Cosmic clock

For years I’ve had a memory of a video showing the rise and fall of a city, over hundreds of years, from the top of a nearby hill. In particular I remembered being stunned by the way an entire civilization would appear like a blip, to an observer with a much longer timespan.

I’ve searched for a long time and finally found it; a clip called [Cosmic Clock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WppJEf3ZtFU) by Al Jarnow, originally shown on 3-2-1 Contact:

In my mind it was a rock on the hill; looks like it was a kid with a stopwatch instead. Thanks to [Jason Kottke](https://kottke.org/11/11/a-billion-years-in-the-blink-of-an-eye) for the link!