The History of Timekeeping Devices

invention · time · ancient history · technology

Sundials and water clocks. Ancient Egyptians around 1200 BC were among the first people to invent ways to measure time by watching shadows move across marked surfaces (sundials) and watching water drip slowly from one container to another (water clocks).

Incense clocks in China. By the 6th century, people in China burned special incense sticks that would burn at a steady rate, leaving marks as they burned down to show how much time had passed.

Islamic water clocks. In the medieval period, Islamic scientists created water clocks so complex and beautiful that they were considered the most advanced timekeeping devices in the world until the 1300s.

Hourglasses at sea. When sailors needed to measure time on ships where water clocks wouldn't work, they used hourglasses, which are containers with sand that flows from one side to the other at a steady pace.

Pendulums and gears. Eventually, people invented mechanical clocks with swinging pendulums and spinning gears that could keep time more accurately than anything before, and this is the idea still used in many clocks today.