I seen a reference in the news about China's Silk Road where some of the oldest items in history on are exhibit. Among these items is the earliest known sunglasses. And I thought "hello", so I did a search. This is what I found.
Some of the world's oldest sunglasses were discovered on north Baffin Island
Gatineau, Quebec / Ottawa, Ontario - We can credit the Eskimo or Inuit of the Arctic for the world's first sunglasses. Often refered to as snow goggles, they were created from bone, leather or wood with small slits see through, designed to protect the eyes from snowblindness caused by the bright spring sunlight. The first snow goggles are said to date back 2000 years to a culture known as Old Bering Sea, who lived around the west coast of Alaska and were the ancestors of the modern Inuit. The snow goggles came to Canada with the Inuit (Thule culture) about 800 years ago. This example, an artifact of the Thule people, from north Baffin, was crafted from walrus ivory and dates back to between 1200 AD and 1600 AD. They are now in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, however they are not always on display.
Photo: (C) Canadian Museum of Civilization, catalogue no.IX-C-2846, image no. S89-1832-CD94686-011.Source: http://www.canadacool.com/COOLFACTS/QUEBEC/Gatineau-OttawaSunglasses.html______________
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