Ancient Egypt
Knotted cords were used by rope stretchers, royal surveyors who measured out the sides of fields (Egyptian 3ht). The knotted cords (Egyptian ht) were 100 royal cubits in length with a knot every hayt or 10 royal cubits. The rope stretchers stretched the rope in order to take the sag out it and keep the measures uniform.
Since land in Egypt was measured in several different units there would have been knotted cords with the knots spaced in each unit including mh t3 or land cubits, remen royal cubits, rods or ha3t, generally the lengths in multiples of 100 units. The longest measured length listed in the Rhind papyrus is a circumference of about a Roman mile with a diameter of 9 khet.
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