Mystery #4Tier 2earth & space / time

How did people know what time it was before clocks and phones existed?

Long ago there were no phones, no watches, not even a ticking clock on the wall. Yet farmers still met at midday and travellers still knew when to stop and rest. Somehow whole villages agreed on the time with nothing to look at but the world itself. How on earth did they do it?

An old stone sundial carved into a lichen-covered church wall, with Roman numerals around the edge, an iron spike casting a shadow, and the motto 'See and be gone about your business'. — Photo: DeFacto · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

What do you think people used to tell the time?

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