TIME THROUGH THE AGES

By Gaut
  • 3000 BCE

    OBELISK

    Egyptians used an obelisk~A vertical structure with four sides, as a shadow clock to tell time.
  • 300 BCE

    SUNDIAL

    Babylonians used a sundial~a flat circle on which a 12 hour clock face, or dial, had been written.
  • 275 BCE

    CLEPSYDRA

    Early Greeks and Egyptians designed a clepsydra~a water clock that used the flow of water to measure time.
  • 1000

    HOURGLASS

    Europeans used an hourglass to keep time and it was not dependent upon the sun.
  • 1300

    MECHANICAL CLOCK

    Europeans began using physics principles of weights and balances to mark out increments of time over a 12 hour period.
  • 1300

    WATCHES

    These timepieces first appeared in Italy in the early 1400's, measuring time using coiled springs. Watches could be placed in a pocket or hung from a belt.

  • MODERN CLOCKS

    Today, clocks and watches contain a quartz crystal, called silicon dioxide.

  • DIGITAL WATCH

    Powered by batteries and a quartz crystal instead of coils and springs and shows time as numbers.