In honor of black history month, I thought that it would be interesting to take a closer look at the history of tweezers.

When was the tweezer invented?

There are drawings of Egyptian craftsmen holding hot pots over ovens with a double-bow shaped tool. Asiatic tweezers, consisting of two strips of metal brazed together, were commonly used in Mesopotamia and India from about 3000 BC, perhaps for purposes such as catching lice.

They have been used to grab or hold hot objects since the dawn of recorded history. In a scientific or medical context they are normally referred to as forceps.

Next week I’ll cover how it got its name