Hey there!
Welcome to Life Noggin.
We’ve taken a few trips now back into the past to see what life was like in different
places at different times.
How about we spin the Deblocked wheel and see where we go next?
Alright, and it’s…
Mars in the year 2500?
Oh no, no, no, no!
I don’t think they’re ready to see that just yet.
Let’s pick… ancient Egypt instead!
There we go, that was a highly requested one, we’ll do that.
So, how hard would it have been for you to survive back in ancient Egypt?
Well it turns out it was pretty darn difficult.
There were a bunch of diseases and other dangers that people had to deal with.
Oddly enough, many of those dangers came from something that, in a lot of ways, allowed
life to flourish.
I’m talking about the Nile River.
The Nile River was a cornerstone of ancient Egyptian life, allowing people to settle down
and base their lives around farming, agriculture, and some fishing rather than having to roam
the lands.
Hey, Karen, go hunt and gather somewhere else!
Mine!
But the river came with some pretty significant drawbacks.
If you interacted with the water, you could come in contact with some pretty nasty parasites.
One such parasite was the Schistosoma worm, which could enter a human host through their
extremities and lay eggs in their bloodstream, causing some serious damage as the worms travelled
through their internal organs.
Wow ! Wow ! Sorry, just had to pause for a second.
Wow!
Another major issue, especially near the water, was malaria, which can cause flu-like symptoms
and lead to death if left untreated.
Oh yeah, and you better watch out for those crocodiles, too!
And, if you were a servant, you’d also have to worry about the life of your ruler as well,
because if they died, you might have been sacrificed and buried along with them!
In the earlier times of ancient Egypt, some of a ruler’s chosen servants were buried
with them around their tomb, which was seen as a high privilege.
Later down the line, they switched over to statues or models of the servants instead.
To help themselves out against some of these dangers, people back in ancient Egypt placed
a pretty high importance on amulets.
Amulets were charms or jewelry, that had a very symbolic meaning and were believed to
have magical or protective properties.
That supposed magical power came, in part, from what the amulet looked like — its shape,
color, and what it was made out of.
Many of the amulets looked like animals or gods.
And I don’t really know how well they protected people, but, hey, if you didn’t survive,
they also used amulets for people who died and were mummified, believed to help them
out in the afterlife.
What’s really interesting is that researchers believe that some of their practices back
then actually did have some science-backed means of protection to the dangers of the
time.
A 2010 study found that ancient Egyptians’ iconic black eye makeup, which was thought
to summon the power of the gods to help ward off illness, had antibacterial properties
that helped fend off infections.
The makeup was lead-based, and since lead can be toxic, the researchers argue that the
makeup could have killed-off bacteria and may have helped further prevent and treat
eye illnesses by promoting the action of immune cells.
It’s pretty neat!
You shouldn’t try this today though.
Since lead poisoning is very dangerous, the cons really outweigh the pros on this one.
So all in all, life was pretty tough back in ancient Egypt.
I think we should all go to Mars in 2500 and get a level 3 mind massage…
I’m telling you, they work wonders!
So is there a time period or a place that you want me to travel to next?
Let me know in the comment section below and your suggestion could be a future episode
of Deblocked.
Curious to know what you would need to do to survive trapped on the International Space
Station?
Check out this video!
Well, it would probably depend a lot on how many people you had up there with you.
The more people, the more you'll be consuming your resources.
As always my name is Blocko!
This has been Life Noggin!
Don’t forget to keep on thinking.