Some ancient Egyptian mothers delivered their babies while squatting or kneeling on a pair of bricks, which provided room for attendants to catch the baby. In a very rare depiction, a set of birth bricks is incised on the bottom of a 7-inch-high sculpture (above) from the early Ptolemaic period (332–305 B.C.). Just two years ago, archaeologists with the University of Pennsylvania working at Abydos, in southern Egypt, excavated an actual birth brick—the first ever uncovered. The 14- by 7-inch brick (below, with drawing) is decorated with colorful paintings depicting the joyful moments following a delivery: The new mother, […]
