In the modern world today, most of us are able to get our basic needs of food, shelter and clothing without even having to wonder how they came about. In short, thanks to advanced technology and rising standards of living, people have taken these basic needs for granted. Consider for instance, when we return home from school, a bowl of steaming hot noodles would be sitting on the table waiting for us to enjoy. When we are sick of living in a tiny apartment and have saved more than enough to buy a bigger one with better designs, we move out of the small one. And when the clothes we have on are torn, we just discard them and get new ones with better finishes from departmental stores. Thus, we can see that these basic needs are so easily met in today's world. However, has one ever wondered how the people in the ancient times lived, given their limited technology? How did they get their food? How did they build their houses? What kind of clothes did they wear?

For the Maya, a typical family of about five to seven members woke up most probably before dawn everyday to a breakfast of hot chocolate. The poorer families had a thick, hot corn drink called atole instead. They lived in a one-room hut which was made of interwoven poles covered with dried mud. The people grew crops like corn, squash and beans for food. The clothes they wore were made of the fibres of plants and fleece of sheep.

In ancient Egypt, India, China and Mesopotamia, the people too survived on agriculture. They planted crops like maize, wheat and barley along the fertile banks of rivers, such as the River Nile for the Egyptians and the River Tigris and Euphrates for the Sumers of Mesopotamia. The Egyptian farmers also grew vegetables, such as lettuce, beans, peas, and onions, and fruits, such as figs, dates, and pomegranates. Domestic animals -- cattle, sheep, and goats -- were also raised to provide food and hides. The rivers in these countries also provided the people with fish for food.

The people of Egypt, India and Mesopotamia lived in houses that were built of bricks made out of clay, while those in China lived in houses that were built of mud bricks or wood. The clothes that the early Egyptians, Greeks and Romans wore were long pieces of cloth made from wool and fibres that were simply draped about the body, with a tie fastening the cloth at the waist. The ancient Chinese instead, wore flowing garments with long, loose sleeves made of silk.

Today, though agriculture still exists, most of us need not work on farms and thus, some of us have even forgotten that the food we eat, such as corn and the various kinds of vegetable originally come from seed that have been planted in the ground by farmers. The most common answer that we hear from the children of today in response to the question, "where do vegetables come from?" is "from the supermarket"!

We no longer see mud houses nowadays except in rural parts of the world such as in certain areas of Africa, but instead, huge houses made of cemented bricks with unique and intricate designs. The clothes we wear too come in so many different designs and fashions. Thus, aren't we lucky to be living in the modern world of today instead of the ancient past?

Both sexes of ancient Greece wore simple, draped garments like those of the bronze charioteer.

People of ancient Rome, wearing togas and pallae, parade across a processional frieze that was finished in 9 BC.

The figures on the throne of Tutankhamen show styles of Egyptian royal dress as worn in about 1350 BC.

Plowing and sowing took place in ancient Egypt as in a painting from a tomb at Thebes.

Two wooden sculptures from China, created in about the 3rd or 4th century BC, are among the earliest known human figures in Chinese art. They represent attendants buried with the dead. Note also, the long-flowing garments they wore.