you're donning denim jeans for a casual outing or dressing up in a formal suit, remember that the trousers you wear are the result of a millennia-long journey, adapting to meet the needs of humans throughout history. The story of trousers is one of practicality and ingenuity, a testament to humanity's endless creativity and the remarkable evolution of culture.

Today, everybody wears trousers—men and women, young and old—at almost all occasions. But who invented the trousers? When? Where? Why? This documentary tells the story of an international research team’s pursuit to find answers to these questions. The camera accompanies the scientists to dry inner Asian archaeological excavation sites in China and the working tables of conservators; to laboratories of ancient climate and animal DNA research; to sheep shearer’s barns and fashion designer’s studios. Viewers can watch the team make discoveries and face insurmountable obstacles in the process of reverse engineering when they try to reproduce the oldest known trousers in the world. The documentary comprises unpublished film material, animation sequences, and music specially composed for this story. The film is the result of cooperation between archaeologists and students of Film University Babelsberg (Konrad Wolf).

Craziest Things Ancient Romans Did

Here is a top list of 20 history facts you probably didn't know about the ancient Roman Empire. From bloody gladiator fights at the colosseum to insane emperors drinking poison. From women sporting a unibrow to gluttony to the point of vomiting. Find out what Julius Caesar and the Senate were really up to.

Real Mermaid Sightings Around The World

Check out these real mermaid sightings around the world! This top 10 list of amazing discoveries of real life mermaid bodies is absolutely intrigueing. Enjoy!

The Nasty Lives Of Concubines In Imperial China

The word “concubine” has several definitions and many connotations. The easiest way to define the Chinese type of concubinage, at least among the very rich and the Imperial family was that they were mistresses.

Concubinage in China differed in many ways from that of other nations, though it did have similarities as well. At the very top, in the Imperial Household, there was sisterhood, rivalry, palace intrigue, and much more. This likely took place at the home of rich men too. In the Imperial China which lasted until the Communist Revolution of 1949, a man could have only one wife, but as many concubines as he could afford to house, clothe and feed. Frequently, in Chinese history (and that of other nations), a man's wealth and power were partly judged by the number of concubines he kept and how they lived.

Likely the most famous system of concubinage existed within the Chinese imperial family, likely going back at least two thousand years to the Han Dynasty, which lasted from 25AD- to 220AD. The law then, and going forward to 1949 was that the higher the rank of the man, the more concubines he was able to have. Since Han times and likely before, a concubine could be bought, at a slave market in the earliest times, or from a family with an attractive daughter who needed money to survive – these are just two examples. In many cases, a wife would have to approve of this “transaction”. History is full of tales of Chinese wives mistreating their husband's concubine or concubines, sometimes addressed as “little sister”, with a number attached in case of multiple women. That was a common occurrence, but likely as common was a good relationship – especially in a bad marriage: a concubine/mistress could take the attention and pressure off a wife and allow her her own time – even more so in a household with multiple concubines.

The Diabolical Things That Napoleon Bonaparte Did During His Reign

Napoleon Bonaparte, born in then Italian Corsica in 1769, was the dominant personality of his time. He died in exile on the lonely British South Atlantic island of St. Helena in 1821. But though he was a shell of his former self living in isolation in the middle of nowhere, his life cast a long shadow, and his influence continued for decades after his death. His military philosophy and tactics are still taught throughout the world, for though the weapons of today are much different than those used by his armies, the tactics he used on the battlefield are timeless: speed, audacity, and surprise being foremost among them.

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most fascinating men in history. If this introduction to the darker side of Napoleon interests you, please “like” and subscribe to our channel! Vive' l'France!

Napoleon became Emperor of France in 1804, though he had been the country's de facto ruler since 1799. For anyone to become emperor after the French Revolution of 1789 and the years immediately after had been unthinkable. The Revolution took place to rid France of a king and a system of privilege and oppression. That revolution cost a lot of blood and treasure and caused years of struggle and chaos in France. When Napoleon was ready to take power, the French were tired of political violence and upheaval, high prices, food shortages, and corrupt government. Napoleon, like Caesar more than 1800 years before him, promised law, order, and economic stability.For the first years of his reign, Napoleon managed to do just that, bring a sense of stability. He also brought France military glory. He rose to fame in the 1790s through his prowess on the battlefield. He helped to bring the ideals of the French Revolution to many parts of Europe. Unfortunately for France and Napoleon, his "eyes were bigger than his stomach," and he "bit off more than he could chew," making enemies of Great Britain and Russia.

The Unspeakable Things Emperor Commodus Did During His Reign

Commodus had ruled Rome from 177. For the first three years of his reign, he was actually "co-Emperor" with his illustrious father, Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius is well-known today for the collection of his writings entitled "The Reflections of Marcus Aurelius," a virtual handbook for those who wish to live a calm, stoic life of moderation. Marcus Aurelius was a revered figure in his time, and in the time since, he has been dubbed one of the "Five Good Emperors" for his accomplishments: expanding the borders of the empire and increasing the prosperity of Rome.

Commodus, whose birth name was "Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus," may have suffered from an inferiority complex, knowing or believing that he could not and would not achieve his father's fame. He may also have been one of the countless spoiled princes throughout history, never being forbidden anything, especially since his stoic father was often absent governing the empire. He might also have been seriously ill mentally – he may have been all three. We will never know for sure. We know that Commodus committed many crimes – not crimes to him perhaps, but to us? Without doubt.

Commodus is sometimes compared to the earlier Roman emperor Nero (37AD- 68 AD). Nero is still remembered as one of the cruellest emperors, and his life ended when he ordered his slave to kill him – he had just been pronounced a "public enemy" by the Senate for his harsh rile. Commodus was also cruel, and he was finally strangled by a champion wrestler, the killing arranged by his advisers.

Both emperors fancied themselves artists. Nero was famed for dressing as a woman and putting on public concerts – he was reputedly terrible, but no one dared not applaud the performances. Commodus also loved singing and dancing and fancied himself a comedian, though his crudity made his aristocratic peers uncomfortable. He also believed himself to be a great gladiator and fought with trained slaves or gladiators, but never in public. Pity the slave or gladiator that didn't let the emperor win, though it is said that Commodus was quite skilled.

Seven Million Years of Human Evolution

Scientists use fossils to reconstruct the evolutionary history of hominins—the group that includes modern humans, our immediate ancestors, and other extinct relatives. Today, our closest living relatives are chimpanzees, but extinct hominins are even closer. Where and when did they live? What can we learn about their lives? Why did they go extinct? Scientists look to fossils for clues.

Experts Unearthed A Strange Sarcophagus Beneath Notre Dame That Is Casting A New Light On History

April 15, 2019, was a grim day for the people of Paris. Their beloved Notre-Dame, the imposing cathedral that had stood tall their whole lives, was burning to the ground — and it seemed, in that moment, like it would never recover. A few years later, of course, we’ve seen repair works instigated to restore the medieval monument to its former glory. But nobody could have predicted the secret that this project would reveal beneath this centuries-old building.

The Unspeakable Things Vlad the Impaler Did During His Reign

Vlad lived from 1431-1476. The Middle Ages. An excellent time for impaling. Before we get into the details of Vlad’s life, let’s talk about his favorite past-time. In the 15th century, impalement was not that unusual. Rulers in Europe inflicted it on their enemies – occasionally. The Ottoman Turkish Empire, however, made a regular practice of it, and Vlad had been their “guest” as a child.

Most often, at least under Vlad, poles were cut to about seven feet tall and three inches around. They were made of sturdy wood so they wouldn't bend or break with the weight of the victim, and one end was somewhat sharp or pointy on one end, though not too sharp, for that would cut short the punishment. The pole was greased or oiled and the victim, whose hands and feet were bound, was lowered, anus first, onto the pole. The victim's weight caused them to slowly, sometimes very slowly, to descend on the pole, driving it through the body.

Some torturers were highly skilled in impalement, and knew that if they pulled and lowered the body a certain way, the stake was likely to follow the length of the spine and not pierce vital organs. This could mean that a victim lasted for hours, if not days. If they major organs were pierced, then death usually came quickly. In some countries, people were impaled sideways, but that meant they would sink to the ground rapidly and not really be visible from a distance.

On the traces of an Ancient Civilization?

In the following video we will perfom an investigation on the past of ancient civilization, which visits the greatest archaeological sites of our planet, and challenges by its daring hypothesis. Enjoy!

15 Unsolved Mysteries That Cannot Be Explained

Today, we take a look at these 15 unsolved mysteries that cannot be explained. Unsolved mysteries have always intrigued people because they represent the unknown and the unexplained, which can be both fascinating and unsettling. Humans are naturally curious creatures, and we are always looking for answers to the questions that intrigue us.

The Palpa flat mountain, along with the Palpa Lines or Palpa geoglyphs, is a mysterious site located in the Palpa province of Peru. The designs are formed by the exposure of the lighter-colored soil underneath and can range in size from a few feet to over five hundred feet in length.

Archeologists Discover “Sistine Chapel of the Ancients” With Thousands of Ice Age Rock Paintings

One of the world’s largest collections of prehistoric rock art has been discovered in the Amazonian rainforest.

Hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients”, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago across cliff faces that stretch across nearly eight miles in Colombia.

Their date is based partly on their depictions of now-extinct ice age animals, such as the mastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant that hasn’t roamed South America for at least 12,000 years. There are also images of the palaeolama, an extinct camelid, as well as giant sloths and ice age horses.

These animals were all seen and painted by some of the very first humans ever to reach the Amazon. Their pictures give a glimpse into a lost, ancient civilisation. Such is the sheer scale of paintings that they will take generations to study.

The discovery was made on 2019, but has been kept secret until 2020 as it was filmed for a major Channel 4 series to be screened in December: Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon.

The site is in the Serranía de la Lindosa where, along with the Chiribiquete national park, other rock art had been found. The documentary’s presenter, Ella Al-Shamahi, an archaeologist and explorer, told the Observer: “The new site is so new, they haven’t even given it a name yet.”

She spoke of the excitement of seeing “breathtaking” images that were created thousands of years ago.

The discovery was made by a British-Colombian team, funded by the European Research Council. Its leader is José Iriarte, professor of archaeology at Exeter University and a leading expert on the Amazon and pre-Columbian history.

He said: “When you’re there, your emotions flow … We’re talking about several tens of thousands of paintings. It’s going to take generations to record them … Every turn you do, it’s a new wall of paintings.

“We started seeing animals that are now extinct. The pictures are so natural and so well made that we have few doubts that you’re looking at a horse, for example. The ice-age horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed, we can even see the horse hair. It’s fascinating.”

The images include fish, turtles, lizards and birds, as well as people dancing and holding hands, among other scenes. One figure wears a mask resembling a bird with a beak.

The site is so remote that, after a two-hour drive from San José del Guaviare, a team of archaeologists and film-makers trekked on foot for around four hours.

They somehow avoided the region’s most dangerous inhabitants. “Caimans are everywhere, and we did keep our wits about us with snakes,” Al-Shamahi said, recalling an enormous bushmaster – “the deadliest snake in the Americas with an 80% mortality rate” – that blocked their jungle path. They had been delayed getting back, and it was already pitch black.

They had no choice but to walk past it, knowing that, if they were attacked, there was little chance of getting to a hospital. “You’re in the middle of nowhere,” she said. But it was “100%” worth it to see the paintings, she added.

As the documentary notes, Colombia is a land torn apart after 50 years of civil war that raged between Farc guerrillas and the Colombian government, now with an uneasy truce in place. The territory where the paintings have been discovered was completely off limits until recently and still involves careful negotiation to enter safely.

Al-Shamahi said: “When we entered Farc territory, it was exactly as a few of us have been screaming about for a long time. Exploration is not over. Scientific discovery is not over but the big discoveries now are going to be found in places that are disputed or hostile.”

The paintings vary in size. There are numerous handprints and many of the images are on that scale, be they geometric shapes, animals or humans. Others are much larger.

Al-Shamahi was struck by how high up many of them are: “I’m 5ft 10in and I would be breaking my neck looking up. How were they scaling those walls?”

Some of the paintings are so high they can only be viewed with drones.

Iriarte believes that the answer lies in depictions of wooden towers among the paintings, including figures appearing to bungee jump from them.

He added: “These paintings have a reddish terracotta colour. We also found pieces of ochre that they scraped to make them.”

Speculating on whether the paintings had a sacred or other purpose, he said: “It’s interesting to see that many of these large animals appear surrounded by small men with their arms raised, almost worshipping these animals.”

Observing that the imagery includes trees and hallucinogenic plants, he added: “For Amazonian people, non-humans like animals and plants have souls, and they communicate and engage with people in cooperative or hostile ways through the rituals and shamanic practices that we see depicted in the rock art.”

Al-Shamahi added: “One of the most fascinating things was seeing ice age megafauna because that’s a marker of time. I don’t think people realise that the Amazon has shifted in the way it looks. It hasn’t always been this rainforest. When you look at a horse or mastodon in these paintings, of course they weren’t going to live in a forest. They’re too big. Not only are they giving clues about when they were painted by some of the earliest people – that in itself is just mind-boggling – but they are also giving clues about what this very spot might have looked like: more savannah-like.”

Iriarte suspects that there are many more paintings to be found: “We’re just scratching the surface.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/n...

Man finds a family burial older than Egyptian pyramids while working in a garden

The unique discovery was made in May 2020 in the outskirts of Ulan-Ude, capital city of the mountainous Republic of Buryatia.

A resident of Ulan-Ude was working in the family garden with his son when they came across three skeletons - two adults and a child between them - buried in embryo positions metres away from their home.

‘I was digging a compost pit with my son, he was picking up stones and taking them away when suddenly a bone, a joint jumped out. I spent some time volunteering for searching squads in Kursk region (meaning that Alexey was helping to re-bury remains of the WWII soldiers, The Siberian Times), so I immediately understood that these were human remains.

'I carefully cleared top of the burial and saw the first adult’s skull first, then the child, then the second adult’, Alexey Agoshkov told a local TVcom TV channel.

His excited son Ivan said that he ran to report the find to his mother, who couldn’t believe that something as significant as an ancient burial could have been found in their garden.

Further archeological research established that the people were buried at least severn thousand years ago.

It’s not clear yet if the adults were a man and a woman; the cause of their death was not established yet.

No wounds suggesting that they could have died in a battle were found on the skeletons, said archeologist Natalia Tsydenova, researcher at the Institute of Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies.

A white stone ring was placed on top of one of the adults’ head before they were buried; the same person had bracelets made of shell on both wrists.

A fragment of a bone needle carrier was found on another adult skeleton along with three small plates of chalcedony by the hips.

Further research will establish gender of the people found in the burial, their age, racial identity and the cause of death.

The burial does look similar to Kitoy people, the early Neolithic culture of the North Angara region, though there are some differences from the traditional Kitoy graves, Natalia Tsydenova said.

Might this burial be a part of a bigger graveyard and belong to an ancient settlement?

Yes, and if so ‘it would be simply amazing’, said doctor of history Prokopy Konovalov who has been working at the site.

Source: https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/new...

The megalodon was one of the largest fish that ever lived

A Florida student figured out a way to more accurately measure the size of one of the largest fish that ever lived – the extinct megalodon shark – and found that it was even larger than previously estimated.

The megalodon (officially named Otodus megalodon, which means “Big Tooth”) lived between 3.6 and 23 million years ago and was thought to be about 34 feet long on average, reaching the maximum length of 60 feet. Now a new study puts that number at up to 65 feet (20 meters).

Homework assignment leads to a discovery

The study, published in Palaeontologia Electronica, used new equations extrapolated from the width of megalodon’s teeth to make the improved estimates. The paper’s lead author, Victor Perez, developed the revised methodology while he was a doctoral student at the Florida Museum of Natural History. He got the idea while teaching students, noticing a range of discrepancies in the results they were getting.

Students were supposed to calculate the size of megalodon based on the ancient fish’s similarities to the modern great white shark. They utilized the commonly accepted method of linking the height of a shark’s tooth to its total body length. As the press release from the Florida Museum of Natural History expounds, this method involves locating the anatomical position of a tooth in the shark’s jaw, measuring the tooth “from the tip of the crown to the line where root and crown meet,” and using that number in an appropriate equation.

But while carrying out calculations in this way, some of Perez’s students thought the shark would have been just 40 feet long, while others were calculating 148 feet. Teeth located toward the back of the mouth were yielding the largest estimates.

“I was going around, checking, like, did you use the wrong equation? Did you forget to convert your units?” said Perez, currently the assistant curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland. “But it very quickly became clear that it was not the students that had made the error. It was simply that the equations were not as accurate as we had predicted.”

The new approach

Perez’s math exercise demonstrated that the equations in use since 2002 were generating different size estimates for the same shark based on which tooth was being measured. Because megalodon teeth are most often found as standalone fossils, Perez focused on a nearly complete set of teeth donated by a fossil collector to design a new approach.

Perez also had help from Teddy Badaut, an avocational paleontologist in France, who suggested using tooth width instead of height, which would be proportional to the length of its body. Another collaborator on the revised method was Ronny Maik Leder, then a postdoctoral researcher at the Florida Museum, who aided in the development of the new set of equations.

The research team analyzed the widths of fossil teeth that came from 11 individual sharks of five species, which included megalodon and modern great white sharks, and created a model that connects how wide a tooth was to the size of the jaw for each species.

“I was quite surprised that indeed no one had thought of this before,” shared Leder, who is now director of the Natural History Museum in Leipzig, Germany. “The simple beauty of this method must have been too obvious to be seen. Our model was much more stable than previous approaches. This collaboration was a wonderful example of why working with amateur and hobby paleontologists is so important.”

Why use teeth?

In general, almost nothing of the super-shark survived to this day, other than a few vertebrae and a large number of big teeth. The megalodon’s skeleton was made of lightweight cartilage that decomposed after death. But teeth, with enamel that preserves very well, are “probably the most structurally stable thing in living organisms,” Perez said. Considering that megalodons lost thousands of teeth during a lifetime, these are the best resources we have in trying to figure out information about these long-gone giants.

Researchers suggest megalodon’s large jaws were very thick, made for grabbing prey and breaking its bones, exerting a bite force of up to 108,500 to 182,200 newtons.

Limitations of the new model

While the new model is better than previous methods, it’s still far from perfect in precisely figuring out the sizes of animals which lived so long ago and left behind few if any full remains. Because individual sharks come in a variety of sizes, Perez warned that even their new estimates have an error range of about 10 feet when it comes to the largest animals.

Other ambiguities may affect the results, such as the width of the megalodon’s jaw and the size of the gaps between its teeth, neither of which are accurately known. “There’s still more that could be done, but that would probably require finding a complete skeleton at this point,” Perez pointed out.

How did the megalodon go extinct?

Environmental changes that led to fluctuations in sea levels and disturbed ecosystems in the oceans likely led to the demise of these enormous ancient sharks. They were just too big to be sustained by diminishing food resources, says the ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research.

A 2018 study suggested that a supernova 2.6 million years ago hit Earth’s atmosphere with so much cosmic energy that it resulted in climate change. The cosmic rays that included particles called muons might have caused a mass extinction of giant ocean animals (“the megafauna”) that included the megalodon by causing mutations and cancer.

Scientists, led by Adrian Melott, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, estimated that “the cancer rate would go up about 50 percent for something the size of a human — and the bigger you are, the worse it is. For an elephant or a whale, the radiation dose goes way up,” as he explained in a press release.

Source: https://bigthink.com/the-past/ancient-mega...

Fantasy Mail Coifs are Stupid, and This is Why...

In the following video we will find out how well riveted mail over a padded cap protects against sword strikes. Would it just rattle your noggin a little or cause some less... tolerable results?