Ancient artefacts can often be interesting, but you'll usually find that interest fades away quite quickly if the object in question is something rather boring, from a rather boring period of time.
That can't really be said for 2,000-year-old sex toys, though. For some reason, it's odd to think that such things existed that long ago. They're only really thought of as a modern invention. It's not until you look at ancient Greek art that you realise that people from years gone by were just as filthy as us, if not a tiny bit filthier.
Two of the phallic pleasure sources from 2,000 years ago were found in the Yizheng city in western Jiangsu. They were made of bronze dating back to around 206 BC - 220 AD, China's Han Dynasty.
Credit: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Advert
The pair of objects have been kept in the Yizheng Museum since 2012 when they were discovered, but they are not shown to the public.
An employee at the museum spoke to the Daily Mail, revealing that the toys were found inside a tomb in Jiangsu Province near Shanghai.
The owner of the tomb was identified as Liu Fei, according to China News, who is a rich and powerful aristocrat who obviously enjoyed dabbling in some playtime. One of the artefacts has a metal ring attached to the base, whereas the other has a flat base. Make of that what you will, but he obviously thought about how diverse he could be with them.
The pair of items will be on show at an upcoming exhibit at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco called 'Tomb Treasures'.
Advert
The co-curator of the exhibition, Zhang Fan, said that the two dildos 'could be worn and used' and that they reflected an 'almost modern appreciation for the body's needs and wants'.
Credit: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
"This exhibition underscores how connected we really are to the past, that we share the same passions across time and culture," director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Jay Xu said.
Advert
The history of the predecessors to rampant rabbits is still largely unknown. They have been present in society throughout history, yet there's no quintessential evidence as to where they originated, or indeed where the word dildo comes from.
In the Oxford English Dictionary the word is listed as 'origin unknown', although it is noted that it came from around some time in the 16th century. Apparently the word's first appearance in English was in Thomas Nashe's 1593 poem The Choise of Valentines Or the Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo, which went on to be nicknamed Nashe's Dildo.
They are that popular these days that they seem to pop up everywhere.
In this girl's case, you can forgive her from mistaking a Christmas present she received from her mum.
Advert
Shelby from New Orleans took one look after she emphatically unwrapped it and presumably let out a whelp.
It turns out, after some explanation, it was a cup holder.
However, at the age 18, Shelby had other things on her mind and was mortified that her mother even considered buying her a sex toy.
Advert
"When I opened the gift, I opened it upside down," she told Elite Daily. "That was unfortunate. I stared at it for a really long time, trying to process the gift as ANYTHING other than a dildo, but there was nothing else I could think of. I sat there wide-eyed for a really long time; my family was actually worried."
Shelby's mum insists she didn't do it on purpose, and genuinely tried to find a respectable cup holder. Her grandma, on the other hand, said it can be used for "business in the morning, fun at night."
Featured Image Credit: Asian Art Museum of San Franciscoβ