A man has long been engaged in the production of items that are needed for daily needs or a more comfortable life. In this article we will try to figure out what the artisans did. Which professions were the first. Let's talk briefly about the features of materials and technologies for different areas.
The meaning of the term
Under this concept lies the small-scale production of various objects by hand. That is, without the use of production facilities. Often, the results created by masters relate to highly artistic and exclusive products, in contrast to stamped consumer goods.
A craftsman is a person who is engaged in the manual production of things. He can be of different qualifications (apprentice, foreman, workshop head), make goods to order or for sale. The first option refers to more professional specialists, while the second started training for beginners earlier.
What artisans did during different periods of history, we will talk further, and now we will list the main types of professions related to this industry.
Everything that falls into the sphere of necessary things for a comfortable life has long been produced by craftsmen. These are various products from metals (blacksmithing), clay (potters), leather and skins (leather jackets), precious stones and non-ferrous metals (jewelers, engravers, cutters and many other professions).
Let's see what artisans did in the ancient world and the Middle Ages.
Metal processing
The very first metal that mankind learned to handle was copper. In the tombs of the pharaohs are drawings about the methods of smelting this material. A small crucible and a flat stone instead of a hammer. However, with seeming primitiveness, products far exceeded their time. Especially we will stop at this when we get to the jewelers.
Later, bronze appeared when they learned to alloy copper and tin. Figurines and vessels, weapons and jewelry, furniture legs and cast ornaments. This is what artisans did in ancient Egypt.
The first finds of iron belong to the end of the reign of the pharaohs, but then it was still very expensive and exclusive. This material was more developed in the Middle Ages.
Europe, Russia, the Middle East were famous for the masters who created such masterpieces in this era that even today they cannot be repeated. For example, damask steel. Very durable and flexible blade. As at that time blacksmiths sought such an accurate ratio and fastening of metal layers, it is still not clear.
Wood work
The most famous carpenter must be Christ. However, before him, the masters produced unique items. In general, in the ancient world and medieval states, this was the most common material.
Shipbuilding, architecture and many other professions used wood for their needs. For example, in Russia in cities, sidewalks were made of boards and logs. Furniture and household utensils, toys, barrels, carts, and later machine tools - everything was created from wood.
Jewelcrafting
The next profession especially reflects the meaning of the word “artisan”. Here, the master will have painstaking and hard work to create jewelry from very small details.
Back in Egypt, experts granulated gold and fastened it to finish the lid of the sarcophagus so that modern professionals are only amazed. They managed to connect the balls without visible traces of adhesion. Sheets of the finest gold covered with statuettes, surprisingly clear features of miniature men and animals, mechanical dolls. All this surprises and amazes people so far, although more than one thousand years have passed.
What artisans did in ancient Egypt is vividly illustrated on the walls of the tombs of the pharaohs. Stone carvers were masters of their craft. After all, scientists today almost without difficulty restore the production cycle according to such instructions.
In Russia, jewelers were especially honored. The princes supported and encouraged specialists in this industry. Raw materials were imported from other countries, because as such, the extraction of non-ferrous metals was not in the principalities. The most developed technique was casting, and artisans were called "gold" and "silver", depending on the material.
Leatherworking
The very first material for the production of clothing. How not to talk about him?
If people in the Stone Age used roughly stitched skins for cover, then, starting from Egypt, they were already made and thinned, painted and decorated.
This material was used by saddlers and furriers, saddlers and tulniks (made quivers for arrows), shoemakers and craftsmen for the production of morocco and parchment.
Bronniki created various types of light and medium armor from skin flaps. Together with the blacksmiths, subsequently, riveted types of armor were made, and later only belts remained for fastening parts of a metal suit.
It also fully reflects the meaning of the word “artisan”. After all, if we carefully study the method of dressing hides, we will see that for a long time it was exclusively manual.
First, the material was cleaned of wool. To do this, the skins were thrown into vats or wooden boxes with lime. The next step is tanning. It was processed by various means and kneading with hands to achieve maximum softness. If the elasticity is low, then cracks will appear soon.
Further, the processed material entered the workshops of various artisans.
Gunsmithing
Until now, this product is in high demand, and billions are being earned on it. How did it all begin?
Sometimes it seems that blacksmithing is the only thing that craftsmen did in ancient times. The number of military products that archaeologists find seems simply unrealistic at the level of production of those years.
Swords and daggers, spear and spearheads, arrows and bolts, darts, rivets for leather armor and solid metal suits. All of these items exactly matched the physical characteristics of the owner.
If we talk about weapons, then there it will be easier to create or correct. But the armored men simply created masterpieces. Pour or forge the cuirass precisely according to the figure of its future owner, decorate it with various ornaments and perfectly fasten all joints. So not every master can do it these days.
Damascus steel swords and perfectly sharp katanas of Japanese samurai, which cut silk on the fly. All these examples indicate a sufficiently high level of production with minimal use of the resource. That is about real professionalism. This is what a craftsman means if you look at the essence of the term itself.
Construction
You should not even talk about the pyramids and other colossal monuments of ancient architects. Today we all admire and admire them.
In this area of production, several crafts are combined. Masons and painters, painters and glaziers, joiners and carpenters, blacksmiths. All of them, one way or another, had a hand in building not only the palaces, but also the most ordinary shacks.
If we talk about Russia, then log cabins stand for several centuries and maintain a condition suitable for life.
The frescoes on the walls of castles and temples illustrate what artisans did in the era of the development of Babylon, Egypt, ancient states, and later medieval kingdoms and empires. The art of painters is amazing. Not only they, but all the masters of that time, it seems, did everything for centuries, with a soul. Unfortunately, such an attitude to his profession is rare today.
Weaving and spinning
A truly feminine kind of craft. At first, it was more used as a pastime. When there was nothing to do in the evening, they gathered for sewing, weaving, spinning. Talk, discuss pressing issues.
But the skill level did not suffer from this. Most families made such items exclusively for domestic use, but with the growth and expansion of trade relations they began to produce for export.
For example, Phoenician fabrics were famous all over the world due to their dyes. All purple rulers wanted to see a similar purple new thing on them. Actually, the price of such a luxury item was high.
Oriental carpets today amaze with their uniqueness. Each clan and tribe had their own traditions, ornaments, forms. Everything from mats to luxurious long-pile carpets could be bought from merchants.
Archaeological findings in this area also illustrate what artisans did in Russia. Here, materials such as linen, hemp and wool are most widely used. Weavers were able to create linen, twill and complex weaving.
Also made of wool of different thicknesses, thin linen cloth. The color was varied. Red, green, black, yellow and blue colors were used.
Pottery
Probably the most common profession in terms of the number of archaeological finds. And the easiest thing an artisan can do. All that is needed for work is clay and water.
The oldest way to produce vessels is by simple modeling and drying in the sun. The second option is to create a frame from brushwood, which is subsequently coated with clay.
Then they began to burn vessels near the fire. In finds, such technology is very easily identified. Such pots look spotty like the skin of a jaguar.
If you look at the masterpieces of pottery in the form of Greek amphorae, it is difficult to call such a profession a craft. However, it is still so.
Subsequently, there was a transition from hand sculpting to the production of products on the potter's wheel. It is at this stage that the composition of masters by gender changes. Previously, women were more involved in this, but now pottery is becoming a male profession.
Glassmaking
The youngest of the above crafts. At first, this material was used to create jewelry in the form of beads or pendants of various shapes. Apparently, the first samples were obtained as a result of a lightning strike in the sand. From high temperature, it melted, turning into glass pellets.
It is believed that the ancient Egyptian masters mastered the first such technology, however today such a thesis is called into question.
But it is well known that in the early Middle Ages Byzantium and the countries of the Middle East already exported these products around the world. These included jewelry (beads, beads, occasionally bracelets), toys, figurines. Later - dishes.
Thus, we examined what types of crafts were widespread since ancient times, learned the meaning of the word “artisan” and talked about the specifics of some professions.