Did you know that... seems to be a favourite line in many trivia books or such, but here's some bits and pieces from my own collection I've gathered over the years. So Did you know that...
Prehistory
Cave paintings seemed to have a religious undertone. The Paleolithic hominid that drew such realistic designs, lived and congregated at the mouth of caves and very rarely ventured deeper into the cave's depths, but the paintings are mostly found deep in the cave. This alludes to certain religious aspect, as it would be quite dangerous to venture into the cave's depths and the painting seem to be located on not-going-to-go-there-unless-you're-nuts locations. The exception being the hand print design. The majority of these motifes were located at the mouths of the caves where the tribes lived thus suggesting the "I was here" and ownership graffiti.
Minoan
The Minoans were the inventors of the flush toilet. It was invented around 3500-4000 years ago. It was a very simple design, but light years ahead of it's time. When the Minoan civilization fell, the flush toilet disappeared along with it. Mr. John Crapper re-invented the flush toilet in the 19th century.
There is evidence that in the palace at Knossos, Crete had running water
With a fascination with bulls, the Minoans seemed to have a bull cult. What with the art, myth and sport. Bull leaping is when a youth (either male or female (females where quite liberated)) grabbed the bull by it's horns and did a handspring over the creature. The Minotaur was a man with a bull's head, and his origins were from a vicious bull and the queen of Crete, Pasiphë. He lived in the labyrinth under a palace. Remenece of this labyrinth have been discovered in the great palaces of Crete. The word Minotaur seems to have stemmed from the word Minos, or the king of Crete. This suggestst that the king Minos was a tyranical king, and also suggests the people's fascination with bulls.
Roman
The first vending machine was invented by a man named Hero 2000 years ago. The priests in the church were required to wash their hands with the church's water, but also required to pay for it on an honour system. Unfortunately, quite a few slipped by without paying, so the head priest called for the inventor, Hero, to fashion a device to make sure the priests payed for the water. The device was quite simple. First the coin was inserted in the top and it rested on a scale. With the balance thrown out of wack, the lighter end of the scale rose, releasing the water through a pipe and into a cup. The priest then took this cup and left. A simple yet effective device, and the money could be taken out at the end of the day. Quite advanced for it's time.
Chinese
The toothbrush was invented in China in the year 1498.
Other Chinese inventions include: kites, playing cards, fireworks.
Scandanavian
The Scandanavian bride and groom exchanged swords, but also finger rings. It it thought that they strengthen the link between the concept of the unbroken circle of the ring and the unbreakable nature of the vow.
One of the legal necessities for a Viking wedding, would be to have the bride and groom drink together the bridal-ale, usually mead. (fermented honey, malt, and water) Since it contained honey, this meant that the honey must be available to brew the drink, and in sufficient quantities so that the couple could share mead together over the month following the wedding, also known as the honey-moon.
