Ancient peoples didn't have the luxury of air-tight containers to keep insects out of food, screens to keep insects out of the house, or a local pest control specialist that could help keep your home pest-free. These menacing pests could cause much more than an inconvenience. They could spoil food stores or ruin crops.
However, archeologists have found that ancient people had their own ways of coping with bugs, rodents, and other annoyances. Ancient people weren't about to let these pests ruin their crops or their lives.
Ancient Pest Annoyances
Archeologists have two ways in which they can identify how pests perturbed ancient people. The first is through cultural materials such as artwork that depicts what the ancients found bothersome and how they approached the problem, says Linda Evans, an Egyptologist specializing in environmental history and an associate professor at Macquarie University in Australia.
“Images on the walls of tombs occasionally show workmen attempting to control small birds that are attacking their fruit trees or quail that have invaded their fields,” Evans says.
