Ancient Measuring Tools For Length

Often considered the first unit of measurement the cubit was developed by the ancient egyptians and was the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger about 18 inches.

Ancient measuring tools for length.

Since these lengths always varied the royal cubit was introduced which was a granite rod that used the current king s dimensions as the standard by which to measure objects. Ancient modern instruments for measurement of length to measure very long lengths like the length of a road we use measuring tape or an odometer. Archaeologists have uncovered many simple measurement tools along with units of measurement used by ancient societies. Interesting enough many of these tools have changed very little over the years and are still in use today as part of modern day society.

There are actually countless devices to measure length. It is equal to the length of an average foot formerly 11 1 42 inches but now 12 inches. Try to step back in time and imagine a world without measurement tools. The most natural way to measure length is to compare it to some part of the body and for centuries people did just that the unit we call a foot has been used since ancient times.

Ancient people used their different body parts such as arm and foot to measure length. Ancient egyptians used their hands and feet to measure length and width. Measurement tools have a long history which reaches all the way back to ancient times. An inch was the width of a man s thumb a hand was literally meant five fingers across a span was the length of an outstretched arm and the yard in the 12th century was the distance from king henry i s nose to the thumb of his.

From the smallest to the largest ones and from the most ancient to the top notch ones all the length measuring devices typically serve different kinds of range. Some of the standard instruments used to measure length are a ruler meter scale measuring tape vernier caliper and screw gauge. People in ancient times used the different parts of their bodies to size things up. For its part an inch was traditionally the width of an average thumb but edward ii of england ruled in the 14th century.

Luckily we ve come a long way from the days of using belts thumbs and cubits for measurement but it s always nice to know more about the tools you.