Holocene calendar

Short description: Calendar era that uses 10,000 BC as 1 HE

"Holocene era" redirects here. For the geological epoch, see Holocene.

"Human Era" redirects here. For the album, see Human Era (album).

Template:Human history The Holocene calendar, also known as the Holocene Era or Human Era (HE), is a year numbering system that adds exactly 10,000 years to the currently dominant (AD/BC or CE/BCE) numbering scheme, placing its first year near the beginning of the Holocene geological epoch and the Neolithic Revolution, when humans shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture and fixed settlements. The current year by the Gregorian calendar, AD 2026, is 12026 HE in the Holocene calendar. The HE scheme was first proposed by Cesare Emiliani in 1993 (11993 HE),[1] though similar proposals to start a new calendar at the same date had been put forward decades earlier.[2][3] Emiliani thereby dismissed his original proposal to align the era with the 7980-year Julian cycles, i.e. start with the epoch in 4713 BCE (5288 HE).[1]

## Contents

* 1 Overview
* 1.1 Accuracy
* 1.2 Equivalent proposals
* 2 Conversion
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 Further reading

## Overview

Cesare Emiliani's proposal for a calendar reform sought to solve a number of alleged problems with the current Anno Domini era, also called the Common Era, which numbers the years of the commonly accepted world calendar. These issues include:

* The Anno Domini era has no year "zero", with 1 BC followed immediately by AD 1, making calculation of time spans difficult.
* The years BC/BCE are counted down when moving from past to future, complicating the calculation of timespans further.
* The birth date of Jesus is a less universally relevant epoch event than the approximate beginning of the Holocene.
* The Anno Domini era is based on the erroneous or contentious estimates of the birth year of Jesus of Nazareth. The era places Jesus's birth year in AD 1, but modern scholars have determined that it is more likely that he was born in or before 4 BC.[4] Emiliani argued that replacing the contested date with the approximate beginning of the Holocene makes more sense.

Instead, HE uses the "beginning of human era" as its epoch, arbitrarily defined as 10,000 BC and denoted year 1 HE, so that AD 1 matches 10,001 HE.[1] This is a rough approximation of the start of the current geologic epoch, the Holocene (the name means entirely recent). The motivation for this is that human civilization (e.g. the first settlements, agriculture, etc.) is believed to have arisen within this time. Emiliani later proposed that the start of the Holocene should be fixed at the same date as the beginning of his proposed era.[5]

### Accuracy

When Emiliani discussed the calendar in a follow-up article in 1994, he mentioned that there was no agreement on the date of the start of the Holocene epoch, with estimates at the time ranging between 12,700 and 10,970 years BP.[5] Since then, scientists have improved their understanding of the Holocene on the evidence of ice cores and can now more accurately date its beginning. A consensus view was formally adopted by the IUGS in 2013, placing its start at 11,700 years before 2000 (9701 BC), about 300 years more recent than the epoch of the Holocene calendar.[6]

### Equivalent proposals

In 1924 Gabriel Deville proposed the use of Calendrier nouveau de chronologie ancienne (CNCA), which would start 10,000 years before AD 1, which is identical to Emiliani's much later proposal.[2]

Since 1929, Dievturība adherents use Latviskā ēra (the Latvian Era) which begins at the same point; this coincides with the first inhabitants’ influx to the territory of present Latvia (10500–10047 BCE). According to the Latvian Era, Template:Sum is written for 2026 CE. Detailed explanation of Latvian Era by Ernests Brastiņš was first published in 1934.[7][8][9]

In 1963 E.R. Hope proposed the use of Anterior Epoch (AE), which also begins at the same point.[3]

## Conversion

Calendar epochs and milestones in the Holocene calendar  Gregorian year | ISO 8601 | Holocene year | Event

|
|
|

10002 BC  | −10001  | −1 HE  |
10001 BC  | −10000  | 0 HE  |
10000 BC  | −9999[lower-alpha 1] | 1 HE  | Epoch of the Holocene calendar era. Equivalent to 11949 Before Present (BP)
9701 BC  | −9700  | 300 HE  | End of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene (geological epoch),[6] equivalent to 11650 BP
5509 BC  | −5508  | 4492 HE  | Beginning of the Byzantine calendar
4714 BC  | −4713  | 5287 HE  | Epoch of the Julian day system: Julian day 0 starts at Greenwich noon on January 1, 4713 BC of the proleptic Julian calendar, which is November 24, 4714 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar[10]: 10 This is equivalent to 6,663 BP.
3761 BC  | −3760  | 6240 HE
~3300 BC  | n/a  | ~6700 HE  | Approximate beginning of the Bronze Age
3102 BC  | −3101  | 6899 HE  | Beginning of the Kali Yuga in Hindu cosmology[11]
2250 BC  | −2249  | 7751 HE  | Beginning of the Meghalayan, the current and latest of the three stages in the Holocene.[12][13]
~1200 BC  | n/a  | ~8800 HE  | Approximate beginning of the Iron Age
753 BC  | −0752  | 9248 HE  | Beginning of the ab urbe condita
45 BC  | −0044  | 9956 HE  | Introduction of the Julian calendar
1 BC  | 0000  | 10000 HE  | Year zero at ISO 8601
1 AD  | 0001  | 10001 HE  | Beginning of the Common Era and Anno Domini, from the estimate by Dionysius Exiguus
622  | 0622  | 10622 HE  | Migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, starting the Islamic calendar[14][15] at 1 AH
1582  | 1582  | 11582 HE  | Introduction of the Gregorian calendar[10]: 47
1912  | 1912  | 11912 HE  | Epoch of the Juche[16] and Republic of China calendars[17]
1950  | 1950  | 11950 HE  | Epoch of the Before Present dating scheme[18]: 190
1960  | 1960  | 11960 HE  | UTC Epoch
1970  | 1970  | 11970 HE  | Unix Epoch[19]
1993  | 1993  | 11993 HE  | Publication of the Holocene calendar
2026  | 2026  | 12026 HE  | Current year
10000  | +10000  | 20000 HE  |

1. ↑ Emiliani states his proposal would set "the beginning of the human era at 10,000 BC" but does not mention the Julian or Gregorian calendar.[1]

## See also

* After the Development of Agriculture, a calendar system that adds 8000 years to the Common Era.
* Anno Lucis, a calendar system that adds 4000 years to the Common Era.
* Before Present, the notation most widely used today in scientific literature for dates in prehistory.
* Calendar reform
* Astronomical year numbering, 1 BC is the epoch because there is no year zero in Anno Domini.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Emiliani, Cesare (1993). "Correspondence – calendar reform". Nature 366 (6457): 716. doi:10.1038/366716b0. Bibcode: 1993Natur.366..716E.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Naudin, Claude (2001). De temps en temps: Histoires de calendrier. Le Grand Livre du Mois. ISBN 2-7028-4735-8.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hope, E.R. (1963). "The arithmetical reform of the calendar, Part I". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 57 (1): 14–23. Bibcode: 1963JRASC..57...14H.
4. ↑ Rahner, Karl (2004). Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi. Continuum. p. 732. ISBN 978-0-86012-006-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=WtnR-6_PlJAC. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Emiliani, Cesare (1994). "Calendar reform for the year 2000". Eos 75 (19): 218. doi:10.1029/94EO00895. Bibcode: 1994EOSTr..75..218E.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Though not aligning with this consensus, a first year of 10,000 BCE does enable easier conversion from Common Era dates. Walker, Mike; Jonsen, Sigfus; Rasmussen, Sune Olander; Popp, Trevor; Steffensen, Jørgen-Peder; Gibbard, Phil; Hoek, Wim; Lowe, John et al. (2009). "Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records". Journal of Quaternary Science 24 (1): 3–17. doi:10.1002/jqs.1227. Bibcode: 2009JQS....24....3W. http://www.stratigraphy.org/GSSP/Holocene.pdf.
7. ↑ Nastevičs, Uģis (2022). "Latvian Dievturība: A Study of Rituals, Their Sacred Space and Texts". Dievturu Vēstnesis 43 (3): 2467–2481. ISSN 2661-5088.
8. ↑ Nastevičs, Uģis (2022). Latviešu dievturība un japāņu šintō. Rituāli, to sakrālā telpa un teksti salīdzinošā aspektā. Puzuri. ISBN 9789934906725.
9. ↑ Brastiņš, Ernests (1934). "Latviskais laiks". Labietis 5: 72–73. ISSN 0456-9571.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Dershowitz`
11. ↑ See: Matchett, Freda, "The Puranas", p 139 and Yano, Michio, "Calendar, astrology and astronomy" in Flood, Gavin, ed (2003). Blackwell companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.
12. ↑ "ICS chart containing the Quaternary and Cambrian GSSPs and new stages (v 2018/07) is now released!". http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-news-and-meetings/120-ics-chart-containing-the-quaternary-gssps-and-new-stages-v-2018-07-is-now-released.
13. ↑ Conners, Deanna (September 18, 2018). "Welcome to the Meghalayan age". https://earthsky.org/earth/new-name-present-times-era-meghalayan.
14. ↑ Aisha El-Awady (2002-06-11). "Ramadan and the Lunar Calendar". Islamonline.net. http://www.islamonline.net/English/Science/2002/11/article02.shtml.
15. ↑ Hakim Muhammad Said (1981). "The History of the Islamic Calendar in the Light of the Hijra". Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. http://al-islam.org/al-serat/hijrah.htm.
16. ↑ Hy-Sang Lee (2001). North Korea: A Strange Socialist Fortress. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-275-96917-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=6Rx8Q_cxqvkC&pg=PA220.
17. ↑ Endymion Wilkinson (2000). Chinese History: A Manual. Harvard Univ Asia Center. pp. 184–185. ISBN 978-0-674-00249-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=ERnrQq0bsPYC&pg=PA185.
18. ↑ Currie Lloyd A (2004). "The Remarkable Metrological History of Radiocarbon Dating [II]". Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 109 (2): 185–217. doi:10.6028/jres.109.013. PMID 27366605. PMC 4853109. http://nvl.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/jres/109/2/j92cur.pdf. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
19. ↑ "The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Rationale, section 4.16 Seconds Since the Epoch". The OpenGroup. 2018. http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/xrat/V4_xbd_chap04.html#tag_21_04_16.

## Further reading

* David Ewing Duncan (1999). The Calendar. Fourth Estate. pp. 331–332. ISBN 978-1-85702-979-6.
* Duncan Steel (2000). Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 149–151. ISBN 978-0-471-29827-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=fsni_qV-FJoC&pg=PA149.
* Günther A. Wagner (1998). Age Determination of Young Rocks and Artifacts: Physical and Chemical Clocks in Quaternary Geology and Archeology. Springer. p. 48. ISBN 978-3-540-63436-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=ADuZDCa08kwC&pg=PA48.

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