IELTS READING S41AT1

A Chronicle of Timekeeping

Our conception of time depends on the way we measure it

A. According to archaeological evidence, at least 5, 000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman Empire, Q8 the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to coordinate communal activities, to plan the shipment of goods, and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting. They based their calendars on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet’s revolution around the sun.

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