How did people of ancient civilisations cut their nails?

Answer 1

Funny you should ask this question, I just returned from the annual meeting of the Connecticut Institute of Paleo-Cosmotology and Classical Epidermatological Removal Loci" (known affectionately as CLIP & CERL).

While it is true that normal subsistence activities would naturally wear down the nails of the lowest social classes, there are some interesting facts:

During the height of the Meso-American indigeous cultures, the upper classes used specially trained small animals (nut beak crushing birds, certain sharp teethed lizards, and young badgers) as finger and toe nail clippers. Servants specializing in what was a prominent medical branch , would direct the creatures in where and how deep to bite the nail off. Beaks and claws were used to scrape clean any dirt under the nail and the acidic feces of seagulls were used to burn away hang nails and rough cuticles.

In tribal Europe (Pre-Roman), those tribe members who were known to be idiots ("Lumpenkopfs" in the Tetonic, "Twittes" in the proto-English, and "cabozhas d mierda" in early Spanish) would have to bite off the excessively grown toe and fingernails of the tribal leaders. Interestingly enough, theses idiots, and tribe members who happened to piss off the leaders would also have to use their tongues to clean the anus and genital areas of their better.

In the Norman and Gallic regions (France) there appear to have arisen a whole series of clans whose status was derived from their dexterity in using their mouths and tongues to clean anal, genital, fingers, and toes. This is were we have gained the term "French kiss" and the euphemism "French sex" for oral sex.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Mate

Answer 2

History Of Nail Clippers

Answer 3

Depends on WHICH ancient civilizations. Most just simply sre them short with work, or cut them with a knife or tore them short at need. In SOME ancient cultures the upper classes had speicalized grooming tools. The Egyptians, Romans and Greeks had nail clippers that much resembled the modern ones we see now, only theirs were made of bronze usually.

Answer 4

They probably didn't cut them at all. Fingernails were helpful tools. They most likely broke off or ripped with usage. And if they really wanted to shorten their nails for a particular reason, I imagine they would have filed them down on a grinding stone.

Answer 5

Nails can be cut with knives, and some river stones make good emery boards for filing down rough edges. I assume that their nails were stronger than ours, and their work was much harder physically, so they probably used them as tools and wore them down with everyday activity.

Answer 6

well, ancient civilizations made a lot of amazing things, they could cut cloth, stone,...etc so, I am sure they cut off their nails somehow in a way or another.

Probably they used stones as files for smoothing (works as cutting) their nails.

Answer 7

have you ever been interpreting those old Erich Von Daniken bullsh!t books? He made a variety of of money out of those. there's a threat that the ancients would have made huge silk balloons yet as for 'historic aeroplanes' and us being fashionable human being little ones superb go away that one to the mormons.

Answer 8

i can't say surely
but
i think that they used nails as tools
or
for cuttng nails they used teeth
or
when their nail grows too much long the they put their fingers on a huge stone and smack that(nail) with a small stone

Answer 9

they used Flint, and sandstone as a file, some used trees like a cat does, and sure they probably bit them too. But sand and flintstone was the basic way.

Answer 10

They actually had little files similar to the ones women have now days,but made of hard bone .with ridges in them,everyone did have them though