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3000 B.C.
First City States in the Middle East. Scales and
weights used in trade are developed by the Sumerians.
They are based on the shekel of 8.36 g (129 grains
or 0.29 oz) and the mina, 60 times as heavy.
2575 B.C.
Great Pyramid (Cheops)
2575 B.C.
The earliest preserved standard for length is
the foot of a statue of Gudea, the governor of
Lagash, a Mesopotamian city of about 4,000 years
ago. It is divided into 16 parts and is 26.45
cm  (10.41
in. long).
Egyptian builders had only simple plumb lines,
wooded squares, and rulers, but their measurements
were accurate to within millimeters. The dimensions
of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, built by thousands
of workers, boasts sides that vary no more than
0.05 percent from the mean length - that is, a
deviation of only 4.5 inches over a span of 755
feet.
Lagash
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