World's Oldest Solar Calendar Commemorating Catastrophic Comet Strike That Heralded Ice Age Discovered in Turkey
There are several kinds of calendars created worldwide by different civilizations. All the calendars in the world are either solar, lunar, or lunisolar, the Astronomical Applications Department reported.
Solar calendars are created based on the progression through the seasons in the Earth, due to the planet's movement around the Sun. Researchers have found the oldest calendar that uses this method, SciTechDaily reported. The findings have been published in Time and Mind Journal.
The calendar was found at the Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey, and is estimated to be almost 12,000 years old, SciTech Daily reported. The site is an ancient complex with temple-like enclosures adorned with intricate carvings.
The research team that unearthed this calendar believes that it is the world's oldest solar calendar as it predates any other such calendar by many millennia.
Experts added that the calendar was put into place to commemorate an astronomical event, SciTech Daily reported.
As per researchers, ancient people kept records of the sun, moon, and constellations through solar calendars, SciTech Daily reported. The group also used the tool to keep track of time and note any changes in the seasons. The calendar found in Turkey confirms that the recording was done using the procedure of precession.
Precession is defined as the phenomenon, in which the wobble in the earth's axis impacts the movement of constellations across the sky, SciTech Daily reported. This process was first recorded by Hipparchus of Ancient Greece in 150 BC, but this finding shows that it was used for recording almost 10,000 years ago.
The calendar was put into place in the form of markings on a stone pillar at the archaeological site in Turkey, SciTech Daily reported. Several V-markings were engraved on the pillar, which experts think represented a single day.
Keeping this interpretation, researchers found a solar calendar of 365 days on the pillar, comprising 12 lunar months plus 11 extra days.
The summer solstice has been represented particularly with a V worn around the neck of a bird-like beast, SciTech Daily reported. Other statues, which experts believe represented deities of those times also had similar V symbols on their necks.
As per researchers, these markings also make the calendar lunisolar by nature, SciTech Daily reported. The markings found on other deities imply that along with the sun's position the moon's phases were also covered by the calendar.
The experts claimed that the catastrophic comet strike that the calendar commemorated must have significantly impacted human civilization, SciTech Daily reported. The swarm of comets hit the earth nearly 13,000 years ago – or 10,850 BC, as per researchers.
After the comets struck the earth, it brought on a mini-ice age, that lasted around 1,200 years. During, this ice age several species of animals were wiped from the face of the earth.
The ice age brought on many lifestyle changes for humans on Earth, according to experts, SciTech Daily reported. The phenomenon led to the fertile crescent of West Asia which ultimately caused the birth of agriculture.
Another pillar in the temple depicts the Taurid meteor stream, which experts believe was the source of comet fragments, SciTech Daily reported. The comet shower reportedly lasted for 27 days and emanated from the direction of the Aquarius and Pisces constellations.
"It appears the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were keen observers of the sky, which is to be expected given their world had been devastated by a comet strike. Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later," Dr Martin Sweatman, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, who led the research said, SciTech Daily reported.