A knotted cord was a primitive surveyor's tool for measuring distances. It is literally a length of cord with knots at regular intervals. They were eventually replaced by surveyor's chains, which being made of metal were less prone to stretching and thus were more accurate and consistent.
Knotted cords were used by many ancient cultures. The Greek schoenus is referred to as a rope used to measure land. Ropes generally became cables and chains with Pythagoras making the Greek agros a chain of 10 stadia equal to a nautical mile c 540 BC. The Romans used a waxed cord for measuring distances.
An interesting form of a knotted cord is one 12 lengths long (the units do not matter) which is closed into a loop. This cord can be used to lay out a right angle by forming the loop of cord into a 3–4–5 triangle. This could be used for laying out the corner of a field or a building foundation, for instance.
Read more about Knotted Cord: Ancient Egypt
Famous quotes containing the words knotted and/or cord:
“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”
—William Congreve (1670–1729)
“The psychological umbilical cord is more difficult to cut than the real one. We experience our children as extensions of ourselves, and we feel as though their behavior is an expression of something within us...instead of an expression of something in them. We see in our children our own reflection, and when we don’t like what we see, we feel angry at the reflection.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)