Pregnancy tests are never enjoyable to need, and they are almost never utilized for anything other than worry. This issue dates all the way back to Ancient Egypt. We’ve experienced this issue forever. Pregnancy tests were not only available to and used by Ancient Egyptian women, but they were also more comprehensive than modern pregnancy tests in that they predicted the baby’s gender at birth and were very accurate for the time (70 percent, which is really not bad at all). Even though they employed the same technique as we do today—having the lady provide a urine sample—the Ancient Egyptians did. Over 3500 years ago, we discovered that urine samples were directly related to fertility, and we still use this information today.
So how did ancient Egyptian pregnancy tests work so well, and how did they also, to a certain extent, identify the baby’s given sex? The procedure involved peeing in bags of barley and emmer wheat, so it’s not exactly like they were peeing on sticks and getting answers for “yes” or “no.” If each bag sprouted any seedlings, the woman was definitely pregnant, according to their science, which was 70% correct, according to The National Institute of Health. They weren’t precisely relying on hormone-based outcomes, though.
Any sprout from either bag indicated pregnancy, but depending on which sprouted first, you could determine whether the baby would be a boy or a girl. At birth, the baby’s gender would be determined by whether the barley or the emmer wheat sprouted first. If the emmer wheat sprouted first, the baby would be a girl.
Because replication-based tests are more common today, historians tend to view the test as not being very accurate. Barley and emmer wheat aren’t exactly reliable indicators of a child’s gender. But that is with the biology of modern women. Our biology has altered, mutated, evolved, and complied as necessary throughout time. The barley vs. emmer wheat test is a good illustration. This test may have been significantly more accurate when it was regularly used because estrogen levels in ancient Egypt and among women in general were substantially higher.
If the society had persisted in its original enthusiasm, it is impossible to know what discoveries their science may or may not have made at that time, but even then, this was simply the best they had at the moment. After all, they did develop astrology.
According to one article that cited research by Sofie Schidt, Ph.D., “Many of the ideas in the medical texts from ancient Egypt appear again in later Greek and Roman texts… From here, they spread further to the medieval medical texts in the Middle East, and you can find traces all the way up to premodern medicine.”
There is currently no known reproducible association between these two, despite the fact that pregnant women release a wide variety of hormones throughout their pregnancies that would trigger early flowering in some plants.
One theory as to why this test was so tried and true in the papyrus that was read to unravel these puzzles is heightened estrogen levels in ancient Egyptian women.
The fact that infant mortality rates were quite high in Egypt as well as the rest of the world may not come as a surprise. They tried their best to keep the infant well-fed throughout infancy and breastfed their children, especially in such unsanitary surroundings, when infant immunity is decreased after weaning, according the University of Chicago.
One study described how “piss prophets” (which is their genuine name) would diagnose pregnancies based on pee, sometimes mixing it with wine to see if there was a reaction. This practice led to the popular notion that urine was directly related to fertility in the medieval ages. They would also soak a ribbon in a woman’s urine, burn it, make her smell it, and if she gagged, she was most definitely pregnant. Things got weird in the Middle Ages.
To put it another way, young Egyptian children under the age of five essentially had to run a gauntlet of survival until they turned five, or around that time. After that, they were supposed to live long lives of up to 33 years old, and 29 if they were female. In light of the fact that many ancient Egyptian cemeteries had a childhood mortality rate peak at “about age 4,” which is roughly around when ancient Egyptians started weaning (weakening their immune systems to get ready to consume solid food), “indirect evidence” comes from the University of Chicago.
It goes without saying that they did a lot of their thinking right, and the fact that there are so few ancient Egyptian texts that mention this just highlights how much more there is to learn about Ancient Egypt in general. This ancient Egyptian pregnancy test even made its way over to Greece and even modern and, to some extent, medieval medicine.
Furthermore, in terms of urban legends, it’s not like we are exempt from them in this case. Ours include beloved classics like the notion that a woman who consumes a lot of sweets, garlic, or has acne will give birth to a girl, as well as notions that a male will be born if she has a healthy glow and dilated pupils.
Max Headroom Incident: America’s Creepiest TV Hack
In 1987 a man hijacked a television station during an episode of Dr. Who and wore a Max Headroom mask and uttered nonsense, and he still hasn’t been caught
Nearest Green, America's first known Black master distiller
Nathan "Nearest" Green was an African-American head stiller who is now more frequently referred to as a master distiller. He was renowned for imparting his distilling knowledge to Jack Daniel, the creator of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distiller, after Jack Daniel was freed from slavery following the American Civil War.
Louis Le Prince Invented the motion picture camera, and then he mysteriously disappeared
Louis Le Prince, the inventor of motion pictures, vanished without a trace in 1890. Thomas Edison quickly claimed the title of "first and sole inventor of cinema," even taking Le Prince's son to court to dispute it. A few years later, the son also dies under mysterious circumstances.
Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident: Enemy became friends
During WWII, a German pilot spotted an American pilot’s crippled plane in the sky. Tailing it, he noticed that gunner was dead, crew injured, and they posed no threat. Instead of destroying the plane, he led it to safety. 40 years later, the two pilots reunited.
Underground Railroad to Mexico freed thousands of slaves in 1829
Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829. Slaves were escaping to Mexico, and slaveholders in the US were aware of this. The US attempted to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty, which would have required Mexico to send back escaped slaves to the US. But, Mexico refused, arguing that slaves were free as soon as they set foot on Mexican soil.
Henry Ford, The man popularizing the concept of the weekend off
Henry Ford was the first Industrial Giant to give his employees both Saturday and Sunday off in the hope of encouraging more leisurely use of automobiles and thus popularizing the concept of the "weekend."
Poto And Cabengo: The Secret Language Of Twins
Poto and Cabengo, as the two girls called each other, communicated in their own language. The twins were ignored by their parents and secluded from the outside world because their father felt they were developmentally retarded, and their unique language evolved as a result of that neglect.
Ancient Jericho: The First Walled City In History
The ancient city of Jericho is the world's oldest walled city, with evidence of stone fortifications dating back nearly 9000 years.
3 men lived on top of a billboard in tents for almost 9 months
From 1982-1983, three men in Allentown PA competed in a radio contest in which they lived on top of a billboard in tents. Whoever stayed up longest would win a house. Due to economic pressure from the recession, none of the contestants wanted to give up, so the contest lasted almost 9 months.
The youngest person executed, George Stinney Jr was proven innocent
In 1944, George Stinney Jr. was 14 years old when he was executed in South Carolina. It took only ten minutes to convict him — and 70 years to exonerate him.
Mother who spent entire life savings for daughter’s cancer treatment won the lottery
A mother won $2 million from a $10 scratch-off lottery ticket after she spent all of her entire life savings to pay her daughter’s cancer treatment. She bought the winning ticket after her daughter’s last cancer treatment.
Blanche Monnier: Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love
Blanche Monnier, she was a French woman noted for her beauty, she wished to marry an old lawyer that her mother disapproved of, so she locked her in a small dark room in her attic for 25 years.
D.B. Cooper: Man who hijacked a plane and jumped out with a $200,000
On November 22, 1971, DB Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727, drank a whisky, smoked a fag, and then jumped out of the plane with $200,000. He was never again seen.
Medals of Friendship: The Enduring Olympic Story of 1936
At the 1936 Summer Olympics, two Japanese pole vaulters named Sueo Oe and Shuhei Nishida tied for second, but they declined to compete against each other. As a result, Nishida was awarded the silver medal and Oe won a bronze medal. Upon returning to Japan, the athletes had their medals cut in half and spliced together to create new "friendship medals," which were half silver and half bronze.
The story of Bill Haast, who lived to be 100 despite his extensive snake venom injections
Bill Haast immunized himself by injecting snake venom into his blood for several years. He holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the most lethal snake bites, having been bitten over 172 times. Bill became known as "Snake Man" around the world and lived for over 100 years.
Xin Zhui And The Story Of The Stunningly Intact Lady Dai Mummy
A 2,000-year-old mummy of a Chinese woman, Xin Zhui, also known as “Lady Dai,” was preserved in 21 gallons of an “unknown liquid.” With her original hair, organs, eyebrows, and eyelashes intact, the mummy still has blood in her veins. Her skin and ligaments are soft and as flexible as that of a living person.
Shizo Kanakuri’s 1912 Olympic Marathon Finished 54 Years
At the 1912 Olympics, a marathon runner quit and went home to Japan without telling officials and was considered a missing person in Sweden for 50 years. In 1966, he was invited to complete the marathon. His time: 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20.379 seconds.
Before Radar: How Giant Acoustic Mirrors Detected Enemy Aircraft in WWI and WWII
Long before radar revolutionized air defense, enormous acoustic mirrors and specialized sound locators stood as the first line of defense against enemy aircraft. Designed as giant “ears,” these structures amplified distant engine noises, allowing operators to detect incoming planes by sound alone. Dive into the intriguing world of these pioneering listening devices, their operation, limitations, and enduring legacy in military history.
Nathan's Famous Doctor Stunt
When Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs first opened in 1916, the owner hired people to dress as doctors and eat hot dogs outside his shop, to convince people his hot dogs were healthy.
The Day an Israeli F-15 Landed with One Wing: Zivi Nedivi’s Unbelievable Mid-Air Survival
Discover the astonishing true story of Israeli pilot Zivi Nedivi, who safely landed an F-15 after a mid-air collision tore off its entire right wing. Learn how skill, quick thinking, and the F-15’s unique design turned a disaster into a legendary feat in aviation history
The true story Of The Radium Girls that change US labor laws
Hundreds of young women worked in clock factories during World War I, painting watch dials with luminous radium paint. The company lied about the risk of radiation, claiming there was no danger, which resulted in the death of the young women.
15 interesting facts about Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II, who ruled Britain for 70 years, has away at the age of 96. She was the country's longest-reigning monarch. Here are some little-known facts about her.
Quaker Oats Fed Children with Radioactive Oatmeal
In the 1940s and 1950s, Quaker Oats and MIT conducted experiments on radioactive iron and calcium-containing cereal. The diet was part of a study to see if the nutrients in Quaker oatmeal traveled throughout the body. In January 1998, a $1.85 million settlement was reached for 30 victims who came forward.
What exactly was the US's 'Ghost Army' during WWII?
During WW2, there was a special unit of men dubbed the ‘Ghost Army’. The unit was made of artists, creative and engineers and their job was to create deception about the enemy. From inflatable tanks to phony convoys to scripted conversations in bars intended to spread disinformation, they used all possible tricks to fool the enemy.
The worst blizzard in recorded history: the 1972 Iran blizzard
The deadliest snowstorm ever recorded occurred in Iran in 1972. It lasted for a week, burying areas in 26 feet of snow and killing over 4,000 people, including the entire populations of three villages.
