Help understanding time

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504RP

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I know there are alot of smart people here on cattle today.

When did people first start recording time. Am I right by say BC was time recorded before the birth of Christ ? AD is time recorded after Jesus was crucified ? What is the date of the first year man started recording time ? Can someone explain all of this to me ?
 
I guess it depends on what form of recording of time. Even cave man had the tools to record time, the difference in night and day was obvious and he had the tools to scratch marks on the walls of his cave and then the phases of the moon I assume had something to do with the months. It all progressed from there.

Ken
 
504RP said:
I know there are alot of smart people here on cattle today.

When did people first start recording time. Am I right by say BC was time recorded before the birth of Christ ? AD is time recorded after Jesus was crucified ? What is the date of the first year man started recording time ? Can someone explain all of this to me ?
Click to expand...
It is commonly thought that B.C. stands for "before Christ" and A.D. stands for "after death." This is only half correct. How could the year 1 B.C. have been "before Christ" and A.D. 1 been "after death"? B.C. does stand for "before Christ." A.D. actually stands for the Latin phrase anno domini, which means "in the year of our Lord." The B.C./A.D. dating system is not taught in the Bible. It actually was not fully implemented and accepted until several centuries after Jesus' death.

It might help to understand that time before Christ is counted backward whereas AD is counted forward.
 
By 'time' I assume you mean long time; days, weeks months years etc and not short time (minutes/hours etc) tho they are now all interconnected (along with space).

Much of the dates we read about nowadays were calculated retroactively, form a more modern timeline.
The first recorded history is generally accepted to be the first mention of dates and it is about 24 June 1312 BC during the rein of a Hittite king Mursilis II. In those days, time was was kept in relation to how long a family or individual ruler stayed in power or lived.

But, there are cave pictographs and cuneiform writings that mention seasons older than Mursilis II rein.

Time is poorly understood by many of us, as it involves space (distance). For instance, what we (or astronomers) may see in the night sky regarding distant stars, we may say "I watched a star explode last night". Well, yes and no. You did watch it last night, but it didn't explode last night. It actually exploded long long ago and the visible light from the event is just now reaching us. The nearest star for instance... Alpha Centuri is 4 light years away. That means the light we see from it was really emitted 4 years ago. A light year is not a measure of time, but of distance or length. The distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1 Julian calendar year. If converted to US miles, 1 light year = 5.9 trillion miles.

There has been much recent speculation about a star in our night sky (Betelgeuse) . It has been flickering in a strange way and scientist speculate it may (or may not) be in the death throes of a supernova (explode). Since it lies about 430 light years from Earth, it's possible it already has exploded and light just hasn't told us yet.
 
 
504RP said:
When did people first start recording time? What is the date of the first year man started recording time? Can someone explain all of this to me ?
Click to expand...
Very interesting questions.
Doubtful that any can explain in depth here, as a very complex study.
I'll give it a shot as to what little I know, but it's far from definitive.

AD BC calendar system was devised in 525 AD and it took a couple centuries to come into common use.

It is believed by some Jewish scholars that the Jewish calendar system became standardized at the time of the Babylonian exile, which on our calendar is about
597 bc. Others say it was in existence before then and that it was only the current names of the months that became standardized in 597 bc

I know nothing of the Chinese calendar system.
But Wikipedia says sometime between 771 bc and 476 bc

Undoubtedly the first people would have started recording time by counting days and nights. But it would have taken generations for them to even notice either lunar or solar patterns and then many years to observe and study them, before the light bulb went off... Hey - we can predict Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter by the sun and the moon and the stars.
But again they would've needed to count backwards using the number of days recorded that their father, grandfathers or kings lived to determine what year king A was born ect.

Hope that helps, it's about all I know on the subject.
 
It is also interesting to look at the Mayan Calendar. Invented sometime in the 5th Century BC. Those Mayans knew their stuff when it came to the sun, moon, and stars. There are several ancient structures that align sunlight perfectly on each solstice and shine on a specific spot.
I know one spot in Tulum where they built a tower on the cliffs of the coast with an opening at the top. Only when the winds reach hurricane force will it begin to whistle. That alerted the people to go and take shelter behind a huge stone wall to protect them from the hurricane winds. Animals in the area still go there to this day to take shelter when a hurricane approaches.

Edit: I found a link. https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2017/03/tulum-temple-contains-mayan-hurricane-warning-system/

I have a hard enough time programming my phone, much less doing something that complicated.
 
sstterry said:
It is also interesting to look at the Mayan Calendar. Invented sometime in the 5th Century BC. Those Mayans knew their stuff when it came to the sun, moon, and stars. There are several ancient structures that align sunlight perfectly on each solstice and shine on a specific spot.
I know one spot in Tulum where they built a tower on the cliffs of the coast with an opening at the top. Only when the winds reach hurricane force will it begin to whistle. That alerted the people to go and take shelter behind a huge stone wall to protect them from the hurricane winds. Animals in the area still go there to this day to take shelter when a hurricane approaches.

Edit: I found a link. https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2017/03/tulum-temple-contains-mayan-hurricane-warning-system/

I have a hard enough time programming my phone, much less doing something that complicated.
Click to expand...

Says the temple at Tulum hay day years were in 1200 yo 1450. Was that 1200 and 1450 AD ?
 
greybeard said:
By 'time' I assume you mean long time; days, weeks months years etc and not short time (minutes/hours etc) tho they are now all interconnected (along with space).

Much of the dates we read about nowadays were calculated retroactively, form a more modern timeline.
The first recorded history is generally accepted to be the first mention of dates and it is about 24 June 1312 BC during the rein of a Hittite king Mursilis II. In those days, time was was kept in relation to how long a family or individual ruler stayed in power or lived.

But, there are cave pictographs and cuneiform writings that mention seasons older than Mursilis II rein.

Time is poorly understood by many of us, as it involves space (distance). For instance, what we (or astronomers) may see in the night sky regarding distant stars, we may say "I watched a star explode last night". Well, yes and no. You did watch it last night, but it didn't explode last night. It actually exploded long long ago and the visible light from the event is just now reaching us. The nearest star for instance... Alpha Centuri is 4 light years away. That means the light we see from it was really emitted 4 years ago. A light year is not a measure of time, but of distance or length. The distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1 Julian calendar year. If converted to US miles, 1 light year = 5.9 trillion miles.

There has been much recent speculation about a star in our night sky (Betelgeuse) . It has been flickering in a strange way and scientist speculate it may (or may not) be in the death throes of a supernova (explode). Since it lies about 430 light years from Earth, it's possible it already has exploded and light just hasn't told us yet.
Click to expand...
Yes I guess I am referring to long time hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries. More along the lines of years, decades, centuries ect...., nothing to do with space measuring light years. Trying to narrow down when civilized scoietys started to form. I guess that would of been somewhere during biblical times wouldn't it ? Are there any other periods of time record since civilized society has become into existence ? Even though we consider this to be 2021 isn't it 2021 AD ?
 
504RP said:
Says the temple at Tulum hay day years were in 1200 yo 1450. Was that 1200 and 1450 AD ?
Click to expand...
Probably AD. But they ruled the area for over 18 centuries. The final end came with the Spanish conquest, but there were some pockets that stayed safe for a long time because only they knew where it was safe to cross the barrier reef that extends up and down the coast. The Spanish just could not get to them. But disease brought over eventually got most of them.

It is a very interesting area, with no above-ground flowing water. All of the flowing water is below ground because of all the limestone. But there are pools of freshwater everywhere (called cenotes) where the limestone has collapsed.

I visited there probably 15 years ago. It is very beautiful.

DSC_0229.JPG
 
Is that in South America ? The Mayan civilization of EL Miridor ?
 
504RP said:
Are there any other periods of time record since civilized society has become into existence ? Even though we consider this to be 2021 isn't it 2021 AD ?
Click to expand...
I mentioned the Chinese calendar. China has long been a civilized society and their calendar would not have been biblically influenced when developed and might have even been first.

The Gregorian calendar became the world standard on which to do international business during European colonization and yes it is 2021. If your native tongue is Latin then maybe 2021 ad
but even then abbreviation to century and year 2021 seems to suffice.

I can't remember ever having to ask, ad or bc when dating a check. :)
 
Last edited:
Do you know how far back the Chinese calendar dates back to it's beginning ?
 
Today is 13 IYAR 5781 on the Hebrew calendar. One can google a Gregorian/Hebrew conversion if they choose.
 
ELMirador is a Mayan ruins that archeologist are uncovering located further South of Mexico. I thought maybe Tulum might have been part of EL Mirador. EL Mirador is supposed to be one of if not the biggest Mayan cities that ever existed from what i understand.
 

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