Ancient Irish recorded solar eclipse over 5,000 years ago
Posted On: Aug 22nd, 2015 at 21:21
Ireland
It seems our friends across the water – no, not them, the other ones! – were the first people in history to record a solar eclipse, some 5,355 years ago.
That date (3340 BC) may seem rather precise without absolute dating techniques being employed but it is based on solar eclipse data. It is clear the Neolithic people who carved the stones at the site outside Kells, County Meath, knew what they were recording and the conclusion is pretty sound.
The article does state “Neolithic astronomer priests” but there is no way of knowing if the latter two words can be applied, since there is no evidence that astronomer priests even existed. They may just have been Neolithic farmers who were recording celestial events with a view to observing the annual path of the sun, as this was most relevant to our Neolithic ancestors. It was certainly they who were the first people to record astronomical events since they were farming! Without them, the world would not be as it is today, and the cairns scattered all across Ireland are a testament to the ingenuity these people created so that we, 5,000 years later, know exactly when to plant our crops. In so many ways we owe everything to these people, but I often wonder how many generations it took before they mastered the art of solar measurement. Or was there a very clever genius amongst them who came up with the idea of allowing sunlight to penetrate a chamber once or twice a year but only on a specific date? There are some things we will never know…
