時間を測る能力が、以前考えられていたよりさらに何千年も前から利用されていた可能性が出てきた。スコットランドで研究者が1万年前のものとみられる「カレンダー」を発見した。
バーミンガム大学の考古学者たちは先ごろ、スコットランド・アバディーンシャー州の地面に掘られた12個に及ぶ一連の穴についての分析結果を、オンライン・ジャーナルInternet Archaeologyに発表しました。この発見は紀元前8000年にさかのぼるものと考えられています。
この中石器時代の遺跡--もともとは2004年に発掘されたWarren Field遺跡の一部分--は、月の満ち欠けを模倣しているように見え、太陰暦のひと月を測るために使われていた可能性があるのです。
研究者によると、弧を描いて配置された穴の列は50メートル (約164フィート)の長さに及びます。穴は深さが互い違いになっており、かなり洗練された測定システムであった可能性を示しています。このシステムでは1週間を10日とし、太陰暦のひと月を3つの週に分割しているのです。
「スコットランドの狩猟採集社会が何年にもわたって時間を測り、また太陰暦の誤差を調整する必要性と知性の両方を持っていたこと、そして近東で知られている最古の正式なカレンダーよりもさらに約5000年前に作られたことを証拠が示しています。」バーミンガム大学景観考古学教授のヴィンス・ガフニー氏は、バーミンガム大学のプレスリリースでこう発表しました。「この発見は時間という概念の成立、ひいては歴史そのものに向けた重要な一歩を示しているのです」
研究者は発見の人類学的重要性を指摘しました。
「時間を (概念化して) 測る能力は人類社会の最も重要な成果の一つです。そして時間がいつ人類によって “作られた”のかは、社会がどのように発達したのか理解する上で重要な問題なのです」ジャーナルの記事にある要約にはそのように述べられています。
太陰暦は、この地域に住む狩猟採集民にとって文化的、経済的に大きな意味を持っていただろうとナショナルジオグラフィックは報じています。
また、このプロジェクトに取り組んでいたセントアンドリュース大学の物理学者であるリチャード・ベイツ氏は次のように述べています。「石器時代の社会は、特に北方に関しては最近になるまで我々にとっては空白のページのようなものであったが、我々が以前考えていたよりはるかに洗練された社会であったことをこの発見は示している。」
Vince Gaffney, professor of landscape and archaeology at University of Birmingham, stands in Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire, where the discovery was made.
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