The scissors were not originally quite like what they are now. It is believed that scissors originated with the human ability to weave and process wool. However, the first references to scissors in human history are found in New Babylonian texts on clay tablets, dating to around the 6th century BC.

Prominent British archaeologist of the early 20th century, Flinders Petrie, based on archaeological data, estimated that the scissors were invented around 300 BC in Roman Italy, from where they spread throughout the Roman Empire. In mainland Greece, scissors dating back to the first half of the 3rd century BC have also been found.

The first depictions of scissors in the ancient world are dated after the 1st century AD. Only from this time they appear on wall paintings in Egypt among a set of Roman medical instruments (the temple of Kom-Ombo), in Italy itself, and in Malta. Many artefacts have been discovered through the diggings in Pompeii.

The presented scissors were discovered in the Bakhtiyarovna burial mound II in 1983 by an expedition led by Vladimir Krieger.