The Ancient Calendar
Our modern calendar is different than the calendar of the ancients. Our calendar is designed to serve the functions of commercial society. The basis is a Roman construct, a highly commercial society. Everywhere they conquored, the Roman calendar was initiated and pressed into service. It is as if the societies the Romans conquored had no calendar. That is not true.
The calendar of the ancients was based upon the solar year. A common petroglyph notation indicating this is 4 concentric circles of a four ringed spiral. The number four becomes important, not for the sake of direction finding or direction notation, but to note the divisions important to construct the year, the four seasons. We can see this as functions of orbit.
The ancient people probably did not have this view. The day count variation due to accelleration and decelleration was probably quite the mystery. The changes in season was predictable with the movement of the heavens. Remember it was these folks and their ancestors that named the constellations. They were patient observers. The techniques employed to use solar observation were advanced by the Egyptians. Their standing oblisks could have easily served as gnomons. The pointed top providing an excellent and accurate time keeping device.
How the ancients viewed this explained poorly and in a manner demeaning to the cleverness of the ancients. Inyo is a proof that the solar position in the sky was key.
The calendar of the ancients was based upon the solar year. A common petroglyph notation indicating this is 4 concentric circles of a four ringed spiral. The number four becomes important, not for the sake of direction finding or direction notation, but to note the divisions important to construct the year, the four seasons. We can see this as functions of orbit.
The ancient people probably did not have this view. The day count variation due to accelleration and decelleration was probably quite the mystery. The changes in season was predictable with the movement of the heavens. Remember it was these folks and their ancestors that named the constellations. They were patient observers. The techniques employed to use solar observation were advanced by the Egyptians. Their standing oblisks could have easily served as gnomons. The pointed top providing an excellent and accurate time keeping device.
How the ancients viewed this explained poorly and in a manner demeaning to the cleverness of the ancients. Inyo is a proof that the solar position in the sky was key.