Achinsk rod: the oldest calendar

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Archaeologists have found numerous evidences that in prehistoric times people showed great interest in the sun, moon, starry sky. Siberia is of great interest to astroarchaeologists who have discovered the most ancient artifacts in this land.

Astronomy is closely related to such a concept as a calendar, because with the help of the movement of the luminaries across the sky, the ancients determined what time of year it was, because natural conditions (the change of seasons) could not always indicate exactly what day or month it was. Mankind knows several ancient, incredibly accurate calendars - the Aztec calendar, the round Mayan calendar, which made a lot of noise last December - ignorant people believed that he predicted the end of the world. There are also some calendars - ancient Sumerian, ancient Egyptian and the like. But few people know that people who lived in the territory of modern Siberia and the Urals many thousands of years ago also had their own calendar, no less mysterious than the calendar of the same Maya. And this calendar was found in the recent past.

In 1972, Doctor of Historical Sciences V. E. Larichev began routine excavations in Siberia. The purpose of the excavations was the so-called Achinsk Paleolithic settlement. According to scientists, this is one of the oldest settlements on the planet, its age is more than eighteen thousand years!

During the excavations, many valuable finds were made that made it possible to understand how people lived at that unimaginably distant time. But one of the finds became literally sensational. It is a wand-shaped item carved from the tusk of a mammoth, beautifully polished. On the wand, there were rows of hollow-type depressions that formed serpentine ribbons along its entire surface. These holes were different in shape, a total of 1065 pieces were counted, forming a spiral pattern. Apparently, these holes were made by punching with various different-shaped stone stamps.

Scientists racked their brains for a long time, what is it? What was this rod for the ancients? At first, it was assumed that this object is purely cult, then it was suggested that it was just an ordinary example of human culture of the Paleolithic era. So, at least, it seemed at first glance, but this is only at first. They decided to study the rod in more detail and thoroughly, even examined it under a microscope. And after this inspection and transferring the images of the holes to paper, it was found that the spirals of the holes are not just a chaotic pattern, but are clearly divided into separate ribbons, and these ribbons, in turn, are divided into zigzag "lines". When the number of "lines" was counted, it turned out that they consisted of a certain number of dotted holes.

The resulting series of numbers forced Larichev to delve even deeper into the study of an unusual find. The first thing that caught his eye after counting was the multiplicity of the number of holes in all the ribbons of the spirals to the number 3. well, in almost all - only ribbons 173 and 187 are not subject to this pattern (all ribbons were numbered - for the convenience of calculations and further work). However, it is also impossible to say that this is an exception, since they are aligned at the base of the wand, and the total sum of their holes is 360. Accordingly, these ribbons are also subject to a general pattern - the multiplicity of the number 3.

What kind of an interesting rod is it? What do all these numbers and patterns mean? Larichev put forward a hypothesis, which was agreed by the majority of scientists: the rod is not a cult object, and certainly not an ordinary one. The rod is nothing more than a calendar. It would be quite logical to assume that people from this Paleolithic site, where many finds were found confirming the rather high level of their culture and development, had to somehow exist in regularly changing natural conditions, somehow get used to them. And since the Julian calendar by that time simply had not yet been invented (or discovered - here everyone chooses the most suitable definition for themselves), then there must have been some other. Which? Larichev tried to answer this question, relying on various sources, ranging from ancient chronicles to modern editions of books by independent researchers, which are still unknown to a wide range of readers.

What in the Achinsk rod prompted an inquisitive scientist to think that it was a calendar? The number of holes in the ribbons of the spirals. It has a pronounced calendar character. For example, tape number 45 reflects the duration of one and a half lunar months and an eighth of a solar year; tape number 177 - half of the lunar year and the number of days from the autumn to the spring equinox; 207th ribbon - half of the lunar year plus one month; 173rd - half of the so-called draconian year, which plays a special role in determining the time of a possible eclipse; 187th - the number of days from the spring to the autumn equinox; The 273rd shows ten sidereal (i.e. stellar) lunar months, which is equal to three quarters of a solar year. The number of holes in the tape at number 3 shows the three days when the full moon is observed with the naked eye without any signs of damage. During the same calendar period known as the new moon, the moon may not be visible in the sky. Even the total number of holes - 1065, engraved on the surface of the sculpture - is not just a sum, it is three lunar years plus two days.

In addition, a detailed analysis of the holes showed that an "engraved field" of each of the ribbons of the spirals was formed in individual serpentine lines, which revealed a certain numerical rhythm. We will not cite it here now, so as not to tire readers with numbers, however, from the regularity of the arrangement of numbers, it is noticeable that the number of holes in the lines when moving from tape to tape gradually increases, as if rigidly dictating the direction and order of transitions from line to line and from tapes one spiral to the ribbons of the other.

If you look closely, you can find not only the mathematical, but also the calendar feature of these numerical rhythms. In fact, all the lines, starting with the one with 43 holes, and ending with the one with 70, are also calendar in nature. These numbers make up the blocks of the lunar calendar from one and a half to two and one third of the lunar month.

The fact was noticed that the time ribbons on the rod embody the symbol of the snake - the keeper of wisdom and sacred knowledge. To unravel the mystery of the ancient wand and use it as a calendar, you need to find a key to decipher it. This key is the reference point, i.e. from which hole and from which specific day you need to start the countdown. The answer is suggested by ribbons 177 and 187, which reflect the calendar periods from the autumn to the spring equinox and vice versa. Since these ribbons occupy a very definite place in the number series, it is clear that the ribbon at number 45 should have summer, which was followed by the autumn-winter season of the 177th ribbon, the spring-summer season - 207th, autumn- winter - 173rd, etc. From this it was concluded that the first hole in the row of lines of the 45th ribbon reflected the day close to the summer solstice on June 22. As for what phase of the moon it was, it was considered expedient to assume that the night star was then in a state of full moon.

The superposition of the modern astronomical calendar on the lines of the spiral ribbons during the checks and experiments showed that, subject to the above conditions, the three-year lunar calendar of the ancient man of Siberia began with three days of the full moon, ribbon number 45 in June and after 1062 days ended in May with three days of the full moon, which occurred to tape number 3. It is hard not to pay tribute to the efficiency and wit of the ancient calendar of Siberians!

Scientists concluded that the rod was not just an ancient work of art with a calendar image, but it was practically used to calculate time. Moreover, the ancient inhabitants of Siberia were well aware that the lunar calendar itself cannot be used for a long time, since its lag from the solar one will soon turn out to be so disastrous that irreparable confusion with the seasons will begin and the stability of the time counting systems will collapse to the ground. The proposed solution is as follows: after three lunar years, one additional lunar month should be added to the calendar, but this must be done so that the full moon again falls on the first hole of the tape at number 45. 18 years later, that is, after the sixfold passage of the moon along the "spirals of time ", two lunar months should be added and with the same sine qua non of transferring the night of the full moon to the first hole of tape number 45. This will give the calendar on the mammoth tusk sculpture sufficient stability, and it will acquire the character of the eternal!

So the conclusion of scientists is completely logical: people who lived in Siberia 18 thousand years ago, i.e. long before the formation of the Sumerian, Egyptian, Persian, Hindu and Chinese civilizations, they had a perfect lunisolar calendar.