The cave man would wake up, go hunting, hunt till he finds a meal. Get his hunt to cave, share with fellow beings. Sleep. If bored, maybe do some cave paintings. The cave women might have gone hunting too or stayed back and looked after the cave babies! 

Imagine one day , this cave man was having a real bad day! He found nothing to hunt! He kept looking for prey. He realised that he has gone far away from his cave and it is getting dark! What happens now?

It is getting darker and he needs to get back to his cave before it is fully dark ( night ).

Guess what? That's how the early cave person  would keep track of time too.  By observing the Sun.

Pretty simple!

It could be something like

Sun rising - Time to wake up!! Morning

Sun exactly above his head - Time to look and hunt!! Noon

Sun Setting - Time to come back to the cave!! Evening

No Sun - Time to sleep! Night

Can the Moon indicate time?

From No Moon to Full moon. They would count the days from no moon to Full moon as 1 cycle. Any idea how many days made up that cycle?? 

A fortnight!

Can we keep track of time by observing a lit candle?

How did the early civilization track time?

Before we get to know time, we need to see their counting system.

But the Babylonian and Sumerian civilization followed a 12 number System

It was always in the groups of 12.

This counting system was followed by the other civilizations as well.

The Egyptians used the same counting system and divided Day and Night equally.

12 parts of day and 12 parts of night.

The parts of the day were divided using an instrument named Sundial which was based on the Shadow cast by the Sun. When the Sun was right on top of the head, It was marked as 12.

So is the time problem solved?

The old civilizations used candles with a measured length. They would make markings to indicate the passing of time, by checking how much of the candle has burned out. This is how humans made substitution for sunlight. In the night they used this technique

What about other methods? Let’s explore!

DIY Water clock

People used water clocks in the past

What is this?