20 of The World’s Oldest Artifacts

13. Mechanical Clock

The word clock comes from “glocke” or bell in German. The world’s oldest clock is located in Salisbury Cathedral in Southern England. The clock is commissioned by Bishop Erghum around 1386 and it consists of a wheel and gear system attached to a cathedral bell by ropes. A mechanism inside the workings called a verge and foliot controls the clock and it chimes on the hour.