Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - An enigmatic object in form of the earliest known lunar calendar, dating from the Upper Paleolithic, has been found on a pebble found in the Alban Hills near Rome, Italy.
It is also one of the earliest known attempts in humankind’s history to understand and measure time.
The notches on the 10,000-year-old pebble may be based on the lunar cycle. Credit: Sapienza Universita di Roma.
The pebble, which was decorated over 10,000 years ago, was found in 2007 near the top of Monte Alto in the Alban Hills. It fits the definition of “notational artifact” and is thus one of the very few known specimens of its kind in the world’s Paleolithic archaeological record.
The short linear incisions, or notches, cut perpendicularly in a row along three of the pebble’s edges. The three sets comprise respectively seven, nine/ten and eleven notches, spaced regularly and symmetrically along each edge to fill up all the available space from one end to the other.
Artists impression of the supposed calendar being used. Credit: Sapienza Universita di Roma
The overall number – 27 or 28 – and spatial distribution of the marks suggests that this complex system of incisions could be based on the lunar cycle.
"The study reveals that the notches were made over time using more than one kind of sharp cutting stone tool, as if they had been used for counting and calculating, or to store some kind of information over a period of time.” said Flavio Altamura, researcher at the Department of Antiquities of Sapienza University.
Incisions on the pebble, suggesting it may be a lunar calendar. Credit: Sapienza Universita di Roma.
The number of notches is precisely the same as the number of days in the lunar month (synodic or sidereal) makes this object unique among supposed lunar calendars and the earliest likely example of this category of artifacts found to date in the world’s prehistoric record.
It was first used as a retoucher-hammerstone to knap and modify other stone implements, and later as a pestle to grind colored pigments such as red ocher. Further analysis has shown that the rock is made of marly limestone from outcrops located dozens of kilometers away from were it was found, hence it must have been carried for quite a long time and distance before it was discarded, lost or left on top of steep and isolated Monte Alto.
Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer
