The everyday-life tag has no wiki summary.
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1answer
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Specialization of labor among the ancient Maya
How specialized were laborers among the ancient Maya? Would the same person dig irrigation ditches and plant corn? Would the same person go into battle and hunt in the forest? Would jade carvers go ...
5
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2answers
64 views
Historical and biblical names for bottles of wine
According to sources like the linked sizes list at Wikipedia entry about bottles of champagne and other kinds of wine, various sizes of bottles took their names after ancient Jewish kings and other ...
8
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1answer
86 views
Who started/popularized the department store perfume gauntlet?
Anybody with functional olfactory senses who has been to a department store knows that nearly every one places the perfume counter right at the front of the store, where every patron is forced to walk ...
7
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1answer
124 views
When did retailers stop wrapping purchases in paper and twine?
Listening to stories from relatives, it sounds like it was a near-universal practice (in the US, before the 1970s) to wrap retail purchases with brown paper and twine. Searching for information about ...
2
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1answer
71 views
Where did the masquerade ball come from and what was its original concept?
I mean a kind of party which guests and hosts hide their faces behind different masks or/and wear odd clothes. Surely there is no certain idea about main concept with me unless perhaps it has roots in ...
8
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4answers
272 views
Life in the middle ages for ordinary people?
From studying medieval history and reading related literature, I know enough about day to day life in the sense of life expectancy, work, pleasure, etc.
My question is, given that human nature is ...
6
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0answers
121 views
Why has bidet use not spread to the northern countries of Europe?
As wikipedia states, the bidet is quite common in southern European countries (in Italy for example, it is found in 95% of households), in the Middle East and in East Asia. Conversely, bidets are ...
12
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1answer
221 views
How many hours per day did a Sumerian farmer sleep?
I wonder about the life-styles of the inhabitants of ancient civilizations. As a particular case, if we consider the era of Sumer, what are the significant diversities compared to rural life today?
3
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1answer
78 views
Farmstead Inventory
I'm looking for an inventory of the principal goods, buildings, livestock, and workers of a European farmstead; preferably before 1000 AD.
I know I've seen a primary source document like this before. ...
15
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2answers
216 views
What would a Norseman in the early 11th century have worn as daily clothing?
Most of the Norse clothing we know about seems to come from burials. However, in many cultures, bodies dressed for burial are wearing either "good" clothes, or special clothes for the dead. Is there ...
10
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1answer
126 views
When did European building interiors partitioned into rooms become commonplace?
My visit to Versailles many years ago confronted me with an alien concept of interior architecture: everything was a large hall, including the bedchambers, and getting to another part of the palace ...
13
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2answers
351 views
How was life in the Iron Age different from life in the Middle Ages?
Let's say you were from the Middle Ages, 1200s England or Germany, and you got thrown back in time to the Iron Age. It's still the same place, but it's 400 BC. Apart from the language, what would ...
11
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1answer
508 views
How large were Bronze Age settlements?
How large was the typical settlement in Europe during the Bronze Age? Did most people live in isolated farmsteads or something more like small villages?
3
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2answers
168 views
Recommended Reading 19th Century US Settler Daily Life?
At the time of this writing, I am riding in the comfort of an air conditioned minivan, traveling through the deserts of Arizona and California along I-10. I began to think about 19th century settlers ...
3
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1answer
124 views
Sources on common people history [closed]
Most of history i have heard has been about states, monarchies, grand buildings, etc. I'd like to get a picture of the general population throughout history. For example:
where and how the general ...
10
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2answers
133 views
Buying/Renting/Leasing houses during history?
I was wondering about something. After the last financial crisis, many people have talked about not buying a house, but renting one, and they made it sound like a "new" idea. So what was it like ...
27
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2answers
577 views
What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
I know that wheat, barley, rye, onions, lettuce-like plants and turnips were common but how common were other things like meat or cheese? I've heard the "plowman's lunch" was a concoction of the dairy ...
