The Gregorian calendar is not the most efficient or the most precise way to organize our days and measure time. Its permanence is due to the enormous influence of the Catholic Church and to a matter of habit (after all, we were raised under that calendar), but different replacements have been proposed in the past. One of them is the so-called Holocene calendar, created by Italian geologist Cesare Emiliani. In simple terms, the idea is to add ten thousand years to recalibrate the calendar to what is considered as the beginning of human activity.
The definition of “First Temple” is usually associated with Solomon's Temple, which was built around 800 BC (other sources place it a hundred years earlier). However, when we talk about the first advanced stone construction by humans, we need to go back about fourteen thousand years on average. The year 12,000 BC symbolizes what many experts call the Neolithic Revolution, which saw humanity's transition from a lifestyle based on hunting and gathering to one dependent on agriculture, domestication, and the creation of settlements. It is undoubtedly a very important part of our history, to the point that it has been proposed as the beginning of modern humanity. (Editor's note: Don't forget to enable Spanish subtitles for the video.)
Of course, that point of view conflicts with other interpretations, among which those of religious origin stand out. Without going further, the beginning for the Gregorian calendar is the birth of Christ, in the Islamic calendar it is the Hijra (the journey that took the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina), and so on.
Now, if we have to explore the adoption of a scientifically correct calendar, so to speak, one of the candidates that stands above the rest is the Holocene calendar. Presented in 1993 by Italian geologist Cesare Emiliani, the Holocene calendar takes as its starting point the beginning of the Holocene epoch and the aforementioned Neolithic revolution. The most interesting thing about this calendar, and what could facilitate its adoption, is the fact that it does not require modifying the current structure of days and months.
How It Works and Its Potential
What does it do then? In essence, it adds ten thousand years to our current year, so that we are in the year 12,016 HE (Human Era). In addition to being more representative of our history, the Holocene calendar also seeks to correct errors present in the Gregorian calendar, for example, the absence of a “year zero,” and the new information that places the birth of Christ four years earlier (4 BC).
Is it possible that we will see this change in the future? I think it will be very difficult. The Gregorian calendar is like the English language on the Web, a wildcard on which everyone can work, but even so, the number 2016 is very misleading...
