Warren Field, Prehistoric calendar site near Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Warren Field is an archaeological site with twelve pits of varying sizes arranged in a curved line, with some reaching up to 2 meters wide. The layout forms a timekeeping system that helped prehistoric people track the passing year.
Excavations between 2004 and 2006 revealed a timekeeping system dating to around 8000 BCE, making it older than Mesopotamian calendars. This discovery shows that time tracking was not limited to early civilizations in the Mediterranean, but also practiced by northern European communities.
The pits show how early hunter-gatherers organized their daily activities by watching the moon and seasons. When you visit, you can sense how these people studied the sky to plan their work and movements.
The site is located in northeast Scotland and can be reached on foot, with the pits exposed year-round. The ground may become muddy after rain, so wear sturdy shoes for comfortable walking across the field.
The system includes an astronomical correction mechanism that reconciles differences between lunar and solar years, revealing how sophisticated prehistoric knowledge was. This adaptation may have solved a mathematical puzzle that these early societies needed to address.
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