Data is an ever growing industry, every day there is something new coming out that changes the game. However, have you ever taken a minute and thought “where did all of this start?”

An intelligent gentleman once said “if you want to know the future, look to the past”, and this is more relevant than ever when it comes to data. In my experience, sometimes the most efficient and easiest ways to solve a data problem are the methodologies that have been used for centuries. As the data industry grows, the technologies become more complex, the toys become shinier, however the methodologies and ideologies behind them remain the same and are still very much intact.

Let’s go on a journey through time itself to delve into some interesting questions about the use of data throughout the entirety of human history:
Did the Ancient Egyptians have a secret super computer to help plan the building of the pyramids?
What famous figures in history made common data mistakes that changed the world?
How long have predictive analytics played a part in people’s lives?

History provides the tools to analyse and explain problems in the past, which provides the opportunity to see patterns that may be invisible in the present. Hindsight offers an important perspective to understand (and solve) current and future issues.

People have been using data for centuries, so we will dig up some ancient data artefacts to understand how they were used, and what can our ancestors teach us about our usage in data today.