A Brief History of the Modern Mattress:

Comfortable, supportive mattresses are something most of us take for granted. We don't think about how they've evolved over time. Here's brief lesson on the bed throughout history and in more modern times.

• 10,000 years ago In the Neolithic period, people began sleeping on primitive "beds."
• 3400 BC Egyptian pharaohs discover the benefits of raising a pallet off the earth. King Tutankhamen had a bed of ebony and gold. Common people slept on palm bows heaped in the corner of their home.
• Roman Empire The first luxury bed arrived, often decorated with gold, silver or bronze, these beds featured mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool or feathers. Romans discover the waterbed. The sleeper would recline in a cradle of warm water in goats skin until drowsy, and then be lifted onto an adjacent cradle with a mattress, where they would be rocked to sleep.
• Renaissance Mattresses were filled with pea shucks or straw, sometimes feathers, stuffed into coarse ticks, then covered with sumptuous velvets, brocades and silks.
• 16th and 17th centuries Mattresses were generally stuffed with straw or down, placed atop a latticework of rope.
• Late 18th century Advent of the cast iron bed and cotton mattresses. Together, they provided a sleeping space that was less attractive to bugs. Until that time, assorted vermin were simply accepted as an unavoidable component of even the most royal beds.
• 1865 The first coil spring construction for bedding was patented.
• 1930's Innerspring mattresses and upholstered foundations became serious contenders for the dominant position they now enjoy in the U.S. and Canada.
• 1940's Futons were introduced to North America.
• 1950's Foam rubber mattresses and pillows appeared on the market.
• 1960's The modern waterbed was introduced. Adjustable beds become popular with consumers.
• 1980's Airbeds are introduced.
• 1990's Spacious sleeping is once again on the rise. In 1999, the queen-size mattress became America's most popular choice for mattress size – for the first time ever, beating the twin.
• 2000's Choice and comfort are key words in contemporary bedding. In addition to an almost unlimited range of innerspring mattress designs, new types of foam mattress cores (such as "memory" or visco-elastic foam and refinements to traditional latex) as well as airbeds, waterbeds and high-tech adjustable sleep sets offer consumers attractive, quality alternatives. Pillow top mattresses, a popular innovation in luxury, offer an extra layer of soft cushioning, and single-sided no-flip mattresses are common.