The world’s oldest calendar, carved onto an ancient pillar around 12,000 years ago, has been discovered by archaeologists. The timekeeping system, unearthed at the Gobekli Tepe site in mountains of Anatolia in Turkey, suggests people were accurately recording dates 10,000 years before it was documented in Greece in 150 BC. This calendar also shows 12 lunar months with 11 additional days, the researchers said. “Possibly, their attempts to record what they saw are the first steps towards the development of writing millennia later.”The Gobekli Tepe site, which features the oldest-known man-made structures, was built by hunter-gatherers between 9,600 and 8,200 BC, predating Stonehenge by more than 6,000 years. The markings also appear to show both solar and lunar cycles, which the researchers said could represent the world’s earliest calendar, combining the motions of the sun and moon.

Source: Irish Examiner August 08, 2024 01:24 UTC