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The Rest Is Science
The Rest Is Science

A History Of Squatting

October 21, 2026 • 37m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

Michael Stevens and Hannah Fry explore the history of human resting positions, from ancient squatting practices to the invention and proliferation of chairs. They examine how skeletal evidence reveals squatting habits across millennia, discuss the biomechanics of different sitting positions, and answer listener questions about physics phenomena and linguistic quirks.

The Kenyan Stool and Ancient Squatting Practices

Hannah introduces a traditional Kenyan stool called an echihalong, used by nomadic people in the Lake Takana region. The stool demonstrates an intermediate position between squatting and sitting, with the unique feature of molding to an individual's body over time. This leads to a discussion about how different resting positions affect the body and what archaeological evidence reveals about ancient habits.

  • The echihalong is a personal stool from Kenya that molds to the owner's body over years of use
  • The stool allows for a more comfortable resting position than squatting, with weight on sit bones rather than ankles
  • Most people in Western cultures have lost the ability to comfortably squat due to shortened Achilles tendons from lack of practice
" This is what I brought for you today. Do you know what that is? No, but I'm going to guess. Go on. I'm going to guess that it's a kind of chair. It is a kind of chair. "
" This is like a you use it or you lose it situation and if you do not practice changing the angle between your foot and your shin to make it smaller and smaller and smaller, essentially what happens is your tendons on the back of your ankle, your Achilles and so on, they shorten, then they can't be lengthened into that position and you are locked. "

Skeletal Evidence of Squatting Throughout History

Hannah explains how archaeologists can identify habitual squatters by examining ancient skeletons for a "squatting facet"—a polished patch on shin bones caused by repeated compression. This evidence shows that Neanderthals, early Homo sapiens, and humans throughout most of history were regular squatters, a practice that only declined with the proliferation of chairs in medieval Europe.

  • A 'squatting facet' is a shiny patch on shin bones that reveals habitual squatting or kneeling
  • Both Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens show evidence of being habitual squatters
  • Squatting started to decline in the medieval period as chairs became more common
" If you are a habitual squatter, there is a clue that gets left in your skeleton that you do this a lot. So we can look at historical bone records and tell how squatty people were. "

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