Friday, November 8, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Archaeology & History > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Archaeology & History

First recorded eclipse was 3,000 years ago

By T.K. Randall
October 30, 2017 · Comment icon 3 comments

Eclipses can help to pinpoint the dates of specific events in history. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Takeshi Kuboki
Researchers have been able to trace the first ever recorded solar eclipse back to the time of the pharaohs.
Prof Sir Colin Humphreys and his team at the University of Cambridge looked at text from the Old Testament detailing the time when Joshua led the people of Israel into Canaan - a region that now covers modern day Israel and Palestine.

"Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon," Joshua prayed. "And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies."

The researchers now believe that this was actually a reference to a genuine astronomical event.

"Modern English translations, which follow the King James translation of 1611, usually interpret this text to mean that the sun and moon stopped moving," said Prof Humphreys.
"But going back to the original Hebrew text, we determined that an alternative meaning could be that the sun and moon just stopped doing what they normally do: they stopped shining."

By analyzing variations in the Earth's rotation over time, the researchers were able to determine that the eclipse in question would have occurred over Canaan on 30 October 1207 BC.

By cross-referencing this information with ancient Egyptian texts, it has also been possible to accurately determine the precise date on which the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah began.

"Solar eclipses are often used as a fixed point to date events in the ancient world," said Prof Humphreys. "Using these new calculations, the reign of Merneptah began in 1210 or 1209 BC."

"As it is known from Egyptian texts how long he and his father reigned for, it would mean that Ramesses the Great reigned from 1276-1210 BC, with a precision of plus or minus one year."

Source: Telegraph | Comments (3)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by paperdyer 7 years ago
Great deduction.  A whole lot better than this one: "Modern English translations, which follow the King James translation of 1611, usually interpret this text to mean that the sun and moon stopped moving," said Prof Humphreys. Really?  Modern translations still write this?  Give me a break!.  I still say we need a new translation directly from the Dead Sea Scrolls if they can be scanned without destroying them.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Tom the Photon 7 years ago
100% concur with paperdryer - the Ancients recorded the most significant events they witnessed. Over time these became wrapping in mysticism and religion but if you study the original documents the kernel of prehistoric truth slumbers there. Not just the Old Testament, but many antique texts, such as the Vedas.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Kenemet 7 years ago
But there's older recorded eclipses... https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/what-earliest-recorded-total-solar-eclipse


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles