Discover the oldest lunar calendar in a field of Aberdeen shire

UK archaeologists have discovered the oldest lunar calendar, found so far, in a field of Aberdeen shire (Scotland). The yearbook is a series of 12 holes that appear to mimic the phases of the moon and the lunar months and is believed chosen about 10,000 years old.

Excavations at the site began a decade ago and the first hole was discovered in 2004. 


Upon discovering the existence of more holes scientists began to study the possible relationship and the possibility that these holes could have contained a wooden post.

As indicated by the lead author, Richard Bates, is a calendar developed by hunter-gatherers in order to better follow the passage of time and the modify of seasons. "The proof recommends that hunter-gatherer societies in Scotland had the need and sophistication to time through the years, to correct the drift of the lunar year period," he stated.

These holes are aligned in the sunrise of the winter solstice, providing an annual astronomical correction in order to maintain the link between the passage of time, indicated by the moon, the solar year and the associated stations.

As for the dating, researchers have indicated that this would have happened about 5,000 years before the first official calendars known in the Near East. "These data illustrate an important step towards the formal construction of time and thus history itself."

In this sense, Bates has indicated that this finding, which has been published in 'Internet Archaeology', is a "new exciting evidence" of early Mesolithic Scotland. "This is the first example of a formation of this type and there is no place with a comparable system, or in Britain or Europe," he stressed.