When

What's the most distinctive feature of history writing?

Time.

When did this thing exist? When was it used?

Let's look at some snippets from descriptions of art & technology to see how the writer locates their subject in time.

Men in a Roman latrine (but the toilet holes aren't accurate)

Sometimes we place things, like these Roman toilets, in a broad region of time:

Dating back to the 2nd century BC, Roman public toilets, often built with donations from charitable upper-class citizens, were called foricae. These toilets consisted of dark rooms lined with benches dotted with key-shaped holes placed rather closely together. Romans therefore got pretty close and personal while using the foricae.

Public Sewers and Sponges on Sticks: How Toilets Worked in Ancient Rome

French soldiers uncover the Rosetta Stone

Sometimes we provide specific dates for discoveries or milestone events in the subject's history.

For example, the Rosetta Stone was created 2,000 years ago.

But when was the buried stone discovered by French military officers? And when was it passed to the British government?

The Rosetta Stone was discovered by a Frenchman named Bouchard or Boussard in August 1799. After the French surrender of Egypt in 1801, it passed into British hands and is now in the British Museum in London.

Rosetta Stone

Merchants riding on the silk road

Sometimes, we provide a date range in which something existed or was used.

For example, through what period was the Silk Road trade network widely used?

The Silk Road was used regularly from 130 BCE, when the Han Dynasty officially opened trade with the west, to 1453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with the west and closed the routes.

By this time, Europeans had become used to the goods from the east and, when the Silk Road closed, merchants needed to find new trade routes to meet the demand for these goods.

Silk Road

We might also use extended timelines or chronologies to show how an art or technology has evolved over time.

For example, the mechanical process of putting writing and images onto print material has evolved through different technologies and practices over thousands of years.

So many, that you might list them in a timeline if you wanted some perspective:

(Note: The abbreviation "ca." stands for "circa", meaning "about".)

Making parchment Permennter-1568 Wikimedia

Making parchment (Source)

History of Printing Timeline

ca. 3100 BCE: Cuneiform, one of the earliest known writing systems developed in Sumer (modern day Iraq). Wedge-shaped marks were made on clay tablets by a blunt stylus cut from a reed.

ca. 3000: Papyrus plant, paper-like material used as a writing surface in Egypt. Ink from lamp-black made in China.

ca. 500: Amate, a beaten paper-like material, made in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

ca. 200: Parchment, a material made from processed animal skin, used as a writing surface in Pergamon (now Turkey).

105 CE: Invention of the papermaking process credited to Ts'ai Lun a palace advisor during the Han Dynasty of China.

ca. 500: Papermaking in Samarkand (modern day Uzbekistan).

711: Moors invade Spain, introducing papermaking techniques from the east.

794: Papermill established in Baghdad, Abbasid dynasty (present day Iraq).

ca. 800: Book of Kells illuminated Latin manuscript Gospel produced in Britain and Ireland.

868: The oldest dated printed text known: The Diamond Sutra, a Chinese translation of a Buddhist text now preserved in the British Library.

932: Chinese printers adapt Wood-block printing to mass-produce classical books.

1041: Movable type, made from baked clay, invented in China.

1151: First papermill in Europe at Xàtiva (Spain).

History of Printing Timeline

Timelines often use layout and imagery to quickly convey more contextual information.

For example, this online timeline of the Silk Roads shows nearby dates clustered together and illustrates each date with an image:

Timeline Silk Roads Silk Production University of Pittsburgh

Timeline of the Silk Roads (Source)

Compare the Silk Roads timeline to this timeline of American Agriculture. (One is designed for web; the other for print.)

The agriculture timeline doesn't group specific dates. Instead, it gives facts about each decade since 1800.

History of American agriculture (Source)

What timing language did we see in these snippets?

Dating back to the 2nd century...
Discovered in August 1799...
After the French surrender of Egypt in...
Used regularly from 130 BCE to...

Plus lists of dates in timeline style.

In English, we can locate things in time the same way we locate them in space, using words such as:

In, on, at, before, after, upon, from, to...

We also have a range of words and phrases used exclusively for time:

During, until, as soon as, once, later...

These are all called prepositions or prepositional phrases (if more than one word).

We have a whole lesson on prepositional phrases if you want to get good at them.

So you get the idea that time is important! Now let's see how good you are at dating artifacts.

When do you think each of these gaming tables were made? Put them in order from oldest to newest below. Any surprises?

A. Syrian pearl-inlaid foldable gaming table with felt mat for cards. B. Egyptian Semet board, wooden, with draw, on sled. C. German gaming table, wooden, with multiple games embossed. D. Taito Space Invaders cocktail table. E. Korean celadon Go board

Historic game tables

Drag these sentences into the right order

0 checks used

C) German chess/backgammon/nine men morris table.
A) Syrian card/chess table.
D) Taito Space Invaders cocktail table.
E) Korean Go board.
B) Egyptian Senet board.

Writelike

Egyptian Senet board, 1323 BCE

This game board was one of four found buried inside Tutankhamun's tomb. Senet sure was popular in Ancient Egypt! The game is similar to backgammon—each player is trying to get their pawns off the board while stopping the other player from doing the same. There's another board for a different game on the reverse side, but no one is sure how that one was played.

(Image from: egypt-museum.com)

Korean Go board, Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392 CE)

This board is made of celadon, which was a type of porcelain invented in China. It became very popular in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty, and was used to make all sorts of things—vases, chairs, musical instruments, even pillows!

Go is an ancient boardgame invented in China 3000-4000 years ago, and is the oldest game still played today. Players fight to control territory and capture their opponent's pieces.

(Image from Reddit)

German convertible gaming table, 1750s CE

Specialised furniture for leisure activities became popular in Europe in the late 1700s. This table is made of multiple types of wood to create board patterns for chess (or checkers, or draughts), backgammon, and nine men's morris. It was the Playstation of its day.

(Image from homethingspast.com)

Syrian convertible gaming table, 1880s CE

It wasn't just the Europeans who were obsessed with making multi-game masterpieces. These gorgeous pearl-inlaid tables were made in Syria up to the 1940s. The green felted top could be used for cards, or it could be folded away to reveal a chess board.

(Image from Busacca Gallery)

Taito Space Invaders cocktail table, 1982 CE

Arcade game cocktail tables were a more functional alternative to the bulky, standing consoles you might have seen in movies or at gaming arcades. Japanese manufacturer Taito was the first to release a table in 1977, with Space Invaders. The tables became very common in pubs and cafes, which didn't have the space for the larger machines.

(Image from Reddit)

Something you might have noticed about all those gaming tables is that they don't just come from different times. They also come from different places.

And that's what we're going to talk about next!

Describing historical arts & technologies