Fork from 16th century

The first forks came about quite a long time ago. They were known in the Ancient Greece and Rome (as well as Old Egypt and Assyria), yet they were a late addition to the European dining tableware. In Europe tools resembling a fork (long two-pronged rods) were used for cooking, taking the meat out of a hot pot. Before forks were added to the table, people in Europe, including in The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, used only knives and spoons, or simply their hands. Cooks had to prepare the food in such way that it would be easy to stab with a knife, pick up using a spoon or eat with their fingers. Boiled or roasted meat would be served in big chunks, then cut into smaller pieces by a servant, so the people eating it could easily pick it up with a knife or their hands.
The first mentions of forks in written sources can be traced back to the 9th century. In the beginning this tool had only two prongs. Small three-pronged forks were invented in The Near East, firstly in Byzantium, from where it was brought to Italy in the 11th century because of marital connections created by monarch dynasties.
Fork was not accepted quickly in Europe as Church did not allow their use – saying that it is ridiculing God, because food given by God needs to be eaten with fingers created by Him. In spite of such prohibitions, the devilish tool found its way to the tables of many Italian aristocrats after about 300 years.
In the 16th century the two-dented tool reached Grand Duchy of Lithuania‘s aristocracy‘s dining rooms. Findings of archaeologists in the 16th century layer in the territory of the Palace of the Grand Dukes also confirm this.
In the 18th-19th century forks found their way onto the tables of Europeans for good. At this point their looks have changed to the one we know today – they became three or four-pronged.