How did people measure things before rulers?
Body Rulers
How did people measure things before rulers?
You pull out a ruler and measure: twelve inches exactly. Simple. But for most of human history, there were no rulers. No tape measures. No meters or centimeters at all. So how did someone building a boat, or sewing a cloak, or planning a temple, know if something was the right size?
The answer was always right there, attached to your body. Your forearm, from elbow to fingertip, is about eighteen inches long — that distance is called a cubit. Ancient Egyptians used cubits to measure temple walls, coffins, pyramids, everything. A pharaoh's architect would stretch his arm along a block of stone: one cubit, two cubits, three.
