Ancient History of Eclipses

Hello all!

In honor of the partial solar eclipse we got to briefly see in Nashville on Monday, I wanted to explore some of the interesting history of eclipses.

The first known recording of an eclipse was from November 30th in 3340 BCE in Ireland. This discovery was based on “overlapping circular rock carvings, called petroglyphs”. These petroglyphs depict the moon obstructing the sun’s light. Astronomical calculations confirms that there should have been a visible solar eclipse on November 30th, 3340 BCE. While this was an amazing discovery, the history is unclear and perhaps morbid. Around 50 people’s charred human remains were found in front of the petroglyphs. Some believe that these remains are evidence of human sacrifices involved in ritual. Others believe that these remains found in the structure means that it was a burial site of high status individuals.

There is little agreement over whether this site featured evidence of human sacrafice or even if the art itself depicted a solar eclipse. While astronomical calculations led researchers to believe that there was genuinely a solar eclipse in 3340 BCE, critical researchers point out that the earth’s rate of rotation fluctuates over time, enough to make calculating the time of full totality thousands of years in the past incredibly difficult. This debate seems to be one that will never fully end without more evidence but there is no doubt that humans have been fascinated by the cosmos since the earliest of times.