Dentures and false teeth are a common part of our world. We have all heard the myths about them such as George Washington having wooden dentures and many of us have relatives with false teeth. The Etruscans of northern Italy produced dentures using human and animal teeth as early as 700 BC. The teeth decayed rapidly but were easy to make and were used often until the middle of the 19th century.
Early European dentures from the 15th century were made of bone or ivory. Often human teeth were used either from recently deceased or poor people who sold their teeth for money. These dentures were not comfortable and were attached to any remaining teeth by threads of silk or metal. Wealthy persons had dentures made of silver, gold, or mother of pearl. Keeping the false teeth in the mouth became difficult as the number of real teeth decreased and those that had full dentures had to remove them to eat.
Claudius Ash manufactured top quality porcelain dentures and affixed them to 18-carat gold plates in 1820. Plaster was used to make molds of the mouth which made dentures a better fit and the use of Vulcanite (hardened rubber) became common in the 1850s. It was cheap and flexible which made it easy to work with and Ash’s company was a prime manufacturer of dental quality Vulcanized rubber.
Sometime between 4500 and 1200 B.C. an ancient civilization created large megalithic monuments in the regions that today form the countries of Spain, France, Ireland, Britain and Sweden. Archaeologists believe the civilizations that built these megalithic structures throughout Western Europe may have developed farming around 4500 B.C. Several centuries later, the first megaliths were built in Brittany and Ireland in approximately 4300 B.C., followed by the building of more elaborate megalithic structures in the centuries that followed. The most famous of these megalithic monuments are Stonehenge, the Ring of Brodgar and Stoney Littleton.
| Stonehenge, perhaps the most impressive of these megalithic monuments, is located in southern England. Stonehenge was built in three stages. The first phase, a circular earth bank bordering the monument was probably made around 3100 B.C. The second phase consisted of a timber structure build within the circular earth bank of the first phase. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that Stonehenge was used as a cremation cemetery beginning in this second phase of development. The stones themselves however, were probably not erected until several hundred years later, around 2400 |
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| B.C. The megaliths formed a circle of eighty huge shaped upright stones linked by beams. Then, over the course of approximately two hundred years later, thirty enormous stones were added to the site. | ||||||||||
Two other noteworthy ancient megalithic structures are: the Ring of Brodgar and Stoney Littleton. The Ring of Brodgar is located in the Orkney Islands off the northeast coast of Scotland. The large stones found at Brodgar are approximately the same age as the megalithic stones of Stonehenge and their tall, thin and pointed profiles are eerily similar to Stonehenge’s larger ones. Stoney Littleton near Bath, England on the other hand is entirely different in appearance with a long exposed barrow that leads to three different burial chambers.
Though no written records from the civilization that created Stonehenge and the other megalithic structures exist, it is apparent that they displayed some knowledge of engineering and metallurgy. Archaeological evidence suggests that the megalithic monument of Stonehenge could have been used as an astronomical observatory, a religious site used by Druids or a burial ground. And it is known that in approximately 2400 B.C., the megalithic civilizations learned to mine and use copper , a significant step in the development of the human race.
Tags: 4500 B.C., Ancient History, Ancient History Store, astronomy, bronze age, burial sites, Cycladic Goddess Standing Statue, Cycladic Lovers with Arms Interlocking Statue, Cycladic Thinker Statue, Druids, history of megalithic europe, megalithic europe, megalithic Western Europe, ring of brodgar, stonehenge, stoney littleton
Every year we cook the turkey, gather friends and family and share stories. But where does the tradition of Thanksgiving come from? How does the feast of today figure into American history and how distorted have the stories of pilgrims, corn and pumpkins become?
A native guide and interpreter known as Massasoit was informed by fellow tribesman that the English were shooting and using their guns. Although the translator could not be certain whether the colonists were shooting game for dinner or starting a war, he arrived back at the colony with approximately 90-armed men. It seemed a cautious approach to the recent arrivals.
It wasn’t until 1777 that the first official nationwide Thanksgiving celebration took place. In fact, the feast that year was to celebrate the defeat of the British during the battle of Saratoga. Early 19th century historians mistakenly labeled the Plymouth sit down (rather than possible standoff) as the first Thanksgiving.
The history of costume in religious ceremonies and as worn by religious figures, such as priests or shamans or other spiritual leaders, has shown interest in, if not relevance of, distinguishing religious leaders from the greater population and endowing him/her with a certain authority. By virtue of marking distinction, ceremonial costume not only makes others aware of a spiritual figure’s role but can be appreciated to confirm to the wearer his own mission and responsibility to his respective belief-system.
Examples of costume in religion are available from every culture. In the western religions, we are most familiar, perhaps, with the dress of the Jewish rabbi or the Catholic priest or Christian minister, as well as the Muslim imam. The history of Jewish religious dress is more extensive and references to specific garments worn by the Jewish High Priest are even found in the Book of Exodus. According to Rabbinical study, each garment worn by the priest was meant to atone for a particular sin committed by the Children of Israel. The symbolism of different attributes of the garments is rich and has lasted through the Rabbinical tradition of millenia. Similarly, the early Catholic Church defined the ceremonial costume that is retained by Catholic clergy today. 
When fashions began to change in Europe and the simple tunic evolved into more gender-defined garments, with alterations in hemline and waist definition, the clergy held on to the tunic-robe form and in this manner classified themselves apart from the general population. The sacred vestments of the church would evolve to show distinctions in color (green, white, red, violet, and occasionally gold) but over time would essentially remain integral as a tradition. During the period of the religious reforms and the particular religious fervor at the turn of the first millenium, marked by the Crusades and religious pilgrimages, monasticism redefined itself through the establishment of the new mendicant orders. These ascetic orders, such as the Dominicans and the Franciscans, took vows of poverty and relied on the charity of the general populace. They also distinguished themselves in their garments, both from other Church figures and from greater society. Franciscans wore rough brown wool robes with ropes as belts and Dominicans wore white and black robes. Interestingly, the mendicant orders and the institutional church figures both had the intention of catering to the spiritual interests of the population though they did so from very different vantage points, as is apparent through the costumes they inhabited.
During the middle ages the fabrics used most for clothing were wool and linen. The tradition of spinning wool for fiber had existed for more than 5000 years and by the medieval period in Europe wool was established as the standard fabric for all classes. The gradations of thread quality determined the cost of certain types of wool fabric but everyone, from peasant to landowner to royalty, wore wool as a staple of their wardrobe. The peasant classes would afford the coarser wool for their simple tunics, cowls and headwear while the landed classes would have fine garments made of wool woven as fine as silk, dyed in rich hues, and often enhanced with embroidery. Silk as a popular material for costume was not easily available to western Europe until the period of the Crusades when the materials and methods of oriental fashion were brought back by the crusading armies. Linen, too, was used for undergarments but was not as valued as wool because linen threads could not be spun to the same levels of distinction as wool and linen fabrics were not as good as wool in absorbing color dyes.
In medieval Europe the wool trade was particularly a phenomenon of England’s dealing, mercantile class and became its leading industry, at its peak accounting for close to 90% of the revenues. The significance of wool to the development of England’s economy is even manifest in church structures that were built to grandiose scale with money from the wool trade—known as wool churches. England dominated the commercial routes of the material, closely managing exportation and essentially monopolizing distribution. 
