The Spatial Dimension in Preliterate Time Reckoning

Abstract

Lacking other means of recording calendrical observations, many preliterate societies employed spatial patterns fixed on land to mark crucial dates in the annual cycle. In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, where one of the most sophisticated calendrical systems arose, geography was important not only in defining a distinctive measure of time but also in locating and orienting many key urban structures. In southern Sweden megalithic builders erected a stone ship to mark solstices and to commemorate a latitude of unique importance. On remote Easter Island, two preliterate societies shared a tradition of using topographic landmarks to calibrate the seasons. IGNORANCE of spherical trigonometry or, for that matter, of any means of recording information in written form did not prevent many early people from translating sophisticated timekeeping concepts into a spatial context. A simple awareness that a straight line may be defined by three points is all that is required to establish an accurate solar calendar, and the same principle may be employed with other celestial bodies. With two points given, the third can always be determined. If the extreme rising or setting position of a celestial body is marked against the horizon by a fixed feature of the landscape such as a mountain peak, the position of the observer can easily be extrapolated along the line joining the celestial body and the fixed feature. On the other hand, if the observer occupies a fixed position and takes note of the extreme rising or setting position of a celestial body against the horizon, he may erect a feature in the landscape whose position is located along this line intermediate to the horizon. Another alternative would be to perpetuate the line itself in a feature, such as a ditch, a wall, a street, or a canal, marked on the earth's surface. Field investigations that I have made of preliterate societies in three widely separated parts of the world reveal that all of these methods were used to translate temporal benchmarks into spatial ones.