What is chronology<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSimply defined chronology is the science (or art) of arranging things in order of time<\/em>.\u00a0 It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of past events and persons in an cohesive, logical order of occurrence.\u00a0 Chronology deals with three things: (1) the order of events, (2) the length events runs, and (3) the grouping of events.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe story of chronology begins long before the origin of the wheel (ca 2500 BCE) and even before the invention of writing (ca. 3000 BCE).\u00a0 If we believe the Mesopotamian chronicles, chronology began with an oral tradition concerning the kings of the distant past.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBefore the advent of precise record keeping, people were keeping track of the sequences of actors.\u00a0 The archaeological record confirms the real existence of some kings thought at one time to be strictly mythological, e.g., Gilgamesh.\u00a0 The oral tradition has preserved the sequence of actors at least in some semblance.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Why chronology matters<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nNo study is more fundamental to the questions of \u201cwho are we?\u201d and \u201cwhere did we come from?\u201d than chronology.\u00a0 It is difficult to answer these questions, but this study affords us the opportunity for a few precious answers.\u00a0 And as we glean the distant past, we can gain these insights by studying the archaeological and textual remains of our ancestors.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nChronology is not simply an attempt of modern peoples to understand the past.\u00a0 It is a need that taps deep into what it means to be human.\u00a0 No other animal seeks connection to the past or gains significance by being part of an unbroken chain of causal events.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe need to know where we come from owes its existence to the human faculty of externalizing our existence.\u00a0 Our existence is extended to the continuity of our community.\u00a0 However, this drive to know where our ancestors came from was not the same as what we would now consider to be history.<\/em>\u00a0 The peoples of the ancient world had a sense of history but it is not history as we know it.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe preceding blog was an abridged excerpt out of the book that I am currently writing.<\/em>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is chronology Simply defined chronology is the science (or art) of arranging things in order of time.\u00a0 It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of past events and persons in an cohesive, logical order of occurrence.\u00a0 Chronology deals with three things: (1) the order of events, (2) the length events runs, and (3) the…<\/p>\n

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