2/20/15

Technological developments of the Ancient Egyptians that helped them advance as a civilization.

1. Medicine - Herbs, acupuncture and prayer were commonly used to heal people. Medicine is a very important invention because it helped them to cure tons of people and save many lives.

2.  Calendar - Without a calendar, ancient Egyptians had no way of knowing when the flooding of the Nile would begin. Without that knowledge, their entire agricultural system would be put at risk. There calendar was split up into 3 seasons: inundation, growing and harvest. Each season had four months, with each month divided into 30 days. Adding it all up, you get 360 days a year.

3.Written Language - The Egyptian writing system began with pictograms. Pictograms were simple depictions of the words they represented, but they had limitations. Over time, Egyptians created alphabet like characters that stood for certain sounds and other characters, allowing them to write out names and abstract ideas. Egyptians are know for the creation of hieroglyphs which contained a mixture of alphabetic, syllabic symbols, as well as ideograms

4. Papyrus - Papyrus is a stiff, reed like plant that grew/grows in the marshy areas lining the Nile. It was ideal for making sheets to write on and many other things. They were used for everything from religious texts to literature and even music.

5. Toothpaste - Egyptians had a lot of trouble with their teeth. Part of the reason was because their 
bread had grit and sand in it, which damaged the teeth. While they didn't have dentistry, they did make toothpaste and tooth brushes to help keep their teeth clean.