Ella Ratliff English-1 March 2, 2013 Egypt Research Egyptian Furniture In school, I have learned a lot about Egypt.

I would like to further explore the topic of ancient Egyptian furniture used by different classes of people. The ancient Egyptians were around for a very long time; Egyptian history spans more than 3,000 years. I have many questions about Egyptian furniture such as: Are there types of furniture that were used then but not today? Was furniture common amongst all people from different classes? Did people of all classes use furniture? Furniture was used in ancient Egypt all the way back until the beginning of the Old Kingdom, around 25752134 BC. Ancient Egyptians used furniture because it was useful to have around the house to sit down in or sleep in, and some types were used as decorations. All sorts of furniture have been found in many tombs of the ancient Egyptians. Furniture was in the homes of people of all classes and was very common, but there was more furniture in homes of the higher class. By the time of the New Kingdom, around 15501070 BC, houses of high ranking officials and nobles would have been provided with a variety of types of furniture. For example, a stool would have been the most common type of furniture found. Lattice stools, made from thin struts of wood with angled beams holding up a double cove seat were most commonly used. Chairs were found mostly in the tombs of the higher status. This shows that probably only people of higher status owned chairs. Chairs symbolized higher status because wood for chairs was very rare in northeastern Africa, which was where ancient Egypt was located. A type of furniture that was very common was the mat. Mats were very common because chairs and bed frames were expensive, so the lower class just used mats for sitting and sleeping on. They were also used to cover windows and doors to keep out dust, flies, and the heat. A type of furniture that I found very interesting was the headrest. Headrests were used like people use pillows today. They had a semicircular upper part to rest your head in, and a column raising it up. Though it

would not seem comfortable to lay your head on, being made out of stone or wood, it did help air circulate around your head, keeping you cool, especially in the hot climate of Egypt. While I was writing this, finding website resources was the easiest part of researching this paper. The internet research went very smoothly, and I learned a lot about ancient Egyptian furniture along the way. One thing I learned from writing this essay is how to find information from websites, consolidate the different pieces of information together from different sources, and then rewrite it into my own words. Before I did this report, I did not know how to do this well, but now I have more experience at this. A lot of people would think that ancient Egyptian furniture wouldnt be very interesting, but after learning more about the topic, it has become very interesting to me.

Bibliography Killen, Geoffrey. "History of Egyptian Furniture." Managed Windows Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~killen/history.htm>. Carr, Karen. "Ancient Egyptian Furniture - Ancient Egypt for Kids!." Kidipede History for Kids - Homework Help for Middle School Social Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt/architecture/furniture.htm>. Hosted by CULTNAT Center for Documentation of Cultural & Natural Heritage. "The Global Egyptian Museum | Headrest." The Global Egyptian Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=174>. HiSoftware Cynthia Says Portal. "Ancient Egypt: an introduction to its history and culture." Reshafim: Kibbutz Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/index.html>. Wysinger, Myra. "EgyptSearch Forums: Ancient Egyptian Oil Lamps ."Egyptsearch Egypt Information Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. <http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=00604 3>.