Calendar era that uses 10,000 BC as 1 HE
"Holocene era" redirects here. For the geological epoch, see
Holocene
.
The
Holocene calendar
, also known as the
Holocene Era
or
Human Era
(
HE
), is a
year numbering
system that adds exactly 10,000 years to the currently dominant (
AD/BC
or
CE/BCE
) numbering scheme, placing its first year near the beginning of the
Holocene
geological epoch
and the
Neolithic Revolution
, when humans shifted from a
hunter-gatherer
lifestyle to
agriculture
and fixed settlements. The current year by the Gregorian calendar, AD 2024, is 12024 HE in the Holocene calendar. The HE scheme was first proposed by
Cesare Emiliani
in 1993 (11993 HE),
[1]
though
similar proposals
to start a new calendar at the same date had been put forward decades earlier.
[2]
[3]
Overview
[
edit
]
Cesare Emiliani's proposal for a
calendar reform
sought to solve a number of alleged problems with the current
Anno Domini
era, also called the
Common Era
, which number the years of the commonly accepted world calendar. These issues include:
- The
Anno Domini
era is based on the
erroneous or contentious estimates of the birth year
of
Jesus of Nazareth
. The era places Jesus's birth year in
AD
1, but modern scholars have determined that it is more likely that he was born in or before 4 BC.
[4]
Emiliani argued that replacing the contested date with the approximate beginning of the
Holocene
makes more sense.
- The birth date of Jesus is a less universally relevant
epoch event
than the approximate beginning of the Holocene.
- The years BC/BCE are counted down when moving from past to future, making calculation of time spans difficult.
- The
Anno Domini
era has no
year "zero"
, with 1 BC followed immediately by AD 1, complicating the calculation of timespans further.
Instead, HE uses the "beginning of human era" as its
epoch
, arbitrarily defined as 10,000 BC and denoted year 1 HE, so that
AD 1
matches 10,001 HE.
[1]
This is a rough approximation of the start of the current
geologic epoch
, the
Holocene
(the name means
entirely recent
). The motivation for this is that
human civilization
(e.g. the first
settlements
,
agriculture
, etc.) is believed to have arisen within this time. Emiliani later proposed that the start of the Holocene should be fixed at the same date as the beginning of his proposed era.
[5]
Benefits
[
edit
]
Human Era proponents claim that it makes for easier
geological
,
archaeological
,
dendrochronological
,
anthropological
and
historical
dating, as well as that it bases its epoch on an event more universally relevant than the birth of
Jesus
. All key dates in human history can then be listed using a simple increasing date scale with smaller dates always occurring before larger dates. Another gain is that the Holocene Era starts before the other
calendar eras
, so it could be useful for the comparison and conversion of dates from different calendars.
Accuracy
[
edit
]
When Emiliani discussed the calendar in a follow-up article in 1994, he mentioned that there was no agreement on the date of the start of the Holocene epoch, with estimates at the time ranging between 12,700 and 10,970 years
BP
.
[5]
Since then, scientists have improved their understanding of the Holocene on the evidence of
ice cores
and can now more accurately date its beginning. A consensus view was formally adopted by the
IUGS
in 2013, placing its start at 11,700 years before 2000 (9701 BC), about 300 years more recent than the epoch of the Holocene calendar.
[6]
Equivalent proposals
[
edit
]
In 1924
Gabriel Deville
proposed the use of
Calendrier nouveau de chronologie ancienne
(CNCA), which would start 10,000 years before AD 1, which is identical to Emiliani's much later proposal.
[2]
Since 1929,
Dievtur?ba
adherents use
Latvisk? ?ra
(the Latvian Era) which begins at the same point; this coincides with the first inhabitants’ influx to the territory of present Latvia (10500?10047 BCE). According to the Latvian Era, 12025 is written for 2025 CE. Detailed explanation of Latvian Era by
Ernests Brasti??
was first published in 1934.
[7]
[8]
[9]
In 1963 E.R. Hope proposed the use of
Anterior Epoch
(AE), which also begins at the same point.
[3]
Conversion
[
edit
]
Conversion from
Julian
or
Gregorian calendar
years to the Human Era can be achieved by adding 10,000 to the AD/CE year. The present year, 2024, can be transformed into a Holocene year by adding the digit "1" before it, making it 12,024 HE. Years BC/BCE are converted by subtracting the BC/BCE year number from 10,001.
- ^
Emiliani
[1]
states his proposal would set "the beginning of the human era at 10,000 BC" but does not mention the Julian or Gregorian calendar.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Emiliani, Cesare (1993).
"Correspondence ? calendar reform"
.
Nature
.
366
(6457): 716.
Bibcode
:
1993Natur.366..716E
.
doi
:
10.1038/366716b0
.
- ^
a
b
Naudin, Claude (2001).
De temps en temps: Histoires de calendrier
[
From time to time: Calendar stories
]. Le Grand Livre du Mois.
ISBN
2-7028-4735-8
.
- ^
a
b
Hope, E.R. (1963). "The arithmetical reform of the calendar, Part I".
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
.
57
(1): 14?23.
Bibcode
:
1963JRASC..57...14H
.
- ^
Rahner, Karl
(2004).
Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi
. Continuum. p. 732.
ISBN
978-0-86012-006-3
.
Archived
from the original on July 27, 2020
. Retrieved
October 8,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Emiliani, Cesare (1994). "Calendar reform for the year 2000".
Eos
.
75
(19): 218.
Bibcode
:
1994EOSTr..75..218E
.
doi
:
10.1029/94EO00895
.
- ^
a
b
Walker, Mike; Jonsen, Sigfus; Rasmussen, Sune Olander; Popp, Trevor; Steffensen, Jørgen-Peder; Gibbard, Phil; Hoek, Wim; Lowe, John; Andrews, John;
Bjorck, Svante
; Cwynar, Les C.; Hughen, Konrad; Kershaw, Peter; Kromer, Bernd; Litt, Thomas; Lowe, David J.; Nakagawa, Takeshi; Newnham, Rewi; Schwander, Jacob (2009).
"Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records"
(PDF)
.
Journal of Quaternary Science
.
24
(1): 3?17.
Bibcode
:
2009JQS....24....3W
.
doi
:
10.1002/jqs.1227
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2013-11-04.
- ^
Nastevi?s, U?is (2022). "Latvian Dievtur?ba: A Study of Rituals, Their Sacred Space and Texts".
Dievturu V?stnesis
.
43
(3): 2467?2481.
ISSN
2661-5088
.
- ^
Nastevi?s, U?is (2022).
Latvie?u dievtur?ba un jap??u ?int?. Ritu?li, to sakr?l? telpa un teksti sal?dzino?? aspekt?
.
Puzuri
.
ISBN
9789934906725
.
- ^
Brasti??, Ernests (1934). "Latviskais laiks".
Labietis
.
5
: 72?73.
ISSN
0456-9571
.
- ^
a
b
c
Dershowitz, Nachum
;
Reingold, Edward M.
(2008).
Calendrical Calculations
(3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-521-70238-6
.
- ^
See: Matchett, Freda, "The Puranas", p 139 and Yano, Michio, "Calendar, astrology and astronomy" in
Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003).
Blackwell companion to Hinduism
.
Blackwell Publishing
.
ISBN
978-0-631-21535-6
.
- ^
"ICS chart containing the Quaternary and Cambrian GSSPs and new stages (v 2018/07) is now released!"
.
Archived
from the original on February 19, 2020
. Retrieved
February 6,
2019
.
- ^
Conners, Deanna (September 18, 2018).
"Welcome to the Meghalayan age"
.
Archived
from the original on February 2, 2019
. Retrieved
February 6,
2019
.
- ^
Aisha El-Awady (2002-06-11).
"Ramadan and the Lunar Calendar"
.
Islamonline.net
.
Archived
from the original on 2006-12-14
. Retrieved
2006-12-16
.
- ^
Hakim Muhammad Said (1981).
"The History of the Islamic Calendar in the Light of the Hijra"
.
Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project
.
Archived
from the original on 2011-06-10
. Retrieved
2006-12-16
.
- ^
Hy-Sang Lee (2001).
North Korea: A Strange Socialist Fortress
. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 220.
ISBN
978-0-275-96917-2
.
- ^
Endymion Wilkinson (2000).
Chinese History: A Manual
. Harvard Univ Asia Center. pp. 184?185.
ISBN
978-0-674-00249-4
.
- ^
Currie Lloyd A (2004).
"The Remarkable Metrological History of Radiocarbon Dating [II]"
(PDF)
.
Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
.
109
(2): 185?217.
doi
:
10.6028/jres.109.013
.
PMC
4853109
.
PMID
27366605
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2010-12-06
. Retrieved
2018-06-24
.
- ^
"The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Rationale, section 4.16 Seconds Since the Epoch"
. The OpenGroup. 2018.
Archived
from the original on 2017-11-15
. Retrieved
2018-06-24
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
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Systems
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In wide use
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In more
limited use
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Historical
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By specialty
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Reform proposals
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Displays and
applications
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Year naming
and numbering
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Fictional
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