Thank you so much. Every glimpse into the distant past is important, simply to remind ourselves that (1) our ancestors really existed, and we did not appear out of nothing when industrialization came into being, and (2) to give us hints about where we came from. Congratulations on your find! And thanks for sharing it with us!
BTW, the concept of time began far before written language, and (I believe) before anyone perceived themselves as separate from the natural world. The seasons alone would be something our prehistoric ancestors would have paid very close attention to. After all, the animals do, why not us? There are all the prehistoric stone megaliths that line up with summer / winter solstices on various continents. And there are ancient bone calendars dating as far back as 20,000 years ago, with tallies carved into it, some recording a woman's regular cycle, or a lunar cycle.
And we still obsess about time, however, today the fallacy is that we think that by measuring time (or the seasons, or the weather), we can control it. No, we can't. But even in that we're not so different from our distant ancestors, who undoubtedly asked their deities to give them good hunting, good weather, good... anything, and thought that the right rituals might / would provide it. At least, that's what they did on the oracle bones in Shang Dynasty China (ca 1050-1200 BC).
Sorry, but speculation about the distant past is as specious as speculation about horoscopes and psychology.
Thank you so much. Every glimpse into the distant past is important, simply to remind ourselves that (1) our ancestors really existed, and we did not appear out of nothing when industrialization came into being, and (2) to give us hints about where we came from. Congratulations on your find! And thanks for sharing it with us!
BTW, the concept of time began far before written language, and (I believe) before anyone perceived themselves as separate from the natural world. The seasons alone would be something our prehistoric ancestors would have paid very close attention to. After all, the animals do, why not us? There are all the prehistoric stone megaliths that line up with summer / winter solstices on various continents. And there are ancient bone calendars dating as far back as 20,000 years ago, with tallies carved into it, some recording a woman's regular cycle, or a lunar cycle.
And we still obsess about time, however, today the fallacy is that we think that by measuring time (or the seasons, or the weather), we can control it. No, we can't. But even in that we're not so different from our distant ancestors, who undoubtedly asked their deities to give them good hunting, good weather, good... anything, and thought that the right rituals might / would provide it. At least, that's what they did on the oracle bones in Shang Dynasty China (ca 1050-1200 BC).
Yes, you are right. We think that by measuring time we can control it! We cant.
I am talking about this very measured mechanistic clock time. Otherwise time as in change of weather must have been a very natural knowledge..