Crosses on the wall at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Holy Land of Jerusalem. Until now, religious scholars believe that medieval pilgrims traveling to this sacred site carved images of crosses on the walls. But new research has shown that only a handful of people, be they masons or artisans, carved these crosses on behalf of pilgrims, who may have kept the dust from carved as a sacred keepsake. Some crosses date from the 14th or 15th centuries, hundreds of years after the Crusades in the Holy Land (1096-1291), suggesting that post-medieval pilgrims may have made the trees. Cross. “During our research, we scrutinized, analyzed every millimeter inside the crosses – their depth, their width, even the hands of the people who carved them,” said the project leader. Project Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority said. The team found that it was one person, or several, responsible for making these crosses, not the hundreds and thousands of pilgrims who visited the church. Re’em got the idea for research while visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The church was built in the 4th century, when Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, traveled to Jerusalem, and according to legend, helped discover the place where Jesus was crucified, burial and resurrection. Constantine had a basilica built there, and it was later called the Church of the Tomb. Together with colleagues Moshe Caine and Doron Altaratz, professor and senior lecturer, in the Department of Photographic Communication at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, the team used three photographic techniques to record the shape of the crosses: photogrammetry, reflectance-conversion imaging (RTI) and gigapixel imaging. For the optical measurement, the team took between 50 and 500 images of each subject, with each image at a different angle, and then used software to create a digital 3D image based on the triangulation of all The pictures. Meanwhile, with gigapixel photography, which is similar to zooming in from the whole world to a close-up street view on Google Maps, the team took multiple photos of the carved surfaces. All of these techniques help Re’em investigate the similarities and differences, including the chisel technique, of each carved cross. Furthermore, when the researchers took pictures of the crosses, they noticed inscriptions of names and dates engraved along them. “We found that the crosses were carved around the inscriptions, which means that the crosses date to or slightly later than the inscriptions,” Re’em said. After reading about the research being done in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently, William Purkis, a reader of medieval history at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, contacted Re’em. Purkis said he shares the same thoughts with Israeli researchers on the findings that these crosses were made by only a few experts. It is possible that the pilgrims paid a stone mason or an artist to carve a cross for them in the church, and then saved the dust as a sacred keepsake, Purkis said. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims were known to carry small lead vessels filled with souvenirs of the Holy Land, such as water from the Jordan River. Two of these medieval vases are in museums – the Cleveland Museum of Art and the British Museum.

But few people know this simple act of hygiene was one of the important rituals of the aristocracy and the physically fit in medieval Europe. Washing hands was a rite of passage for the aristocracy and the physically fit in medieval Europe. (Image: Getty Images) People in the Middle Ages were often thought of as lacking a sense of personal hygiene, but the opposite was true. The kings and peasants of that time bathed thoroughly before and after meals. Furthermore, because cutlery is a rarity and most people eat with their hands, it is essential to keep hands clean before eating, and also to show respect to the person hosting the meal. “ Keep your fingers clean and your fingernails well-manicured , from Les Contenances de Table, a medieval text on table manners. Gradually, hand washing evolved into a ritual showing the power and wealth of the nobility, and washing hands was also considered a “sign of politeness”. Medieval aristocrats and clergy took hand-washing and face-washing to a new level. Even this action was solemnly organized by ancient European kings, with many complicated stages. When the princes have guests, they will invite guests to enjoy music and invite them to wash their hands with luxurious sinks, brand new high-end white towels and lotions. A team of servants will be around to help guests wash their hands. Women must wash their hands before going to the party, because in ancient times there was a belief that only girls with noble and pure dignity could touch white cloth without leaving a speck of dirt. After the guests were seated in the hall, the king entered and washed his hands in the presence of all the guests. Only after the king had finished his work were the others allowed to sit down. According to Amanda Mikolic, assistant curator of the Department of Medieval Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, it was a display of royal power for monarchs to wash their hands in front of guests. “ It’s a game of thrones to remind (guests) who holds the power ” said Ms. Mikolic. Lavabo – European hand sanitizer dispenser in the Middle Ages. (Image: Getty Images) ostentatious ceremony All elaborate rituals require ostentatious tools, in which case handwashing is bound to involve soap. From time immemorial, Crusader soldiers brought luxurious Aleppo soap made from olive oil and laurel to Europe. Before long, the French, Italians, Spaniards, and eventually the British all started making their own versions of Aleppo soap using local olive oil instead of the pungent tallow of many. previous century. Perhaps the most famous of the European soaps of the time was the Spanish Castile soap. Today, this soap is still produced and used around the world. Along with soap, the water jug ​​also played an equally important role in the hand-washing ritual of medieval European aristocrats. These vases are often very elaborately decorated and contain warm water mixed with aromatic oils. Another version of this tool is the lavabo – an object shaped like a bowl with a spout. In the most wealthy households, servants will sprinkle fragrant water on the hands of the owners before the meal. The role of the pitcher was so appreciated that Queen Jeanne d’Évreux of France, wife of King Charles IV, displayed a vase in the place of her favorite ornaments. After that, hand washing gradually became less important than before. Many historical scholars have blamed the fork for making people disregard hand hygiene before eating. It was not until the 18th century that this tool was commonly used in meals. “ The whole ceremonial nature around hand washing began to fade as the role of the tableware (knife, fork) became more prominent. Households began to prepare tableware for guests, and then people could eat without taking off their gloves. ” said Ms. Mikolic. But today, even though elaborately decorated water jugs and washbasins are out of fashion, hand washing can still show one’s wealth. It is still too early to say that the rituals of the pandemic period will stick with people for a long time. But today, though ornate water jugs and washbasins are out of fashion, hand-washing can still show a person’s wealth: through hand-painted metal sinks, expensive soaps and soaps. from essential oils to luxurious Egyptian cotton towels, etc. The luxurious rituals surrounding hand washing are constantly being created and developed. “ Every time I use soap, I’m reminded of medieval perfumes “, shared Mikolic.

In human society, we give and exchange what we need to maintain life is an indispensable daily activity of each individual. More than that, from the perspective of the entire human race, commercial exchanges have become such an indispensable part of today’s world, so much so that each person forgets to depend on them so much that Come on. Just take a minute looking around the room you are sitting in, or look through the top of your desk and ask yourself how much of it is made by you yourself, and you have the answer. word. How commercial activities have an impact on the history of human society is summarized in the book: Trade history – How trade shaped the world ? (Original name : A splendid exchange: How trade shaped the world ) by William J. Bernstein. He is a neuroscientist, an expert in financial and investment theory, and also a researcher in economic history. The book focuses on two main contents: the first is the formation and development of commercial activities; The second is the impact of trade on the shaping of human society throughout history as well as the world today. WJBernstein recounts commercial history from the earliest steps, when people came up with the idea of ​​genius and it was also very natural to exchange what was in surplus for what they needed or liked but didn’t have, in when others have ego, it’s time for commerce to have shape and scale later on. The process of formation began from the cradle of human civilization in Mesopotamia to the formation of the oldest trade routes and then evolved into a complex network stretching from the Roman Empire in the west to the emperor. Han Empire in the East. Next was the disruption of East-West trade on the mainland as the two empires declined and Islam arose from the Middle East and spread influence, becoming the center of global trade for a long time. At the same time, maritime trade with the Indian Ocean was a major trade route that flourished, replacing the ancient Land Silk Road as the economic lifeblood of the world. Besides the overall picture of the ups and downs of trade history, WJBernstein analyzes the interaction between trade with political, social and other natural factors. For example, the geographical structural differences between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean lead to different economic-political, naval strategies thinking among Mediterranean civilizations (such as the Greek). Greece with civilizations participating in the Indian Ocean trading system (Islamic countries in the Middle East, Indian sub-states, Southeast Asia and China). At the same time, he offers interesting examples of times when economic, political and religious interests conflict, forcing rulers to make choices. For example, the famous story when Venice Governor Enrico Dandolo used all his tricks to bring the Crusader army to attack and sack Constantinople, Venice’s influential competitor, instead of attacking Egypt, his partner. commercial importance of Venice, as the Crusaders expected. And not only conscious human endeavors, but at times nature plays an important role in the course of history. The fourteenth century Black Death plague devastated both Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East, but the consequences were different. The epidemic weakened feudalism in Europe, gave freedom of thought and trade a chance to develop, while at the same time making Islamic civilization severely irreversibly damaged, paving the way for turn in global trade advantage from East to West. In Trade history refers to characters, both famous and anonymous, who contributed to the making of commercial history. It was an anonymous Mesopotamian businessman whose letter on earth kept evidence of a transaction thousands of years ago. It was Vasco da Gama, it was Columbus, the restaurants that paved the way for Europe to regain control of the world. Or Richard Cobden, a pioneer in the fight for free trade thought in the UK in particular and around the world in general. Trading is not only about exchanging goods, but also about competing for the market, competing for monopoly on trading of goods with great profit. Contact between people belonging to far away countries also means the exchange of deadly pathogens. Merchant crews contributed to the spread of the Black Death in Europe. Spanish expeditions made many peoples of the Americas extinct because of the pathogens they carried. Competing for markets, fighting for strategic commodity resources has been the main cause of most wars from ancient times, from the Peloponnese to two bloody World Wars in the twentieth century. WJBernstein has neutrally recounted the story of commerce and its impact on human society, fully pointing out the bright and dark sides of this story. More importantly, we all know this is an ongoing story, and understanding the past is probably the best, if not the only, way to make the future of the dark side of trade possible. control is better, and on the bright side, commercial benefits bring people, to be promoted more thoroughly.