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{"id":465,"date":"2018-10-09T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/?p=465"},"modified":"2020-11-30T20:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T04:01:00","slug":"groundhog-breakthrough-chronology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/09\/groundhog-breakthrough-chronology\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundhog: Latest Breakthrough in Chronology"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\nThe field of chronology<\/a> has developed with very little regard to theory or practice.\u00a0 It used to be that anyone could develop a chronology without having to prove their assertions.\u00a0 Even today, the field remains awash in untestable and unproven theories.\u00a0 Recently, my research achieved a breakthrough that solved a serious deficiency in the practice of chronology.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Problem of Chronology<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe fundamental problem was that anyone could develop a chronology without any rigor.\u00a0 Even conservative theories from otherwise respectable academics often had the same epistemological basis as the lunatic theories.\u00a0 Theories asserted to be true couldn’t be shown to be true or false.\u00a0 Prior to 2017 the “sniff\u00a0 test” of plausibility was the best that scholars thought that they could hope for.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDuring my PhD studies I was a research assistant under Kenneth A. Kitchen.\u00a0As I watched Professor Kitchen work, I noticed how mechanical chronology creation could be.\u00a0 Based upon my observations of how Kitchen constructed chronologies, I began to work on Groundhog: Chronology Test Laboratory<\/em> in 2014.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt first I tried to create a program that could simply reconstruct Kitchen’s chronological process with a computer.\u00a0 But the deeper I got into it, I observed several things about chronology that were never before documented in any meaningful way.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My Observations<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n(1) Theories of chronology are essentially the dates or reign-lengths ascribed to the various kings of the ancient Near East.\u00a0 This is the subjective data or hypothesis that any particular modern scholar would be trying to prove.\u00a0\u00a0 These numbers vary with each tested theory.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n(2) Kings in the ancient Near East sent letters and treaties to each other.\u00a0 These documents created synchronisms.\u00a0 A synchronism is a relationship between two people that shows that they lived at the same time.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nRegardless of the dates assigned to the reigns of the kings, synchronisms are static.\u00a0 Synchronisms do not change.\u00a0 The marriage contract between Ramesses II<\/a> and Hattusili III is a synchronism that will never change regardless of the dates assigned.\u00a0\u00a0 Synchronisms are the objective data.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n(3) If we have a subjective hypothesis and objective data, designing an experiment to test the hypothesis against the data, provided that the data is sufficient, becomes possible.\u00a0 In the ancient Near East, about 500 kings and 150 synchronisms are attested well enough for this purpose.\u00a0 This provides a sufficient basis for testing.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Development of Groundhog<\/em><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHaving the pieces in place, I developed a software platform with the ability to take a chronology and test it for internal consistency.\u00a0 Using Groundhog,<\/em> one can reconstruct a chronology and test it against the 150 synchronisms.\u00a0 This test\u00a0 produces a result that shows the chronology to be internally consistent or not.\u00a0 While this test does not show if a chronology is true, it can show if a chronology must be false.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFor the first time, a chronology can be tested objectively, rejecting certain theories from further consideration.\u00a0 This new tool can also assist human operators to eliminate errors from a chronology that are caused by an inability to factor the consequences of extended interdependencies.\u00a0\u00a0 And finally, Groundhog<\/em> introduces to the field a theoretical basis and methodological praxis that has been sorely lacking.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFor more information about Groundhog<\/em> see the project web site at http:\/\/www.groundhogchronology.com<\/a>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The field of chronology has developed with very little regard to theory or practice.\u00a0 It used to be that anyone could develop a chronology without having to prove their assertions.\u00a0 Even today, the field remains awash in untestable and unproven theories.\u00a0 Recently, my research achieved a breakthrough that solved a serious deficiency in the practice…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[67,88,101,66,63],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/OpenWatch.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nGroundhog: Latest Breakthrough in Chronology - Egypt and the Bible<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A breakthrough in chronology was achieved in 2017 with the release of Groundhog that solved serious deficiencies in the practice of chronology.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/09\/groundhog-breakthrough-chronology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Groundhog: Latest Breakthrough in Chronology - Egypt and the Bible\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A breakthrough in chronology was achieved in 2017 with the release of Groundhog that solved serious deficiencies in the practice of chronology.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/09\/groundhog-breakthrough-chronology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Egypt and the Bible\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zdfalk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zdfalk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-09T15:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-01T04:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/OpenWatch.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"536\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DrDavidAFalk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DrDavidAFalk\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/\",\"name\":\"Egypt and the Bible\",\"description\":\"David A. 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