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The History of the Mattress: From Cave Grass to Smart Beds
Two hundred thousand years ago, someone in a South African cave spread ash on the floor, laid grass on top, and went to sleep.
That’s the oldest bed archaeologists have ever found, and the ash was there to kill ticks.
In this episode of Hidden History, Aiden Thomas traces the mattress from Border Cave through Egyptian lion-legged beds, Roman feather sacks, medieval straw pallets and rope beds, the “second sleep” our ancestors took every night, Shakespeare’s “second-best bed,” and the 11-foot Great Bed of Ware. Then come the Victorian war on bedbugs, the coil spring, Simmons’ Beautyrest, the…
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