General Question

Jeruba's avatar

Has any society not used the moon as a timepiece?

Asked by Jeruba (55824points) December 7th, 2008

Is there any civilization or society that is known never to have used the moon as a measure of time?

The lunar calendar is still in use in some cultures; in others it was until relatively recent times. And it is easy to see why: it is a perfectly regular and very visible marker of intervals.

I am curious to know if there is a known society or culture that never used a lunar measure at all (at least as far back as we know; of course I am not asking about unknown times prior to any record or research, so this “never” is relative).

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5 Answers

Foolaholic's avatar

This is a tricky question to answer, because you never really hear about a culture for what they haven’t done. To be honest, I really don’t know of any. I did some quick scanning around, and I couldn’t find and mention of lunar activities in traditional Persian calendars, but there’s also a lot of history I’m not familiar with, so that’s the best I have.

Jeruba's avatar

Thanks, @Foolaholic. I didn’t expect this question to be hot like a survey question, and I certainly didn’t intend trickiness. I would just like to know if I can make a statement along the lines of “No known civilization is without a lunar calendar somewhere in its history” without getting pounced on by some pedant with a line like “Ms. Jeruba’s remarks ignore the ancient Frangipanis of Berzerkistan, who told time by observing and counting the lifecycles of the 24-hour flu and never thought to look up at night.”

Foolaholic's avatar

Well I’m glad I could be or service.

MissA's avatar

@Jeruba Would you mind providing the longitude and latitude for Berzerkistan? I think that there are a good many folks joining the Frangipanise.

Jeruba's avatar

@MissA, the people who belong there typically find their way without a guide.

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