I ran across this passage from Deuteronomy the other day and it got me thinking about how old the practice of land surveying really is!
This is from the New American Standard Bible:
Deut 19:14: “You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set…”
I looked up when Deuteronomy was written and it was completed in 1473 B.C.E.! So that got me thinking . . . who started surveying first?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it appears that the earliest known surveyors came from ancient Egypt. The Great Pyramid at Giza was built c. 2700 bc and is 755 feet long. What’s amazing is the fact that it is nearly perfectly square AND nearly perfectly oriented north-south.
Also, I won’t bore you with the details – although fascinating – a 3000 year old Babylonian boundary stone was found that had inscribed on it the description of the property, the name of the surveyor, the owner of the land and much more.
Why do you care? The surveying profession traces back 1000s of years and is still going strong despite the poor economy! Call us today and we can help you find your PLACE in history.


