Calendar's O.K.; get rid of B.P.

Abstract

In the May 10, 1994, issue of Eos, Cesare Emiliani suggested a new calendar, since the current one “singles out an event—the birth of Christ—which has no significance in non‐Christian civilizations.” I am neither Christian nor religious, yet I have no problem with the current calendar. However, I do have problems with Emiliani's proposed calendar. First, set at exactly 10,000 B.C., it is tied directly to the birth of Christ, so if Emiliani has tried to select an arbitrary, non‐Christian date, he has failed. Perhaps he ought to try 10,000 years before the first year of the Chinese calendar (if that could be precisely established.) After all, there are more Chinese on this planet than Europeans, their civilization and calendar preceded those of the Europeans, and they stand to be the superpower of the next century.

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“…And, I might add, Emiliani's suggestion con tinues the essential cultural error-Christ's birth is now merely offset by a power of ten. This was also noted by Schaffer [1994].…”