Uncover the 8 Surprisingly Essential Household Items That Defined Ancient Egyptian Family Life!
When you hear “Ancient Egypt,” your mind probably jumps straight to pyramids, mummies, and those cryptic hieroglyphs carved into stone walls. But did you know that beneath all that grandeur, everyday Egyptian families were clutching onto some pretty surprising household items? Think woolly socks in the desert heat or stone pillows—not exactly your average bedtime story, right? Archaeologists keep digging up these fascinating tidbits that paint a far richer picture of daily life than we ever imagined. So, what did the average ancient Egyptian consider essential beyond the grand monuments and mystical spells? Let’s journey into the past and uncover eight common items that graced the homes of Pharaohs—and maybe find out why some of their habits might just make you rethink your own daily routine.
Ancient Egypt might be best known for its pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphs, but modern archaeologists are still regularly unearthing new and amazing finds from what remains of this extraordinary era.
Between the drawings, art, writing, and archaeological remnants of this time, we know a lot about how people of this era lived and what they valued. People of ancient Egypt placed a strong emphasis on cleanliness, believing that this was linked to spiritual well-being and the afterlife. Many of their beauty and hygiene rituals, from toothpaste to early variations on breath mints, remain in use today. They also enjoyed board games and even woolly socks.
These eight items could be found in almost every ancient Egyptian home, and were a part of day-to-day life in the land of the pharaohs.
Tweezers
The ancient Egyptians placed a great deal of emphasis on appearance. Most families would have kept a pair of tweezers around to remove unwanted hairs from their bodies and faces, as is still common today. Men and women both used these tools, with men normally staying clean-shaven and women carefully removing excess body hair. Often, this was done in front of mirrors at home.
Many families also had razors they would use to shave away excess hair, and wigs were common among men and women of upper-class families and were seen as symbols of cleanliness and wealth. Larger tweezers may also have been used to hold pots above ovens, for mummification, and other purposes, but archaeological evidence shows that the ancient Egyptians definitely valued their beauty routines.
Socks
We often think of ancient Egypt as a burning-hot desert, but just as in many deserts today, nights and mornings could sometimes be quite cool. Because of this, some ancient Egyptians possessed pairs of thick, dyed wool socks. These garments were often specially made with split toes so they could be worn with sandals, proving that the socks-with-sandals trend actually has extremely ancient roots. Many of these socks were made with a technique called nålbindning, which involves using a single needle and resembles sewing rather than knitting.
Querns
Querns are some of the oldest cooking devices out there. They essentially consist of two stones that can be rubbed together to crush grains, spices, herbs, and minerals, and the earliest known models date back to the Early Neolithic period. These devices were common in ancient Egypt, where querns were used in every kitchen to grind grain into flour, which was the first step in baking bread.
They were typically made from granite, basalt, limestone, or sandstone. Women and servants would often spend long hours kneeling on hard floors and moving these stones back and forth to produce flour, a challenging and laborious process that undoubtedly left you feeling pretty sore afterward.
Pots
Go to any ancient Egypt-themed exhibit and you’ll see countless pots, bowls, and vessels bearing various carvings and inscriptions. Every Egyptian family, no matter their social class, possessed a variety of pottery made from fired clay. From wine mugs to water jugs, ancient Egyptians had a lot of different types of pots used to hold various substances. Lamps also often consisted of pots filled with animal or vegetable oils and containing floating linen wicks.
Potters of later Egyptian history would typically make their pots on pottery wheels, and would then submerge them in dye baths. Large clay pots were also commonly used for funerary purposes, often serving as vessels for internal organs or embalming fluids or sometimes holding entire corpses. Ancient Egyptian families would also often leave vessels in tombs, which were intended for use by the dead in the afterlife.
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