Questions and Surprises from Surveying Ancient Egypt

 At first glance, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the image. My initial observations focused on the rope and what appeared to be the exchange of some kind of crop or grain. However, after reading the short paper, it became clearer that the ancient scene depicted people using a rope for measurement.

One detail that stood out to me was the unit called the remen, which I hadn’t encountered before. The remen is defined as half the diagonal of a square with sides of one royal cubit—remarkably close to the modern concept of a unit square with a hypotenuse of √2. I had never really considered how practically useful √2 could be in real-world applications until reading this. The ability to halve or double areas using proportions and ratios would have been incredibly valuable, especially for tasks like land distribution.

I had already suspected that celestial observations played a major role in measuring angles. As one of my classmates mentioned in class, it's fascinating how accurately ancient mathematicians were able to estimate the Earth's circumference using simple observations of shadows and basic tools like sundials, bays, merkhets, and plumb bobs (three of which I had never heard of before!). 

After doing a quick Google search to learn more about what a merkhet is, I started to wonder how interesting it would be to compare this ancient tool with the modern technologies we use today to observe the stars.

1) What are some modern tools or technologies for observing celestial bodies (such as telescopes, satellites, and space probes), and how do they improve upon- or differ from- ancient tools like the merkhet? 

Students could represent their findings in a variety of formats: a comparison chart, a presentation, or even a short play that dramatizes the evolution of these instruments over time!

2) How could a classroom activity be built around comparing an ancient tool (like the merkhet) with a modern one, to highlight both limitations and strengths?

One idea is to have students work in small groups to research both an ancient and a modern astronomical tool. They could then create visual presentations (such as posters or slides) that compare the tools across key categories: accuracy, materials, ease of use, and purpose. To deepen engagement, each group could simulate how their ancient tool was used (e.g., marking time or aligning with a star) and then demonstrate how a modern tool achieves the same goal- highlighting the evolution of technology and understanding.