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History Things to Draw From the Pyramids to the First Airplane

One real thing from the past with the feature to get right and a checked date, place or fact.

History Things to Draw From the Pyramids to the First Airplane

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  1. An Inca quipu: hanging strings tied with record knotsThe quipu was a way of keeping records in knotted cords. One top cord, hanging strings, knots at different heights.

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Ancient world 14

  • A cartouche holding a row of hieroglyphs In ancient Egypt an oval with one end ruled off enclosed a royal name. Stack simple signs inside.
  • A clay tablet pressed with cuneiform Cuneiform is named for its wedge-shaped marks. A pillow-shaped tablet, rows of small wedges.
  • A four-sided obelisk tapering to a pyramid tip An obelisk is a tall tapered stone monument with four sides. Two lines leaning in, a small pyramid on top.
  • A reed boat on the Nile Reed boats were common in ancient Egypt. Bundles tied with rope, both ends curving up.
  • A Roman aqueduct bridge with three tiers of arches The Pont du Gard in France, first century AD, carried water to Nîmes. Big arches below, small ones on top.
  • A Roman road of fitted paving stones, dead straight The first section of the Appian Way was built in 312 BC. Fitted stones, a curb, one vanishing point.
  • A shadoof lifting water from a river A long pivoting pole, counterweighted, a bucket at one end. Known since ancient times.
  • A step pyramid of six tiers The Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, Egypt, built in the 27th century BC. Six flat steps, each smaller.
  • A ziggurat with a long central staircase The Ziggurat of Ur, in Iraq, was begun about 2040 BC in mudbrick. Sloping tiers and a long stair up the front.
  • Aurochs, horses and deer painted across a cave wall The paintings in the cave of Lascaux, France, are put at 17,000 to 22,000 years old.
  • The Colosseum with its rings of arches The Roman amphitheater in Rome, completed in AD 80. An oval of stacked arches, one side broken lower.
  • The Great Sphinx seen from the side A limestone statue at Giza with a human head on a lion's body. Long front paws, a flat back.
  • The Ishtar Gate with its rows of animals A gate of Babylon, built about 569 BC, faced in glazed bricks, mostly blue, with animals in relief.
  • The Rosetta Stone with its three bands of writing One decree of 196 BC in three scripts, found in 1799. A broken slab, three textures of marks.

Travel before engines 14

  • A 19th-century clipper with every square sail set A clipper was a fast 19th-century sailing ship for trade. A long low hull, a tall cloud of canvas.
  • A caravan of loaded camels roped nose to tail A camel train is a caravan of camels carrying passengers and goods. Repeat one shape, smaller each time.
  • A caravel under triangular sails A small ship that could be rigged entirely with lateen sails. Triangular sails on long slanted yards.
  • A Chinese junk with ribbed sails Fully battened sails were in use on Chinese junks by the 12th century. Draw the battens as parallel lines.
  • A dandy horse: a bicycle with no pedals Made in 1817; the rider's feet pushed it along the ground. Two wheels, a beam, a handlebar.
  • A dugout canoe carved from one log The oldest boat known, the Pesse canoe, is a dugout made between about 8000 and 7500 BC. One hollowed trunk.
  • A hansom cab with its driver perched behind A two-wheeled horse-drawn cab for London hire, first patented in 1834. The driver sits high behind the cabin.
  • A mule towing a canal boat along a towpath The Erie Canal, in New York, was completed in 1825. One mule could draw a heavy barge. A rope, a path.
  • A narrow kayak with one paddler and a double paddle A kayak is a small, narrow boat driven by a double-bladed paddle. A pointed hull, one round cockpit.
  • A pair of snowshoes leaning on a wall Shoes made for easy walking on snow. A bent frame shaped like a teardrop, laced across.
  • A pulled rickshaw with two tall wheels A rickshaw is a two-wheeled passenger cart, in use in Japan in the 1890s. A seat, a hood, two shafts.
  • A sextant held up to the horizon A navigation instrument that measures the angle between the horizon and the sun or a star. An arc, an arm.
  • A stagecoach and its team of horses A four-wheeled public coach that changed horses on long journeys. A boxy body, a driver's seat up high.
  • The first passenger balloon, 1783 On 21 November 1783 a hot air balloon made the first free flight by humans, in France. A decorated globe.

Machines and inventions 14

  • A big paddle water wheel on the side of a stone building A water wheel makes power from water that flows or falls. Evenly spaced paddles.
  • A pendulum clock with its door open The pendulum clock was invented in 1656. A tall case, a round dial, a rod and bob behind the door.
  • A penny-farthing bicycle Popular in the 1870s and 1880s. A very large front wheel, a small back one, a seat high over the big wheel.
  • A phonograph with a cylinder and a horn The phonograph was invented in 1877 and first recorded on cylinders. A crank, a drum, a flared horn.
  • A screw pump lifting water up a slope Archimedes' screw is a turning spiral inside a tube that raises water. A crank, a tilted pipe, a trough.
  • A spinning zoetrope drum with slits around its rim Looking through the slits as the drum spins turns a strip of still drawings into motion.
  • A telegraph key on a wooden base A switch used to send messages in Morse code. A lever, a round knob, two screw terminals.
  • A wooden box camera of 1839 on its tripod The daguerreotype, an early kind of photograph, was introduced in 1839. A box, a brass lens, three legs.
  • A wooden printing press with a screw The printing press dates from about 1440. A heavy frame, a screw and handle, a flat bed of type.
  • An early refracting telescope on a small tripod Telescopes of this kind were turned on the sky in 1609. Two tubes, one sliding in the other.
  • An early steam locomotive with a tall chimney The locomotive Rocket was built in 1829. A barrel boiler, a tall chimney, big driving wheels.
  • An early telephone with a separate earpiece The master telephone patent was granted on March 7, 1876. A box, a mouthpiece, an earpiece on a cord.
  • An early typewriter with four rows of keys A typewriter of the 1870s set the four-row QWERTY keyboard. Round keys, a roller, a curved basket of bars.
  • The first powered airplane on its launch rail The Wright Flyer flew near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. Two wings, struts, a rail.

Writing and records 14

  • A charter with a seal hanging from its lower edge Magna Carta, the English charter of 1215, was sealed by the king. Close lines of text, a ribbon, a disk of wax.
  • A cylinder seal rolled across wet clay An ancient seal made to be rolled, leaving its picture as a long band. A small drum, a strip of relief.
  • A feather cut into a quill pen, the nib seen close up A quill is a pen made from a feather. The tip of the hollow shaft was cut into a nib.
  • A framed writing slate with a sum half rubbed out A writing slate was wiped clean and used again. A dark panel in a wooden frame, a slate pencil.
  • A giant manuscript initial woven from knotwork bands The Book of Kells was made about AD 800. One huge letter, interlaced bands, tiny animals in the gaps.
  • A hornbook with its alphabet sheet A sheet showing the alphabet, under a see-through cover, on a board with a handle. A paddle shape.
  • A letter closed with a disk of sealing wax Sealing wax was melted onto a folded letter to close it and pressed with a stamp. A round blob, a raised mark.
  • A papyrus scroll unrolled to show columns of writing A scroll is paper, parchment or papyrus in a roll. Two cylinders and a flat stretch of text between.
  • A round map of the world as it was known in 1300 The Hereford Mappa Mundi, made about 1300, puts Jerusalem at its center. A circle crowded with tiny towns.
  • A split tally stick, its two halves side by side A stick was notched to record a debt, then split so each side kept half. Matching notches on both.
  • A tray of metal type, one letter to a block Movable type prints from separate reusable pieces. Small blocks in a grid, each letter back to front.
  • A wax tablet with a stylus Writers in antiquity scratched words into wax with a pointed stylus. Two hinged frames, a dark center.
  • An Inca quipu: hanging strings tied with record knots The quipu was a way of keeping records in knotted cords. One top cord, hanging strings, knots at different heights.
  • The Penny Black, the first stick-on postage stamp Issued in 1840: the first adhesive postage stamp anywhere. A small dark rectangle with a profile.

Built to last 14

  • A curving wall of stacked stones with a cone-shaped tower Great Zimbabwe's Great Enclosure was built in the 13th and 14th centuries without mortar.
  • A great dome with a round opening at the top The Pantheon in Rome has a concrete dome with a central opening, the oculus. A circle of light on the floor.
  • A post mill with four sails The earliest type of European windmill: the whole body sits on one central post. A box, a ladder, sails.
  • A Roman stone bridge of tall arches over a gorge The Alcántara Bridge in Spain crosses the Tagus and was completed in AD 106. Tall piers, round arches.
  • A row of moai on a stone platform The statues of Rapa Nui, Easter Island, were carved between 1250 and 1500. Long heads, heavy brows.
  • A square Roman lighthouse on a headland The Tower of Hercules, in Spain, is a Roman lighthouse. A tall square shaft, a lantern on top, sea below.
  • A steep stepped temple above the treetops Tikal Temple I in Guatemala, built about AD 732. Steep tiers, a central stairway, a doorway at the top.
  • A stepwell with zigzag stairs down to the water Chand Baori in Rajasthan, India, dated to the 8th or 9th century: flights of steps on three sides, 13 stories deep.
  • A stone circle with lintels across the uprights Stonehenge, in England, was built in phases from about 3100 BC. Tall stones in a ring, flat stones on top.
  • A stone house with stone shelves and box beds inside Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, was lived in from about 3180 BC and still has its stone furniture.
  • A timber covered bridge seen end on, like a barn on a river A covered bridge is a timber bridge with a roof and siding. A long shed, a dark doorway, stone ends.
  • An arched iron bridge over a river gorge The Iron Bridge in England was completed in 1779 and opened in 1781. Five curved ribs under a flat deck.
  • The Great Wall following a mountain ridge The best-known sections were built under the Ming dynasty, 1368 to 1644. A ribbon of wall, square towers.
  • The marble bell tower of Pisa, leaning Begun in 1173 and completed in 1372; by 1990 it tilted 5.5 degrees. Stacked rings of arches, all tipped.

How it works

These history things to draw are real objects, vehicles, machines and buildings, from a step pyramid of the 27th century BC to the 1903 airplane. Each hint gives the feature to get right and one checked date, place or fact.

Read the full guide

Historical things to draw, by era and kind

Ancient world runs from a clay tablet of cuneiform to the Colosseum. Travel before engines is boats, coaches, carts and one balloon. Machines and inventions starts at the printing press. Writing and records holds a quill, a quipu and the first postage stamp. Built to last is stone, timber and iron that is still standing.

History drawing ideas easy to start with

Every topic has easy ones: an obelisk, a dugout canoe, a penny-farthing, a hornbook, a row of moai. Most are single objects seen from the side. Easy is a choice under More filters.

  • Draw old machines from the side. A locomotive, a bicycle and a press all explain themselves in profile.
  • Write the date and the place under the drawing, as a museum label does.

Questions and answers

What is easy to draw for a history project?

A single object in side view: an obelisk, a dugout canoe carved from one log, a penny-farthing bicycle or a writing slate in its wooden frame. Each is a few simple shapes and one detail.

What did the first bicycle look like?

The dandy horse of 1817 had two wheels, a beam and a handlebar, and no pedals: the rider pushed along the ground. The penny-farthing, with its very large front wheel, was popular in the 1870s and 1880s.

When was the first airplane flight?

The Wright Flyer flew near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The idea on this list shows it on its launch rail.

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