9781422283363

Chapter

SKY TIME

It is difficult enough to try and say what we mean by time. But what did people who lived thousands of years ago think about time? Almost certainly, they didn’t think of it in the way that we do. These days we are used to splitting time up into different lengths—seconds, days, years—to suit different purposes. But people didn’t always divide time like this. There was no need to tell the time with great accuracy when there were on airplanes to catch, no television programs to remember to watch, no set time to be at school or to arrive at work.

People relied on natural events to measure the passing of time. They wanted to know when to plant or harvest their crops, or when the hunting would be

good, or when to find shelter for the night. The exact day, or minute didn’t matter. Many of the peoples who lived in the northern part of the world reckoned years by counting winters. Winter was a quiet period when preparations were made for the coming spring planting season, so it was a good time to choose to mark each year’s passing. THE SOLAR YEAR One way to keep track of the changing year is by watching the Sun. It appears lower in the sky in winter than in

Before there were clocks and watches people relied on natural, regularly repeated events, such as the changing seasons, to keep track of time.

9.