Humans Have Been Sleeping on Beds for 200,000 Years

Archaeologists in South Africa have determined that a grass and ash bed in a cave dates back 200,000 years. Why did early humans choose materials for their bedding? One of the archaeologists quoted by UPI explained that the ash may have been an insect repellent:

"We speculate that laying grass bedding on ash was a deliberate strategy, not only to create a dirt-free, insulated base for the bedding, but also to repel crawling insects," lead study author Lyn Wadley, professor of archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said in a news release. [...]

Because insects have trouble moving through fine powder, ash helped protect slumbering humans from the bites of insects. Atop the ash and grass bedding, researchers also found remnants of camphor bush, a plant that's still used as an insect repellant.

-via Instapundit | Photo: MADe