What did the craftsmen do? The meaning of the word "artisan"

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 understand what the craftsmen did. What professions were the first. Let's talk briefly about the features of materials and technologies for different directions.

Term meaning

Under this concept, small-scale production of various items by hand is hidden. That is, without the use of production facilities. Often, the results created by masters, refer to highly artistic and exclusive products, as opposed to stamped consumer goods.

A craftsman is a person who handles the production of things. He can be of different qualifications (apprentice, master, head of the shop), to make goods on order or for sale. The first option refers to more professional specialists, whereas from the second one earlier training for beginners began.

What the craftsmen did in different periods of history, we'll talk further, and now we list the main types of professions related to this industry.

All that is included in the sphere of necessary things for a comfortable life, has long been produced by craftsmen. This is a variety of products from metals (blacksmithing), clay (potters), leather and skins (kozhemyaki), 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.

Processing of metals

The very first metal, with which mankind learned to handle, was copper. In the tombs of the pharaohs, drawings of the methods of melting this material are found. A small crucible and a flat stone instead of a hammer. However, with apparent primitiveness, the products far surpassed their time. Especially we will stop at this when we reach the jewelers.

Later, bronze appeared, when they learned how to alloy copper and tin. Figurines and vessels, weapons and jewelry, furniture legs and cast ornaments. This is what the craftsmen in ancient Egypt did.

By the end of the reign of the pharaohs are the first finds of iron, but then it was still very expensive and exclusive. This material received much development in the Middle Ages.

Europe, Russia, the Middle East were famous for masters who created such masterpieces in this era that even today they can not be repeated. For example, Damascus steel. Very durable and flexible blade. As at that time blacksmiths achieved such an exact correlation and bonding of metal layers, it is still not clear.

Working with a tree

The most famous carpenter must be Christ. However, even before it, the craftsmen 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 own needs. For example, in Russia in cities the sidewalks were made of boards and logs. Furniture and household utensils, toys, barrels, carts, and later machines - all created from wood.

Jewelcrafting

The following profession especially reflects the meaning of the word "artisan". Here the master will have painstaking and hard work to create ornaments from very small details.

Even in Egypt, experts pelleted gold and fastened it to finish the lid of the sarcophagus so that modern professionals only marvel. They were able to connect the balls without visible traces of spikes. Sheets of the finest gold covered with figurines, surprisingly precise features of miniature men and animals, mechanical dolls. All this surprises and amazes people so far, although it has been more than one thousand years.

What the craftsmen 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 cycle of production under such instructions.

In Russia, the jewelers had a special honor. The princes supported and encouraged specialists in this field. Raw materials were imported from other countries, because as such, the extraction of non-ferrous metals was not in the principalities. The most advanced technique was casting, and artisans were called "zlatar" and "silversmith", depending on the material.

Leatherworking

The very first material for the production of clothing. How can I not tell you about him?
If people in the Stone Age used coarsely tailored skins for cover, then, starting from Egypt, they were already dressed and thinned, painted and decorated.

This material was used by saddlers and furriers, saddlers and tulleys (made quivers for arrows), shoemakers and masters for the production of morocco and parchment.
Bronnikov created a variety of types of light and medium armor from the skin flaps. Together with the blacksmiths, subsequently, riveted armor was made, and later only the belts for fastening the parts of the metal suit remained.
Here, too, the meaning of the word "artisan" is fully reflected. After all, if we carefully study the technique of dressing skins, we will see that for a long time it was exceptionally manual.

First, the material was wiped from the wool. For this, the skins were thrown into the vats or wooden boxes with lime. The next stage is tanning. It was treated with various means and rasimani hands to achieve maximum softness. If the elasticity is low, then soon there will be cracks.

Further processed material entered the workshops of different artisans.

Weaponsmithing

Until now, this product is in high demand, and it earns billions. How did it all start?

Sometimes it seems that blacksmithing is the only thing that artisans did in ancient times. The number of military items that archaeologists find seems simply unrealistic at the level of production of those years.
Swords and daggers, spearheads and spears, arrows and bolts, darts, rivets on leather armor and solid metal suits. All these items exactly corresponded to the physical characteristics of the owner.

If we talk about weapons, then it will be easier to create or correct them there. But the bronzes created just masterpieces. To pour out or forge a cuirass exactly according to the shape of its future master, to decorate with various ornaments and ideally to fasten all joints. So not every master can do in our days.

Damascus steel swords and perfectly sharp katana Japanese samurai, who cut silk on the fly. All these examples show a fairly high level of production with minimal use of the resource. That is about real professionalism. That's what a craftsman means, if you look at the essence of the term itself.

Building

It is not even worth talking about the pyramids and other colossal monuments of ancient architects. Today we all admire and admire them.

In this sphere of production, several crafts are combined. Masons and painters, artists and glaziers, carpenters and carpenters, blacksmiths. All of them, one way or another, made a hand to build not only palaces, but also the most common shacks.
If we talk about Russia, the log buildings stand for several centuries and preserve a condition suitable for life.

The murals on the walls of castles and temples illustrate what the craftsmen were doing in the era of the development of Babylon, Egypt, the ancient states, and later the 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 ages, with a soul. Unfortunately, this attitude to his profession is rare today.

Weaving and spinning

A truly feminine kind of craft. In the beginning it was more used as a pastime. When there was nothing to do in the evening, we gathered for sewing, weaving, spinning. To talk, discuss pressing problems.

But the level of skill from this did not suffer. Most families made such items exclusively for household use, but with the growth and expansion of trade ties, they began to be produced for export.

For example, Phoenician fabrics were famous for the whole world due to their dyes. Such a purple new thing was wanted by all the rulers. Actually, the price of such a luxury item was high.

Eastern carpets are still striking with their uniqueness. Each kind and tribe had its own traditions, ornaments, forms. Everything from mats to luxurious carpets with long nap can be bought from merchants.

Archaeological finds in this area also illustrate what the craftsmen in Russia were doing. Here, materials such as flax, hemp and wool are most widely used. Weavers were able to create objects of linen, twill and complex weaving.

Also produced cloths of wool of different thickness, thin linen cloth. Color was varied. Red, green, black, yellow and blue colors were used.

Pottery

Probably the most widespread profession in the number of archaeological finds. And the easiest thing a craftsman can do. All that is needed for work is clay and water.

The oldest method of producing vessels is simple molding and drying in the sun. The second option - the creation of a frame of brushwood, which was subsequently coated with clay.
Then began to burn the vessels near the fire. In finds, this technology is very easy to determine. 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 trade. However, it is still such.

Subsequently, there was a transition from manual molding to the production of items on the potter's wheel. It is at this stage that the composition of masters varies according to gender. Previously, women were more engaged in this, now pottery is becoming a man's profession.

Glass-making

The youngest of the above crafts. First, this material was used to create jewelry in the form of beads or pendants of various shapes. Apparently, the first samples were obtained due to a lightning strike in the sand. From the heat, it melted, turning into glass pellets.

It is believed that the first such technology was mastered by ancient Egyptian masters, but today such a thesis is questioned.

But it is precisely known that in the early Middle Ages Byzantium and countries of the Middle East already exported these products all over the world. These included jewelry (beads, beads, occasionally bracelets), toys, figurines. Later - dishes.

Thus, we discussed with you what kinds of trades were spread from ancient times, learned the meaning of the word "artisan" and talked about the specifics of some professions.