Warren Field is the location of a

mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

calendar monument built about 8,000 BCE. It includes 12 pits believed to correlate with

phases of the Moon Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...

and used as a

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...

. It is considered to be the oldest lunar calendar yet found. It is near

Crathes Castle Crathes Castle (pronounced ) is a 16th-century castle near Banchory in the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland. It is in the historic county of Kincardineshire. This harled castle was built by the Burnetts of Leys and was held in that family for ...

, in the Aberdeenshire region of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was originally discovered from the air as anomalous terrain by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. It was first excavated in 2004. The pits align on the south east horizon and a prominent topographic point associated with sunrise on the

midwinter solstice The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winte ...

(thus providing an annual astronomical correction concerning the passage of time as indicated by the Moon, the asynchronous

solar year A tropical year or solar year (or tropical period) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the sky of a celestial body of the Solar System such as the Earth, completing a full cycle of seasons; for example, the time f ...

and the associated seasons). The Aberdeenshire time reckoner predates the Mesopotamian calendars by nearly 5,000 years. It was also interpreted as a seasonal calendar because the local prehistoric communities, which relied on hunting migrating animals needed to carefully note the seasons to be prepared for a particular food source. The Warren Field site is particularly significant for its very early date and the fact that it was created by hunter-gatherer peoples, rather than sedentary farmers usually associated with monument building. Warren Field 1a

References

Stone Age sites in Scotland Archaeological sites in Aberdeenshire {{Scotland-stub

See also

References