What was it like to live in far earlier times of awe and wonder? Given the present season my thoughts went to the ancient mystery of the Seasons. When and how did humans become
aware of the periodic movements of the sun. It was 10,000+ years ago when humans began to record the daily transit of shadows. These measurements could be seen to change on a
continuous basis long before the invention of the sundial around 1500BC. From this, early humans would have noticed that the shadows changed in a predictable way every year and this aspect of nature could be seen as dependable – one could trust nature and this knowledge provided a sense of security for the emerging agricultural societies. This mystery had to be the object of great wonder and gratitude. Early explanations, no doubt, involved the imagining of gods or spirits and it would have been natural to develop rituals of deep appreciation of this vital aspect of life on Earth. The schedule of planting could go on reliably. But for many the wonder continued.
The notion of a being that annually moved the sun wasn’t a satisfying conclusion. The ability to plant crops was important but the mystery sparked more questions. Was the public sharing of this doubt of the supernatural explanation, seen as a kind of heresy and a minimization of the
power of the worshiped spirits? Of course the curiosity persisted.
There were other early ideas of the mechanism of the seasons. A Greek myth held that the
seasons were due to the annual return of Persephone from the Underworld (where Hades had imprisoned her.) The possibility that the Earth is tilted on its axis was suspected by early
Egyptians and Babylonians. Then, in the 3rd century BCE, the Greek philosopher, Eratosthenes, estimated the tilt to be 24 degrees. ( We know today it is 23.5 degrees). So even though the early farmers had enough information to do their plantings, the wonder had continued. The question remained as to why the Earth’s axis is tilted. Did spirits do this or was it due, as is suspected, to a collision between the Earth and an asteroid.
One mystery solved, another left to ponder.
~Terry Welsher
This is a serious mystery. I have often thought about the dawning of a seed of consciousness that takes perpetual observation and critical thought to weave a logical explanation for something so abstract. I am amazed the natives suspected we were on an axis as determined by the the cast shadows in each season and then to compare them against each other over the span of a year. Even back then , there were mystics coexisting with scientists. I think science is a better anchor over time!