Ancient Egypt

Thought to have been made around 30,000 BCE, one of the oldest and most famous prehistoric figurines is known as the Venus of Willendorf. Found in modern-day Austria, this late stone-age artifact is just over 4” high and has traces of ocher coloring. Underneath her ample flesh her pelvis is anteverted, placing her behind behind her. Original image courtesy Wikipedia user MatthiasKabel under CC-BY 2.5.

When the weather is cold and wet, or, for our students in the Southern Hemisphere, hot and dry, museums can be very agreeable places to visit. Humidity and temperature controlled as they are, museums allow you to study posture history in comfort!

A central principle of the Gokhale Method is an understanding of posture based not on theory, but on anthropological evidence. Clues about healthy posture are drawn both from contemporary populations in which back pain is rare, and also from ancestral populations. You can, of course, find historical examples of good posture as recently as in family photographs from the early twentieth century. But if you want to travel further back in time, you can look at statues from early classical Greece, or even from the Upper Paleolithic Age.

Archeologists have discovered female figurines that go back 5000 and even 30,000 years. Although these figurines come from very different times and cultures, they still speak to us across the centuries about what it is to be human, including in a postural sense.

Marble Female Figure, Cycladic culture, Aegean Sea, 4500-4000 BCE, from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Note the vertical line-up of her weight-bearing joints, as well as her substantial behind which naturally stays behind her.

Often, these ancient figurines survived for millenia because they were highly revered, and secreted deep inside caves or burial chambers. Scholars cannot be sure of the exact purpose of these figurines, but they are usually thought to be fertility figures.  Perhaps they were used as talismans to bring good luck with conception or childbirth. They may have been representations of a fertility goddess, possibly within a matriarchal culture and belief system.

The figurines are notable for their curvaceous form. There is typically an emphasis on the width of the child-bearing pelvis, ample thighs and breasts, and a fecund, fulsome belly. Like much art, they are not entirely naturalistic, but capture essential characteristics. What is striking is that early sculpture the world over portrays people with a straight spine, the behind behind, and the shoulders well back. You can see this clearly in the figurine from ancient Egypt below.

This ancient Egyptian sculpture of a seated woman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City is from the Naqada II period (3650-3300 BC). She may have served as a fertility object. Notice her well-positioned, anteverted pelvis and well-aligned, lengthened back and neck. 

Another view of the Naqada II figure. Observe the absence of curvature in the upper back area. She sits on her Sitz bones, not her tail (sacrum).

Another pre-dynastic figurine from Upper Egypt, again thought to be a fertility figure due to her pregnant-looking belly. This angle also shows her relatively straight lumbar spine and her behind behind her.  

These fascinating small terracotta and stone works of art pay homage to fertility and its power in a bygone age. For us, they can serve as records of human posture in a more primal era — material evidence of our true Primal Posture. We can learn these posture lessons from our ancient ancestors by employing the Gokhale Method, so that this healthy architecture can again serve us into the future. 

How do these figurines strike you? Are you able to glean inspiration from these human forms from as long ago as 30,000 years?

This famous bust of Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BC) exhibits a forward-protruded head. Original image courtesy Wikipedia user Philip Pikart under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

In my travels, I enjoy visiting museums. In a concentrated space and in a short few hours, I am able to travel back in time and over large distances, and compare people from different cultures. What a remarkable gift from the craftspeople of the past!  

Many museums have a well-developed Egyptian collection. The Egyptians’ expertise in preserving their dead as well as the dry Egyptian climate has yielded a bounty of specimens from the distant past. Egyptian artifacts are often spectacular and modern audiences are drawn to Egyptian mummies, pyramids, thrones, and temples. So we get to enjoy glimpses into ancient Egypt remarkably easily.

Most people from the past, as evidenced by ancient art and sculpture, had excellent posture and musculoskeletal health. The pharaohs and upper crust of ancient Egypt, however, stand out as exceptions. Sitting on their thrones or standing in special ceremonies, they almost always have tucked pelvises and forward-protruding heads. Nefertiti (as seen above) is an example of an Egyptian royal who has her head “parked” extremely forward. Correspondingly, examinations of the mummified remains of pharaohs report advanced arthritis in the joints — much like what we find in modern populations.
 

Renenutet (shown here) and her husband Runy were part of Egyptian nobility in the reign of Seti I (1294 - 1279 BC). They served in local temples. Notice her tucked pelvis and protruded head and shoulders that are similar to problematic modern posture.

This relief from the 18th dynasty (c. 1335 BC) shows a royal couple (possibly Akhenaten and Nefertiti) in a garden. Notice their posture shows similar distortions to those we see in modern times: tucked pelvis, locked knees, lack of abdominal tone, and forward-protruded head. Original image courtesy Andreas Praefcke on Wikipedia.

By contrast, carvings and sculptures of Egyptian laborers — carrying palanquins, rowing ceremonial boats, and doing other manual work — have beautiful and healthy posture. They model an anteverted pelvis, erect spine, and vertical neck similar to those seen in non-industrial cultures the world over.

This funerary offering bearer (c. 1980 BC) shows excellent posture: a J-spine with anteverted pelvis and elongated spine, and posterior shoulders.

This close-up of the funerary offering bearer above shows her feet pointed slightly outwards and the placement of her behind behind her.

The workers on this funeral boat show excellent posture as they transport coffins in Ancient Egypt (c. 1980 BC).

This ancient Egyptian worker exhibits a perfect hip-hinge with shoulders remaining back.

What are we observing here? What made the pharaohs suffer the same poor musculoskeletal health we do? Was it affluence? Was it a departure from a working-class lifestyle? Was it a sedentary lifestyle? Was it fashion? 

If you live in a large city, you almost certainly have access to a collection of Egyptian art. The next time you visit the collection, please tell us about your observations. Or take a few photos and post or send them to us so we can comment on them.