Making and Using Timelines

1. When you make a timeline, it is essential that you divide the span in even segments-- little lines that separate your span into even time periods. You decide on the segments by figuring out: 1) how many segments you can fit in your timeline and 2) what is a logical division (years, decades, centuries). You do NOT need to label every segment if it would make your timeline too messy. Whatever you choose, you must be consistent throughout the entire timeline. In the Egyptian timeline below, what are the segments?

Each year

Every 100 years

Every 500 years

This timeline has marks eery 500 years-- 3,000, 2,500, 2,000 etc.

Explanation

This timeline has marks eery 500 years-- 3,000, 2,500, 2,000 etc.

2. The word chronology means...

Drawing a timeline

The arrangement of events in the order they occurred

Events in history

3. When you add an event to your timeline, you need to draw a line that neatly connects the title and description of your event to the precise point on the timeline. To do this you need to approximate where a specific year would fall in between segment lines. Looking at the new Egyptian timeline below, what is your best guess as to when the Step Pyramid was built?

2900 BC

2600 BC

2300 BC

How I figure this out: 1) I look at the two segment labels nearest the event. (In this case it it 3000 and 2500.) 2) I figure out what the halfway mark between those points would be if it was labeled (in this case 2750 because half of 500 [the segment] is 250) 3) I see which side of the imaginary halfway point is (I can see that the event happened in between 2,750 and 2,500 , so 2,600 is the best answer).

Explanation

How I figure this out: 1) I look at the two segment labels nearest the event. (In this case it it 3000 and 2500.) 2) I figure out what the halfway mark between those points would be if it was labeled (in this case 2750 because half of 500 [the segment] is 250) 3) I see which side of the imaginary halfway point is (I can see that the event happened in between 2,750 and 2,500 , so 2,600 is the best answer).