Changes

We spend much of our lives in beds and numerous adverts discuss the merits of different types of beds that are intended to give us better sleep and comfort. Today, what represents a bed differs greatly from culture to culture. The history of the bed, like most furniture, has been shaped by its complex development. It is, on the one hand, an essential item of furniture, but for different cultures it has varied as an important object of cultural value to simply a utilitarian furniture piece.

==Early History==

The bed develops as humans began to built long-term settlements or more permanent dwelling places by around 8000-7000 BCE. Before this time, beds were mostly ad hoc construction that would have been made from surrounding materials (e.g., straw or twigs) and often discarded as human populations moved or easily packed. Early beds were mainly built from wood, straw, or had underlying stone. However, what began to change in early agricultural societies is that beds began to be raised from the floor as settlement places developed. This became needed as many agricultural societies needed raised platforms, as agriculture also attracted rodents and other pests that now also came to humans' homes. Greater use of the physical space in homes, particularly the floors, also meant that raising a platform or level above the floor became needed for early beds to avoid the dirt and other activities going on (Figure 1).<ref>For more on early beds in the pre-Neoltihic and early settled societies, see: Robinson, Vincent Joseph. 2001. Ancient Furniture and Other Works of Art. Adamant Media Corporation. </ref>

While platforms of wood or stone raised the bed from the floor, cushioning was needed for a softer sleep. This led to the development of different materials, ranging from textiles stuffed with soft materials such as leaves, to other, less harsh forms of cushioning from basic materials, including feathers. Other innovations included filling a leather cushion made of goat skin with water, such as used in ancient Persia, which made, essentially, an early form of waterbed.<ref>For more on ancient Persian waterbeds, see: Coughlan, S. (2010). <i>The sleepyhead’s bedside companion.</i> London: Preface.</ref>

In the Roman period, five different types of beds were known. Beds were used for eating, studying, burying the dead, for lovemaking, and normal sleeping. The Romans differentiated these with different words and this may have also meant that different beds were used for each of these activities.<ref>For more on Roman beds, see: Williams, S. J. (2005). <i>Sleep and society: sociological ventures into the (un)known--.</i> Milton Park, Oxfordshire N.Y., NY: Routledge.</ref>

==Cultural Diversity==

Societies in east Asia, particularly China, Korea, and Japan, developed a floor-based culture for many activities, including eating and sleeping. One main reason has to do with cooling and heating for different months. Heating, for instance, was done underneath floors, which meant that sleeping on the floor more directly, with only a thin mattress, would be more practical, as greater heat would be felt. In summer months, being nearer to the floor would also be cooler. Furthermore, the floor was seen as where sitting would take place in, thus the bed became the primary social space in eastern Asian societies. Beds such as the <i>kang</i> became the spaces that many social activities revolved around, but they were practical as it allowed easy heating of this space without having to create smoky rooms for heating such as found in many ancient and medieval homes in Europe and other colder climates.<ref> For more on eastern beds, see: Liu, T.S. (2016). Environmental history in east asia: interdisciplinary perspectives. (2016). Routledge, pg. 110.</ref>

==References==