Ancient Egyptian Inventions PDF

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians invented the solar calendar? They made a calendar with 365 days, 12 months and three seasons. It had one problem: it didn’t include a leap year (February with 29 days) and so it became incorrect. Ancient Egyptians also had clocks – two types! A water clock mea...

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians invented the solar calendar? They made a calendar with 365 days, 12 months and three seasons. It had one problem: it didn’t include a leap year (February with 29 days) and so it became incorrect. Ancient Egyptians also had clocks – two types! A water clock measured time by how fast water fills or empties a container so they could tell the time at night. The second clock was a shadow clock where a pillar makes a shadow from the sunlight. As the position of the sun changes, the shadow moves around the clock. In fact, a miniature version of this clock was the first clock it was possible to take from one place to another with you – but you couldn’t wear it on your wrist; it was over 30 cm long! The ancient Egyptians were one of the first cultures to move from writing in pictures to using an alphabet. They used to write on papyrus, a thick paper made from plants. In 2012, archaeologists found papyrus documents about the building of the pyramids. These are the oldest papyrus ever discovered. Papyrus was cheap and easy to produce – they also used it to make tables, clothes and even shoes. The ancient Egyptians were quite advanced in their knowledge of maths and geometry. Their knowledge helped them to build the pyramids!