Ancient People: Expert Mattress Makers

People long ago knew how to use medicinal plants to make bug-repelling bedding.


Summary: The world’s oldest bedding, dated at “77,000 years old” and made of mosquito-repellant evergreens, has been discovered in a South African cave.  The use of medicinal plants along with other artifacts at the cave helps show how creative these early peoples were, according to an international team of archaeologists.


A stack of ancient beds was found at Sibudu, a cave in a sandstone cliff in South Africa.  They are made of compacted stems and leaves from sedges, rushes and grasses that grew along the uThongathi River directly below the site.  The oldest of the mats are “50,000 years” older than other known examples of plant bedding.


"The preservation of material at Sibudu is really exceptional," said researcher Christopher Miller, a geoarchaeologist at Germany’s U. of Tübingen. The plant remains are of evergreen plants from the species Cryptocarya which are used extensively in traditional medicines. When the leaves are crushed, insect-repelling scents are released.


"The selection of these leaves for the construction of bedding suggests that the early inhabitants of Sibudu had an intimate knowledge of the plants surrounding the shelter, and were aware of their medicinal uses,” archaeologist Lyn Wadley said. "Herbal medicines would have provided advantages for human health, and the use of insect-repelling plants adds a new dimension to our understanding of behavior 77,000 years ago." 


Research showed the inhabitants repeatedly refurbished the mats and apparently also burned the bedding regularly, possibly to remove pests.  According to Miller, it was a novel use of fire. The age of the oldest mats is roughly contemporaneous with other evidence of modern human behavior such as perforated shell beads, sharpened bone points used for hunting, bow and arrow technology, the use of snares and traps and the production of glue. "These discoveries show the creativity and diversity of behavior that these early humans practiced," Miller said.


(Photo of Cryptocarya from Wikimedia, credited to Penarc.) 


To read the entire article, click on MSNBC.


Comment: The key word in today’s post is surprise.  Scientists once again appear genuinely surprised that people they consider ancients were capable of some really creative abilities.  (The December 5 post dealt with the surprise scientists experienced when they discovered how adept ancient fishermen were at fishing the deep seas and catching fast-moving fish like tuna.)


In my 50+ years of studying creation-evolution issues, it has become commonplace to read of the surprise archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists and other scientists have over some recent discoveries. Whether it’s the discovery that Neanderthals were as similar to modern man as one “race” is to another or the discovery that dinosaur fossils still contain soft tissue or the acknowledgement that the universe appears to have been designed specifically for life, it’s one surprise after another. Researchers really should be questioning their presuppositions concerning old ages (“deep time”) and an evolutionist origin of the universe and life. If they got rid of these notions, they wouldn’t get surprised so often.


While the discoveries of old, cleverly-designed bedding or ancient intelligent fishermen doesn’t prove evolution and its timeline are wrong, this research does fit in nicely with the picture the Bible paints of how the world and its living creatures got started.  Mankind was created with intelligence, animals were given their gifts at the time of creation, and the world was designed by the Creator specifically for life.


It may not be politically correct, but it is biblically correct to warn that many scientists and non-scientists alike will experience a hugely unhappy surprise one day. According to Daniel 12:2, “multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Some people who have not repented of their sins and who have rejected Jesus may still know or strongly suspect what will happen to them when they die. But for most unbelievers, the entrance into the afterlife will be a really unpleasant surprise. However, for those people who have repented of their sins and do trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, death is like a sleep from which they will awaken to enjoy the pleasures of heaven, as they have long been promised. No surprise there.  


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QUESTION OF THE DAY


How many people have died from AIDS since it was first identified 30 years ago?


More then 33 million people worldwide have died from AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) which is caused by the HIV virus.  About 50,000 Americans still become affected every year, with homosexual men still accounting for most of the cases. There is no cure yet.


Source: USA Weekend (December 2-4, 2011)


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