• peanuts4life
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    6 months ago

    This is based on a cool, but ultimately incorrect historical theory called “phantom time.” The general premise being that European history (and world history) was mostly fabricated as propaganda by royalty. It wouldn’t be so crazy except, a) archeology exist and validates certain medieval records and b) non European Nations exist, and record their own interactions with Western Nations.

  • SSTF@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    The Gregorian calendar didn’t go into effect until 1582. Because it’s a modification of the Julian calender. Which replaced the Roman calender.

    Almost like there’s a continuity or something.

    • athos77@kbin.social
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      6 months ago

      The Gregorian calendar didn’t go into effect until 1582.

      And 1583. And 1589. And 1587 and 1610 and 1700. And also 1752, 1873/74, 1916, 1918, 1923, and 1926/27.

  • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    it has been approximately 12000 years since our ancestors constructed what are now the ruins at Gobekli Tepe. But saying it’s been exactly 12,000 years would be silly, so let’s toss in some variation and call it the present 12,024 years since then. I like this because it puts the history we presently call “ancient” into perspective. By this measure, the bronze age began around the year 6,800 and its collapse happened around the year 8,800. Two thousand years, our species toiled at working bronze. Yes, a lot of explosive progress (some of it literal) happened in the 11,900s, but it took us over eleven thousand years to get there in the first place. We’re really not so far from the 11,500s when we were just getting used to connecting the whole globe with transoceanic trade. It seriously stunts our achievements to write off everything that happened prior to year 10,000 as if it were irrelevant.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      And humanity existed for hundreds of thousands of years before that.

      • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        oh yes! Anatomically modern humans have been around for like 200,000 years before we developed agriculture and started to develop permanent settlements!

        • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          I think the number is 600,000 years for how long we’ve been around in total.

          I completely agree with you. If you actually think about it seriously our history as a species is amazing. Things like the discovery channel with the “Aliens” guy piss me off. It’s a fundamental disrespect of what real people have done, and what we’re capable of.

          The long ramp up to what we have right now today is fascinating. No other animal has ever done anything like we have. From loin clothes to fire to farming is mind blowing. Hell, just one of those things is already way past every other species to ever live.

          • lars@lemmy.sdf.org
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            6 months ago

            They kinda seem like jerks. My 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘰s tended to get along best in groups of a dozen dozen, enjoyed gossip, killing Neanderthals, and their fave: magical thinking.

      • AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Just the fact that we’ve pushed back the point where early hominids were controlling and cooking with fire to some 2 million years in the past. Burying dead to 250,000 years.

        I’m totally willing to believe there are much earlier signs of what we would call complex societal behavior like those temples and the infrastructure required to build them. We’re just going to get better at detecting and dating it as time passes imo.

        It’s sad that we will likely never know why they did any of this stuff. It’s probably all very familiar to us even now, but wouldn’t it be fascinating to know how far back our “modern” behaviors go.

    • BoxerDevil@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      But we don’t all agree. I can think 3 different year systems that are still used today in other countries

  • reattach@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    My son struggled with the similar concept of daylight saving time this year.

    He’s 6 though - I’m sure he’ll grow out it by the time he’s on Twitter.

  • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It’s amazing how many people don’t know what time is and think it’s something that’s kept track of on a man made calendar.

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    It’s only a surprising observation if you never thought about the not so distant past, when each town had its own time. Even now, if you spend a week or a month hiking or living off the grid out in nature, although your watch or cell phone might have a clock on it, you learn quite soon that what really matters is when the sun goes up and goes down.

  • profdc9@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I thought the calendar was based on the event when Xenu exploded all of the body thetans on volcanoes with hydrogen bombs.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      You have to study history at a university to see it for the most part. I’m talking into classes here. It’s probably getting out there now though.