Historians believe timekeeping goes as far back as the Neolithic period, but actual calendars weren’t around until the Bronze Age in 3100 BC. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia made the very first calendar, which divided a year into 12 lunar months, each consisting of 29 or 30 days.

The Sumerian calendar was very different from the one we use today. Here’s how:

One year had 360 days
A day was divided into 12 hours – 6 “daytime” hours and 6 “nighttime” hours
Wet and dry seasons were observed
There were no weeks
Each month had 29 or 30 days
Holy days were observed on the 7th and 15th of the month
An extra month was added every four years

Astronomy was huge when it came to keeping track of time. The Sumerians used the sighting of the first full moon to mark a new month. Hundreds of years later, the Egyptians, Babylonians, and other ancient civilizations created their own calendars, using the rotation of the sun, moon, and stars to figure out how much time had passed.

Overall, these time-tracking techniques may seem outdated, but they’re not that different from the paper wall calendars and phone calendars we use today!
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