Time

'Time' is a strange thing. You can't see it or feel it, but it's still always passing, even when there are no clocks to show it. This is because time has always existed, even before watches and clocks had been invented. Hundreds of years ago, although people probably didn't need to know the time as precisely as we do now, they still wanted to know when to meet their friends or when a day's work was done. As they couldn't look at their clock or watch, they looked around them instead, and worked out the time from the movement of the sun and stars, or other objects in the natural world.

This is a tour of ten objects in The British Museum which show you some of the ways that people in the past have told the time. It is based on the children's book Time available from The British Museum Press (sales.books@bmcompany.co.uk), and in the Children's Shop at the Museum.

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Time Quiz (39Kb)