AbstractAn oak tree trunk 1.7 metres long was found July 2013 in theRhondda valley, Wales preserved deep in a peat bog, an artefactwith a date of c.4270 BC. Knife cut markings on the wood surfaceI interpret as evidence of Sun and Moon calendars, the firstcomprehensible writing and reading in human history, a statementof five day weeks, four weeks a month, a calendar of sixteenmonths a year. The ancient Sun calendar ruled the north-westsea-linked peoples of Britain and Ireland until Roman times inBritain.
The Calendar Today & Recent PastWith the occupation of Britain onwards from AD 43, the Roman Julian calendar was imposed on England and Wales as part of the gradual establishment of the Roman Empire’s Province of Britannia in the first century anno Domini. It is known prehistoric forms of calendar were an anathema to the Roman way of life and were successfully overruled by the governing administration. The Julian calendar initiated by Julius Caesar in 45 BC had become seventeen days out of synchronisation with real time by AD 1582. Pope Gregory issued a decree requiring theRoman Catholic Church clergy observe his revised calendar beginning that year. The Gregorian calendar is now employed on aworld-wide basis for a multitude of reasons. Nonetheless, hindsight helps us understand the old deities and names still continued in the memories of the native people. They are still with us today to a limited extent.
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The Irish Knowth Sun Calendar, 3500 BCMany centuries before Stonehenge was built, central Ireland was home to three passage mounds, Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth. Knowth was constructed about3500 BC. About 110 metrediameter the mound has twopassages leading into thestructure. Surrounded by a ringof large flat kerb stones onedge, they support the moundmaterial. Many have interestingpetroglyphs inscribed on themMost important of these, kerbstone numbered K15 has the Suncalendar message. The Knowth K15 Sun calendar governed people’s lives with tallies of five day weeks, four weeks a month, monthsof 23 days, sixteen months a year, a year of 365 days.
Midwinter Sunrise in Ireland, Newgrange, 3200 BCClose to the Knowth passage mound, located on higher ground formed by the bend in the river Boyne is the popular Newgrange mound, a popular destination for tens of thousands of visitors every year. Great importance is attributed to a large flat stone
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slab forming a roof over the passage leading into the mound’s central inner sanctum. Observe how the Newgrange zigzag rows of backward and forward sloping lines portray a series of apices. Each apex is a unit count, the first line has sixteen apices, the next line has twenty-two apices. The third line has twelve, the twelfth day of Winter month the solstice, and dawn at on that day. This method of counting employing horizontal lines at Newgrange and other locations compares with Knowth K15 and four parallel vertical columns of vee apices.
Stonehenge Sun Calendar, c.2300 BCMore than four millennium before Britannia was Romanised, the Stonehenge Sun calendar probably governed people’s lives. A fully detailed day-by-day explanation is given elsewhere in my other publications. For the purposes of this comparison between Rhondda, Knowth and Stonehenge, it is sufficient to show the ancient Sun calendar is portrayed by the plan of my Stonehenge Sun Calendar drawing – five day weeks, four weeks a month, months of 23 days, sixteen months a year, a year of 365 days: -
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THE RHONDDA CALENDAR
Wales, the ‘Maerdy Oak Timber’, c.4270 BCIn the Rhondda valley south Wales, about 4720 BC a length of oaktree trunk was prepared for an important function to serve localcommunities. Re-discovered mid-year AD 2013 deep in a peat bog beside a stream flowing through the valley, the wooden oak log has lines carved into the timber surface. First described in news reports as the “Maerdy decorative wood carving timber, a votive offering, a fence post”, I have renamed it the “Rhondda Calendar”, a choice of words for the title with harmonious cadence and sense of alliteration. Found along with eleven otherunmarked wooden artefacts, the valuable piece is currently undergoing a year-long stabilisation and preservation process atthe York Archaeological Trust, England. A total of twelve woodenitems equate to twelve months of the Moon calendar year.
A patterned series of lines carved into the timber surface isillustrated. For clarity reasons, the archaeologist’s carvings interpretation is shown by line markings on the monochrome image. As soon as I saw the line markings on September 9th I readthe writing. Reading from left to right across the right-hand image, two ‘hoops’ represent days perhaps named philologically similar to the celestial bodies Sunday and Moonday, to the lowerright are three heavenly deities Wodensday, Thorsday and Freyrday, the five week days. I explain in my book “Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism” chapter 20; the hoop glyph is the multiple representation of one = Λ. The component parts of the group at the left is viewed as two ‘hoops’ with three inverted hoops, representing five days every week of the year. Almost identical
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petroglyph arrangements occur on the Irish Knowth kerbstones K14, K65, K78 and K79 c.3500 BC.
Across to the top right of the long column is a group of fivesimple lines read as a count of five, the number of days each week. A little left of the last of the five ‘parallel’ lines aretwo more in a reversed curve, a count of two notions presumed a statement there were two forms of calendar, the Sun and the Moon. Down the column, the next group of four lines each culminate in a sharp point. This first nested group is seen as acount of four weeks every Sun month. Next and further down, a column of vee lines and their apices count to sixteen, the months of the Sun calendar year. Then twelve lines are seen as months of the Moon year calendar, lines portrayed in a slightly different way without a clearly defined apex. The twelfth line terminates with a small circle identified as an image of the Moon, signifying an end to the count of twelve Moon calendar months. An identical portrayal of a circle to headline the beginning or end of a Moon sequence occurs on the Newgrange roofstone petroglyph. Next are two sets of four lines also illustrated in a reversed curvature manner, seen to portray the four months a quarter and four quarters each Sun calendar year of sixteen months.
These numbers of apices precisely match the Sun Calendar count of stone columns and pillars at Stonehenge, timber posts at Woodhenge, Durrington Walls, Mount Pleasant, Stanton Drew, the Knowth K15 pictograph elements and the numbers portrayed on the Newgrange roof stone petroglyph. In other words, the series of vees and lines in the upper portion of the Rhondda Calendar artefact precisely describe the prehistoric Sun calendar characteristics, more than four millennia before Julius Caesar’scalendar with its seven day weeks and twelve months a year was imposed on the people of ancient Brython.
The CommunityA display of this nature carved into a tall oak timber probably served as a means of teaching an audience the basics of the
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forms of yearly calendar. The idea of a making a display for instruction purposes, indeed the idea of two forms of calendar is remarkable. Long before 4270 BC a community conceived the very principle of two formal calendars, structured as a means ofcounting the year’s passing progress.
Zigzag Lines Petroglyphs on the Irish Newgrange roof stone c.3200 BC have been discussed. The illustration shows sixteen apices along the topmost first line of the petroglyph, followed by the next line,a twenty-two day Winter month, then twelve apices, the solstice day of the month. These glyph numbers are indicated by horizontal lines of forward and backward strokes, the junction of each pair forms a point, the unit count.
The Rhondda Sun Calendar artefact offers direct evidence of the same arithmetic counting and glyph symbols to indicate a unit count. Between the Rhondda c.4720 BC and Knowth K15 c.3500 BC when numbers were shown in columns, to Newgrange c.3200 BC when a horizontal line of joined vees is observed, counting occured in both ways. Observe how the vee glyph Λ eventually became our 1 with a shortened //// up-stroke and a second glyph element \\\\ changed to a vertical line l l l l, which is where we are today. Font styles differ, Times New Roman has 111, the lower short horizontal base line on 1 is a relic of the Roman custom of added serifs to their III and IV, VI, X , L etc. glyphs. Arial 1 font has no serif but retains an obvious shortened up-stroke.
Learning to Read and WriteLearning to read the “Old People’s” writings has been a gradual process. Even since my book “Irish Symbols of 3500 BC” was published in 1988 by The Mercier Press, Cork my ability to interpret signs and signals has steadily improved. On December 7th 2012, I mentally renewed my 1982 visit Tustrup in Denmark. Once again I looked at the film photographs taken in 1982 and realised the three rings of carefully placed megaliths numbered
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five, eight and thirteen. The rest is history to quote the phrase, but hullo, more was to come. Stonehenge jumped out of the page into my perception on July 22nd 2013, Fibonacci arose out of windswept Salisbury Plain. I felt compelled to begin the task of writing this book, research had to be done with great care, my final task of putting pen to paper and wrapping up loose ends commenced. I felt a beneficent presence looking over my shoulder as I assembled the last chapters, the busy keyboard,hard drive and monitor screen would soon be permitted a rest. But that was not to be, I was being watched. Out of cyberspace the picture of the Rhondda timber artefact appeared on September9th 2013 and I read the inscriptions almost immediately, the Rhondda Calendar signs and symbols called for action, I had to obey the wishes of the “Old People” and a higher being for a while longer.
A final observation; “writing is a method of recording information” is the usual definition of the skill. In AD 1999 anissue of ‘Archaeology Magazine’ reported the earliest Egyptian glyphs dated about 3400 BC. Another source says it is generally agreed the earliest writing in human history arose about 3200 BCin Sumer, the Mespotamian city state between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq. The Rhondda Calendar dated4270 BC can rightfully claim to be the earliest writing in humanhistory, in this instance immediately capable of interpretation,seen to have comprehensive meaning.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 Thomas, Irish Symbols of 3500 BCNeil L. Mercier Press, Cork, Ireland
19882 Jones, Oak Log Inscriptions,
2013 (or other title of his choice)Richard S. Llangybi, Wales
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The three coloured illustrations2 in this chapter were obtained from the monthly email article sent to the Author1
by ‘Current Archaeology’ magazine, issue CA283, London, September 2013. The black and white line drawings are the Author’s copyright.
