The Longest Line You Have Ever Drawn

World History · Page 1 of 5

Name Date
DIRECTIONS: Measure with a ruler. Do not guess.

All of human history. People have been people — the same as you, same brains — for about 300 thousand years. This line is all of it.

300000 BC200000 BC100000 BCAD 1969all of written history →
Writing is about 5 thousand years old, so all written history is the last 1.7% of the line, at the right-hand end.
  1. Measure the whole line in centimeters. Then work out how many centimeters the written part is. Show your working.
    Show your work
  2. Nothing is marked on the left-hand nine tenths of that line. Does that mean nothing happened? Say what you think was going on.

The Last Five Thousand

World History · Page 2 of 5

DIRECTIONS: The right-hand tip of page 1, stretched out. Measure it.
5000 BC4000 BC3000 BC2000 BC1000 BCAD 1000AD 1969first writingGreat PyramidCleopatraRome fallsMoon
From… to…How many years?How many cm on the line?
The first writing → the Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid → Cleopatra
Cleopatra → the Moon landing
Rome falls → now
BC years count down: 500 BC is before 100 BC. There is no year 0: 1 BC is followed by AD 1. So 100 BC to AD 100 is 199 years, not 200.
  1. How many years from 200 BC to AD 200?
    Show your working
  2. Look at your second and third rows. Which gap is bigger? Write both numbers down before you answer.
    Show your work

Cleopatra and the Rocket

World History · Page 3 of 5

DIRECTIONS: You measured this. Say why it feels wrong.
Cleopatra lived nearer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid.
Pyramid → Cleopatra
2,530 years Cleopatra → Moon landing
1,999 years
The pyramid was already ancient when she was born.
  1. Why do you think the pyramid and Cleopatra feel like they belong together, when they are further apart than she is from us?

Two More About Ancient

World History · Page 4 of 5

  1. Ancient Egypt lasted about 3,070 years. That is longer than the 1,999 years from its end to now. Say what that does to the word "ancient".
  2. Somebody says "the Egyptians built the pyramids and then Cleopatra ruled them". Nothing in that is false. Say what is wrong with it anyway.

Your Own Line

World History · Page 5 of 5

DIRECTIONS: Draw a line for the last 100 years. Mark when you, a parent and a grandparent were born. Measure the gaps.
  1. How many of your lifetimes fit between now and Cleopatra? Between now and the Great Pyramid?
    Show your work
  2. A grandparent remembers things you have only read about. Say what that means about how far back "remembered" history actually reaches.
  3. Everything before writing is on page 1 and none of it is on page 2. Write down one thing you would want to know about those people, and say who you would ask.