Eli5: how did early civilizations know what was north and what was south

Question

Eli5: how did early civilizations know what was north and what was south

In: Biology

Answer 1

Depends on what you mean. How did they orient themselves? Plenty of ways. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west so you can find north by knowing where east and west are. If you’re out at night you can look at the stars. Polaris is north. There’s also environmental signs like how moss normally grows on the north of a tree in the northern hemisphere since that side of the tree gets less sunlight and snow also tends to melt from south to north in the northern hemisphere