Discovery of World’s oldest calendar
Undated handout graphic issued by the University of Birmingham of how lunar calendars pits at Warren Field discovered in Crathes, Aberdeenshire, are believed to have aligned to celestial bodies over the course of the year, as archaeologists believe they have discovered the world’s oldest “calendar” in the field in Scotland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date date: Monday July 15, 2013. New analysis of a group of 12 pits excavated in Aberdeenshire shows they appear to mimic the phases of the moon to track lunar months over the course of a year. Until now the first formal time-measuring devices were thought to have been created in Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago.But the pit alignment near Crathes Castle predates those discoveries by thousands of years, experts say. The Mesolithic monument at Warren Field is said to have been created by hunter-gatherer societies nearly 10,000 years ago. It was excavated between 2004-06 and recently analysed by a team led by the University of Birmingham. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday July 15, 2013. See PA story HISTORY Calendar. Photo credit should read: University of Birmingham/PA Wire
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