Social Studies - Egyptian Technology Essay

Today, human technology has changed over time, we have evolved from the stone age to having mechanical robots doing our jobs for us. Egyptian Technology has changed over time, some examples of things are Shadufs, which is a water-raising mechanism used for agriculture, Papyrus paper, which is paper which was created from the Papyrus plant, and Sundials, which tell the time. This all matters because it has helped evolve human technology as a whole, and was the base of many things we use today.

One of the things that the Egyptians helped create was the Sundial. A sundial is a device that tells the time of day using the sun and shadows. It has been debated on whether or not the Egyptians were actually the creators, but scientific research explains that the oldest Sundial up to now is one that was made in Egypt. The Sundial, which was created in the 13th century BC is a piece of technology that tells the time. When sundials were first made they were large objects that weren’t able to move, since its evolution it has become a small handheld object that is on phones and electronic devices. There are two different main types of sundials, The first one is the altitude dial. The altitude dial helps determine the sun's altitude or height of the sun above the horizon. They are quite hard to work with as they need to be aligned correctly with the sun. The other Sundial is the Azimuth Sundial. The Azimuth dial helps people determine the time by the sun's angle on the arc. They need to be orientated correctly, but sometimes they have a magnet inside to help.

How it works is there is a base which has roman numerals on to tell the time. There is something called a Gnomon, which is the part of the sundial which casts a shadow when the sun hits it. The sun casts a shadow and hits the base which has the roman numerals and covers them which tells the time. When the sun is at its highest point of the day or midday, the shadow is at its shortest place. When the sun is lower, in the afternoon the shadow is at its longest. You may think, why can’t I use a stick instead, if you try it out it wouldn’t actually work. The sun changes when a season changes as the earth axis changes the height of the sun, this means that you can’t use a stick as it wouldn’t be accurate.


Compared to before clocks now have become much more efficient as a pendulum is used instead of a Gnomon. They have also become smaller and more convenient for people these days to use. It has also become digital due to technological advancements and because cellular devices have become one of the biggest things used today. The difference between an ancient sundial and a clock is how they use the sun. A sundial uses the real sun and is quite accurate whereas a clock uses a makeshift sun, called a mean sun, which assumes to move orderly at all times of the year. This is only one thing that the Egyptians created that are still being used today in modern times.

Another thing that the Egyptians created was papyrus paper. Papyrus paper is an extremely early version of the paper that was used in life. This is important because it helped us get to our paper now, which is made with tree bark. Papyrus paper was made out of the Papyrus plant, which looks like little palm trees. The papyrus plant was used for many things for example sails, cloths, mats and cords. Instead of using the leaves of the papyrus plant instead, they used the root as it worked better than the thin leaves of the plant. Making papyrus paper is actually quite easy, all you need is papyrus plants, something to pound it down, water, and a burnisher, to make the paper smoother. The Egyptians would gather the papyrus plants, split the roots from the leaves, cut the roots in half, and then soak them in water for a day. They would then lay the roots across one another and pound them into strips. You would then soak it again for around three days, press it for three days and then burnish them with a smooth stone before it would be used. Compared to before the paper we use today is so much more different as we use tree pulp in the same way, but instead of pounding it down, we fit the tree pulp from water and let it dry for a day. The paper these days are also less time consuming as anyone at home can make paper in thirty minutes, instead of waiting for almost a week. This is another thing that the Egyptians have created that have still been used today.


The sundial and Papyrus paper are only two things that the Egyptians helped create. So much more has been created by them which have also helped shape human society today. Without the technology that our ancestors created, we wouldn’t be able to function as we do now, our world would work differently.