The first way that people could tell the time was by looking at the sun as it crossed the sky. When the sun was directly overhead in the sky, it was the middle of the day, or noon. When the sun was close to the horizon, it was either early morning (sunrise) or early evening (sunset). Telling the time was not very accurate.

The oldest type of clock is a sundial clock. They were first used around 3,500 B.C. (about 5,500 years ago). Sundials use the sun to tell the time.

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