TEMPO.CO, Aberdeen - Archaeologists believed that they have discovered the world's oldest lunar calendar on Warren Field in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Excavations at the Crathes Castle found a line of 12 pits that represents the phases of the moon and track its rotation, as cited by BBC.
The pits were first discovered in 2004, with experts believing that they may have contained a wooden post. A team led by the University of Birmingham suggested that the ancient monument was created by hunters and gatherers about 10,000 years ago.
Vince Gaffney, Professor of Landscape Archaeology at University of Birmingham and research leader, said that "the evidence suggeststed that hunter-gatherer societies in Scotland had both the need and sophistication to track time across the years, to correct for seasonal drift of the lunar year and that this occurred nearly 5,000 years before the first formal calendars known in the Near East."
He added that the discovery illustrates the early conception and construction of time and history.
ROSALINA | BBC
