The Discovery of America

Columbus wasn’t the first one to discover the Americas!

We all regard Christopher Columbus to be the first one to discover the Americas, but did you know he wasn’t the first person?! The Vikings were the residents of the region of Scandinavia which is made up of the countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. The Vikings liked to explore other countries and used raid them. After the Vikings had captured most of northern Europe, they set their sights towards the Atlantic Ocean. The Vikings being adventurers wanted to see what was on the other side. So, they set out towards the West. The Vikings soon arrived at the coast of Newfoundland, Canada and they made a settlement in the 10^th century AD. We have evidence that this happened because the ruins have been found in the L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

Do you know what the Romans used to wipe their bottoms?

The Romans used something they called a tersorium. But don’t let this sophisticated sounding word fool you, the tersorium was actually a sponge on a stick! If you would like to know what the Stone-Agers used to wipe their bottoms then look at my first post, ‘Habits of the Stone-Agers’.

 

The Egyptians buried board games as grave goods!

The Egyptians buried many grave goods like bottles of wine, food, models of vehicles, mummified pets etc. But did you know that they also buried board games?! Most of the board games that have been discovered have been ones called ‘senet’. ‘Senet’ was a game similar to Snakes and Ladders. Imagine if someone buried a set of ‘Monopoly’ in your tomb!