Uncovering the secrets of Inuit women’s underwear from 130 years ago.

The Daily Mail reports that in the 19th century, the Inuit people living in Greenland (an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark) treated guests with great courtesy, but wore very Sєxy women’s underwear made of sealskin.

According to Inuit tradition, the underwear, called naatsit, was decorated with strings of glᴀss beads and sewn together by women using furry sealskins of various colors, with the furry side facing outwards. Currently, these ancient underwear sets are on display at the Peter Toft Museum, the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. These ancient undergarments were discovered during an expedition to Greenland in 1892.

Ancient Inuit women’s underwear was made from sealskin.

Cunera Buijs, an employee of the Greenland National Museum of Ethnology, said: “Weathering conditions permitting, the ancient Inuit wore only naatsit underwear, both indoors and outdoors. Each house would house several families living together.”

Seal carcᴀsses are found along the east coast of Greenland; they were hunted for their meat and skin. In North America and Siberia, the Inuit also hunted reindeer for their hides. In the cold, humid weather of these regions, hunting for seal skins, fur, and meat was less common than for reindeer.

Such garments helped the wearer reduce sweating. Women would clean the skin and remove all the nourishing cells from the flesh to prevent the hides from rotting.

Inuit women’s undergarments were worn both at home and outdoors.

When Europeans arrived in East Greenland from the late 19th century, they brought with them new, more modern garment-making techniques. Besides naatsit undergarments, the Danish National Museum also houses a pair of women’s corsets made of reindeer hide and fur. A collection of similar garments is currently on display at the National Museum of Ethnology in Copenhagen.

In the 1930s, Dutch biologist and Nobel laureate Niko Tinbergen, who lived in East Greenland, amᴀssed a collection of ancient artifacts reflecting the culture of the ancient people. He donated a wooden canoe made of sealskin to the Greenland National Museum. Many other artifacts were provided by researcher Gerti Nooter from the 1970s in North America and the Arctic region, including hunting equipment and clothing.