THE CALENDAR OF COLIGNY.

In November of 1897 a Monsieur Roux made a remarkable archaeological discovery in a field north of Coligny, Ain, France. He came across a buried statue of the Roman deity, Mars and with it the badly broken up remains of what had once been a large bronze plaque. There were in the vicinity of 153 individual fragments associated with the plaque, most of which bore some form of writing, accompanied by calibration marks and numerical values.
The writing itself, although inscribed by use of Roman letters and numbers, was in an early language of the Gaul's and vaguely recognizable as terminology used by the Druids to indicate moon phases or fests.

The Coligny Calendar is thought to have first been fabricated in about 50AD or about 100-years after the Romans made their unwelcome incursion into the affairs of Gaul under Julius Caesar.

The utter fragmentation of, what should have been a timeless, durable plaque of bronze, suggests that it suffered intense violence at the hands of individuals who held it in tremendous contempt…possibly Romans wishing to enforce the Julian Calendar system…or more likely latter Roman Christians, wishing to enforce the edicts of the Church to obliterate all things pagan…including effigies of non Christian deities.

That any of these precious metal parts survived at all is a miracle and one is given to speculate whether or not some old Druidic priest gathered up the smashed remains of a cherished scientific calculator then deposited them for safe keeping in the forest.
An age marked by scientific accomplishment was being eclipsed by a long, dangerous age, where ignorance and brutality would muffle the wisdom of the old sages and extinguish the accrued scientific knowledge of millenniums. The fragmented Calendar of Coligny was destined to sleep undisturbed in its hiding place for many centuries until a time when it could emerge into world that would wish to preserve it.

So, what can the Coligny Calendar tell us about the pre-Christian astronomical/ mathematical endeavours of ancient, Druidic France?


Figure 1: There remains less than 50% of the original bronze plaque, which makes it difficult to decipher. The official measurements of the plaque are 1.48 metres long X .90 metres high. A bronze frame surrounds the more centrally inscribed region, in whole or in part, creating both outer and inner rectangles. The inscribed region of the plaque was divided up into 16 equidistant vertical columns and 8 box segments within each of those columns. This provided a total of 128 boxes in which writing, numbers, day-marks or symbols of notation occurred. A space beneath the top perimeter frame contained no inscribing throughout the top horizontal length of the plaque to a depth of almost 6 cm …except in the top left corner, where a small amount of writing is still in evidence.


Figure 2: It's quite obvious that the Coligny Calendar was set out as an accurate grid before any inscribing occurred. About 240 holes or partial depressions ran vertically down each column line, inward of the perimeter frame. These holes were closely spaced and commenced at a point just over 4½ inches (5.76 cm) from the outer top frame. In theory there should have been 1861 of these small holes. A total of 1770 holes would have indicated phases of the moon through 60 lunar months. There were also two special "CIALLOS" regions, used for inserting intercalary days as needed. Although little is left of these areas of the bronze plaque, these special areas are considered to have represented 30-days each (MAT). This researcher considers that the CIALLOS regions were used in a variety of ways, including counts of 45 and 46 days, as required. If the number of holes drilled into these two regions reflected this, then the count would be an additional 91 holes, bringing the total to 1861. If both CIALLOS regions were (MAT) @ 30 days each, then the total number of holes on the plaque would be 1830. When the large plaque was subjected to brutal forces of destruction, it had a natural tendency to fracture on the closely spaced holes. The following was the generalized, overall result.


Figure 3: Fragmentation of the ancient Druidic calendar occurred primarily on the holes within the column lines. The intended dimensions of each column, between monthly and bi-monthly headings, can be accurately assessed to find the measurement increment of the designers and, thereby, the overall measurement standard that they used in their ancient society. It appears obvious that the holes were used for inserting pegs, which indicated the daily phase of the moon and position arrived at within the Sabbatical cycle. The positions of upcoming events or fests could be marked out well ahead of time.

THE MEASUREMENT STANDARD.

European/ Mediterranean people have maintained a tradition of using the Sumerian/ Babylonian sexagesimal system of time keeping, with 24 hours in a day, breaking down into hours of 60-minutes, with minutes of 60 seconds duration. The system is made up of periods of 7-days for a week and an intermix of sexagesimal and septimal values.

The degree angle system that European/ Mediterranean people have traditionally used is, again, taken from the Sumerians and Babylonians. The value of 360-degrees in a circle, broken down into 60 minutes of arc, which are further broken into 60-seconds of arc has long been used…which raises an awkward question… whatever happened to the Sumerian/ Babylonian measurement standard and why was that not adopted by European/ Mediterranean peoples…?

A linear measurement standard must precede either time or degree-angle systems, as it's the most basic or rudimentary stage of any such 3-4 part package, which also includes weights and volume measures.

The fact is that the "so-called" British standard of measurement is also the Sumerian/ Babylonian standard and it was this same standard that built the Pyramids of the Giza Plateau, the Octagon of Newark Ohio, Stonehenge, as well as the geometric layout of Rennes Le Chateau in Southern France.

For European peoples, the measurement standard seems to have originated in Egypt and to have spread from that cultural centre worldwide in antiquity…as far afield as New Zealand at the base of the South Pacific. The Calendar of Coligny was built to that Egyptian/ Sumerian/ Babylonian/ British standard and contains coded values, which cannot be extracted or identified by any other system of measurement.

Let's look at the inbuilt coded values in the official dimensions of the Coligny Calendar:

Figure 4: The importance of these measurements on the outer or inner perimeters of the frame cannot be overstated.

Figure 5: The Station Stones rectangle at Stonehenge was 264 feet long and 113.4 feet wide. It perfectly enclosed the Sarsen Circle in its width from 45-degrees azimuth to 225-degrees azimuth (the Sarsen Circle was made slightly elliptical to accentuate the 113.4-day lunar code…6804-days =113.4 X 60). Ninety degrees opposed to the 264 feet long eastern side of the Station Stones rectangle the sun rose on the day of the summer solstice…with "first glint" to the north of the Heel Stone at 48.6- degrees. Remember, the Coligny Calendar plaque is 4.86-feet in its outer edge lengths.


Figure 6: A strange former Maori meeting house, which had a pedigree back to the mysterious Patu-paiarehe people … a civilization vanquished by the Polynesian Maori. Many pre-Maori people of New Zealand fitted the description of Europeans and the ancient mathematics found within the coded structures of New Zealand attest to a strong cultural link to Europe and the Mediterranean. The Crosshouse of Miringa Te Kakara follows the identical surveying methodology of Stonehenge in its astronomical coding.
The red rectangle, which runs to the outside of two wings, is 52.8 feet long (26.4 feet X 2). The width of the wings (17.01 feet) is a strong lunar code that helps identify the duration of the lunar nutation cycle (6804-days = 1701-days X 4). As in Stonehenge, the solstice sunrise at the Crosshouse was 90-degrees opposed to the "station" rectangle, upon which line the meeting house lay.

THE AGE-OLD METHOD BY WHICH THE CALENDAR OF COLIGNY WORKED.

The Calendar of Coligny was lunisolar, which meant that it took into account the cycles of the sun and moon simultaneously. It was designed to have these two utterly different duration cycles meld together at specific windows of time and stay abreast of both on a daily basis.

Various theories and speculations have been raised about the need for adding intercalary months or making other complex adjustments in order for the Coligny Calendar to have some semblance of function. As it turns out there was nothing complex about the system and it could run indefinitely without any need for serious adjustment or intercalation. All that was required to keep the system accurate was the return of the full Moon every 29.53125-days, as well as seasonal observances of the solar equinoxes or solstices.

The system used by the Druids when the Calendar of Coligny was fabricated had been handed down to them for several thousand years and was based upon the age-old Sabbatical Calendar. This accurate, tried and true calendar system had been used in former homelands beyond the Eastern Mediterranean and had been carried from Egypt in about 5000-4000 BC when that land had been abandoned due to creeping aridity. Let's now look at the two separate aspects of solar and lunar calculation:

SOLAR YEAR CALCULATION.

The Earth completes a circuit around the Sun every 365.25-days and this was the solar figure used in calendar calculations, although the ancient astronomers had refined the cycle to 365.2420-days.

It was considered needful that fluid, functioning and regulated society have a simple system of day counting, wherein there were always 7-days between Sabbaths. For this reason a "raw count" system was devised wherein there were 28-days in each month and 13 months in each year, culminating in a year of 364-days.

Rather than make adjustments on an annual basis, the system was left to run unimpeded for 7 full years, by which time a known error of 8.75-days had crept into the equation. This small accumulating error didn't matter, as farmers were aware of the annual shortfall and could adjust planting accordingly by a day or two if they so desired. They could also observe the equinoxes, which marked the beginning of two seasons or the solstices, which marked the centre points of the two additional seasons.

The main thing was that, under the convenient sabbatical system, society was regulated on a week-to-week basis and no-one had to do any mental arithmetic to figure out what day it was…like we in modern society must constantly do in order to know the calendar date… under the odd, inferior system foisted upon us by Roman Christianity.

It is because the Celts/ Britons and earlier groups followed the Sabbatical Calendar system that there were 13-months in their solar calendars, each marked by different trees… or, in other cases, animals.

At the termination of the 7th or Sabbatical Year (2548-days…7 X 364) a festival would begin, which would endure for about 9-days (8.75). During this period the solar count would come back into synchronization and the next sabbatical cycle could begin anew with everything fully corrected (2556.75-days). This same system of counting would be repeated for 7 X 7-years until the end of the 49th year. The synchronization applied equally to the lunar count and, at the end of each Sabbatical year or before the commencement of the 50th (Jubilee) year, the lunisolar calendar was, without any need for radical adjustment, running absolutely precisely.

"Calendar correction" festivals at the 7th year juncture might have been shorter in some regions of Europe or the Mediterranean, with a larger correction just prior to the 50th (Jubilee) year. The late era Hebrews appear to have observed one "double sabbath" each year, which effectively added one day to the annual count, bringing it to 365-days per agrarian year. This would mean a correction at the termination of the Sabbatical Year (7th year) of only 1.25-days.

LUNAR YEAR CYCLE.

The moon completes a full circuit of the Earth every 354.375-days (to use the exact number of the ancient Druids, Egyptian or others) and the lunar year is, thereby, shorter than the solar year by almost 11-days. This disparity in the two cycles provided a seemingly difficult problem to overcome for anyone wishing to devise a calendar that followed the sun and moon simultaneously.

How this was done is indicated, in part, by the culling of Mistletoe on the sixth day after the full Moon…

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MISTLETOE AND GOLDEN SICKLE CEREMONY.

Pliny the Elder speaks of a ceremony observed by the Druids, "which is to them the beginning of months and years (Sexta luna, quae principia…). This was the Mistletoe culling ceremony on the 6th day after the full moon. It's very significant that the terminology Pliny the Elder used was, "months and years".

Ancient Druidic Priests of Britain are known to have gone into the forest on the 6th day after the full moon, at the time of the Winter Solstice to seek out an oak tree, which was inflicted by the semi-parasitic plant, Mistletoe. For this ceremony the priests dressed in white robes and took with them into the forest, a golden sickle with which they would "cut back" or "cull" sprigs of Mistletoe from the venerated Oak.
A cloak would be laid out on the ground at the base of the tree, upon which the cut sprigs of Mistletoe could fall…for the requirement was that they were never to touch the ground. As the sprigs fell, other priests would dance around the tree trunk singing, 'Hey derry down, down, down derry!' which literally signified, 'In a circle move we round the oak'.

Sadly, some of the most misunderstood, misrepresented individuals in history are these brilliant astronomer priests, for there was a profound astronomical/ mathematical reason behind this otherwise "trite" ceremony.
The reason was borne out of a deep understanding of the solar & lunar cycles throughout a period of 7 solar years and a need to synchronise the cycles in order to have a functioning and perfected lunisolar calendar.

All of the symbolism in the ceremony points directly to the Sun & Moon and to a culling or cutting back of one to alleviate the burden of the other. Consider the following:

Footnote: All of the special numbers encoded by lengths and angles on the Calendar of Coligny plaque or within the multitude of "open air universities" (standing stone complexes) were also incorporated into the "standards" of length, volume and weight within individual European nations of antiquity. Even within a nation itself, there could be many different expressions of the "mile" from province to province, but all were in a direct ratio relationship to each other. It seems obvious that, at some ancient era, each province was assigned (by Druidic priests?) the responsibility to preserve particular numerical values found within the overall parcel of scientific numbers. Some provinces would be preserving "lunar" information, whereas others would be preserving navigational values that were directly proportional to the equatorial size of the Earth. Here's an example of early Germanic lengths, based upon the Flemish system, that were in use in the 13th century AD and prior. The values given in metres are taken from "official" or expert literature and show only very small drift off the original, precise increments of more remote antiquity.

ALT KULMISCHE MASZ

1 Meile = 1800 Ruten ... 7777.24 Metres (this equals 25515-feet to a tolerance of 10.5-inches in 4.86 Greek miles of 5250-feet each. It is very obvious that this ancient Germanic/ Flemish/ Prussian system was fully founded on, what's come to be known as, the Greek-mile system). It was also mnemonically preserving lunar cyclic science.

1 Rute = 15 Schuh ... 4.3218 Metres (the Rute, which was in direct ratio to the Meile, was 14.175-feet. The Khafre Pyramid of Egypt, which was a "pyramid of the moon" accentuating the lunar cycle periods, was 2835-feet in perimeter value or 200 Ruten).

1 Schuh = 0.28812 Metre (The Schuh, of which 15 made up 1-Rute, was .945-feet or 11.34-inches). This was the increment of length that Greek Historian Herodotus was told about by Egyptian priests, who stated that the Great Pyramid was 800-feet long ... Therefore: 756-feet ÷ 800 = 11.34-inches. By using a rule of this length, the Great Pyramid base perimeter could give lunar cycle readings. Three side lengths of the Great Pyramid @ 756-feet per side = 2268-feet or 1134-feet X 2. The Great Pyramid is 3200-Schuh in perimeter and the Khafre Pyramid is 3000-Schuh.

1 Elle = 2 Schuh 0.57624 Metre (The Elle was 22.68-inches and there would be 1200-Elle in three base side lengths of the Great Pyramid). Alternatively, the width of the Station Stone's Rectangle at Stonehenge was 113.4-feet or 60 Elle).

THE DAY FOLLOWS THE NIGHT & THE WARM SEASONS FOLLOW THE COLD.

Julius Caesar observed that under the Celtic system of time keeping:
"All the Gauls assert that they are descended from the god Dis, and say that this tradition has been handed down by the Druids. For that reason they compute the divisions of every season, not by the number of days, but of nights; they keep birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such an order that the day follows the night."

Most writers versed in Celtic lore tend to accept that the Celtic new-year began in the colder months or on the first day of winter. Certainly this date was marked by significant celebration and became "All Souls Day" or Halloween. From an astronomical point of view, however, it is essential that the calendar "fix" be an 8th of a year later (Winter Solstice) at that point in time when the Sun reaches its most extreme southern position down the horizon for the Northern Hemisphere (each 18.613-years) at Lunar Major Standstill).

HOW THE CELTIC SABBATICAL SYSTEM WORKED PRACTICALLY IN AGRARIAN SOCIETY.

SO WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT CALCULATE?

The Druidic system, as encoded into the Calendar of Coligny, offered a range of calculation options. These included:

AND WHAT NUMERICAL INCREMENT DO YOU WISH TO USE FOR CALCULATION?

The beautifully inscribed, bronze plaque Calendar of Coligny was a dynamic calculator, the merits of which could be enjoyed by Druidic Priest / Astronomers who lived nearby in the Ain region of France. For more isolated Astronomer / Priests, living in and serving communities in distant lands, other means of making calendar & cyclic calculations had to be employed. For this task they simply used their varied common rulers of linear measurement.

WHY WAS THE CALENDAR OF COLIGNY SET OUT AS 128 SQUARES?

Each square represented a bi-weekly period of either 14 or 15 days, with some months accumulating into 29 days and alternate months into 30 days. Although this averaged 29.5 days per month, the priest astronomers knew it meant 29.53125-days in every case. It didn't matter that months were half a day over or under, as the returning full moon ironed out any discrepancies in the reading. So how do we know that the ancient lunar month was actually read as 29.53125-days?

These clues indicate that the Coligny Calendar is mathematically related to things happening on the Great Pyramid, as well as Khafre Pyramid…and that they are all encoding identical lunar methodologies. It also provides us with the essential formulas to make correct calculations over the Calendar of Coligny's central chessboard matrix, where full lunar months are set out in 60 squares and special CIALLOS sections occupy the equivalent of an additional 4.


Figure 7: The columns are housed within a rectangle that is 4.536 feet long and there are 16 columns. This means that each column is .2835 feet wide or 3.402 inches. The Khafre Pyramid was 2835 feet in base perimeter value or 34020 inches.

THE 18.613-YEAR (6804-DAY) LUNAR NUTATION CYCLE…MAJOR STANDSTILL TO MAJOR STANDSTILL.

During a period of 18.613-years the moon moves from major standstill (most northerly and southerly rising and setting positions) to minor standstill (least northerly and southerly rising and setting positions) then back again to major standstill. Visually following this wide span to short span oscillation of the moon, up and down the horizon, was of tremendous importance to ancient astronomers, who were using the daily position of the moon (the way the moon was crossing the Earth's path…declination) to make long-term weather predictions.

The moon, because of its intense gravitational tug on our atmosphere, is the largest single contributor to weather patterns across the face of the globe and can be used with excellent relative accuracy to foresee upcoming weather fluctuations.
This infers that astronomer/ priests of the old orders could foretell when periods of drought, flooding, intense storms, early and late frosts, etc., were most likely to occur. Practical pre-planning, based upon regional experience, could limit potentially drastic effects when the moon's position was portend to coming danger.
Farmers could be forewarned to plant earlier or later…or to leave the land lying fallow through a dangerous season. The loss of seed stocks or crops could be minimized and the chances for successful outcomes in agrarian communities optimised by knowledge of sound scientific principles of cause and effect.

On all standing stone circles that this researcher has studied, the categories of navigation and the cycles of the moon seem to be more greatly accentuated and important than the solar observations.

The Calendar of Coligny, in its 60 lunar months plus 4 similar sized squares (64), is obviously built according to the dictates of the 6804-day lunar nutation cycle. The sum total of 64 months of 29.53125-days is 1890-days and 3.6 full panel counts of months resolves to 6804-days.

Again, the degree of accuracy between the use of 6804-days to describe the cycle and that of the actual cycle at 6798.36-days amounts to very close to the 5.25-day increment… 6804 - 6798.36 = 5.64-days.
The standard increment of 5.25-days, used to adjust either the sun or moon values throughout (and at the end of) the lunisolar sabbatical cycle), can again be pressed into service.

THE 19-YEAR METONIC CYCLE OF THE MOON.

There is a wonderful conjunction between the sun & moon cycles at the resolving point of 19 solar years or 235 lunar months, which is referred to as the metonic cycle of the moon. This could have been used as a fine-tuning and adjustment cycle to maintain accuracy within the Coligny Calendar.

THE LAYOUT OF LUNAR MONTHS…AND MARKERS INDICATING SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES.

The Calendar of Coligny is in a dismal condition with well over 50% missing. Despite this inconvenience sufficient remains for researchers to identify the assigned names for each lunar month and whether or not they were designated as 29-day months (ANM) or 30-day months (MAT). The day-count assigned to each month is clearly seen by the numbered "holes" running vertically down the side of each column box. All numbers are in Roman numerals, ranging from I, II, III, IIII, V, VI, VII, VIII, VIIII, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIIII, XV.
The boxes are read from the top left corner downward and from left to right across the bronze plaque.

The 12 names or titles for lunar months on the calendar are:

SAMON (MAT), DVMAN (ANM), RIVROS (MAT), ANAGAN (ANM), OGRONN (MAT), CVTIOS (MAT), GIAMONI (AMN), SIMIVIS (MAT), EQVOS (AMN), ELEMIV (AMN) EDRINI (MAT), CANTLOS (AMN).
Each of the above titles is preceded by the letter M.

The first SAMON month has a special designation, MID SAM.

Each of these months is split into two parts with the word ATENOVX inserted between the bi-weekly periods. The word ATENOVX would have appeared on the calendar no less than 62 times & possibly 64.

The first box of the calendar contains the title, CIALLOS, which is described in most articles about the perceived workings of the calendar as an intercalary month of 30-days (MAT). These titles appear at the beginning of the calendar and also at the end of the 30th month. The overall mathematical evidence dictates that (by one method of reading the calendar system) one CIALLOS section was assigned 45-days and the other 46-days, to provide an average of 45.5. The reasoning behind these (added option) assignments for reading the calendar will be discussed as we proceed.

The term TRINoX SAMO sindiv seems to refer to the 3-nights per month when the moon does not appear… the 3 nights of darkness on the 14th, 15th, & 16th days after the full moon.

Other terms in various boxes include, PRIN LOVDIN, AMB, IVOS, AMB IVOS, INIS R, DVMAN exo IVOS.
Special symbols like ƒJJ or JƒJ or JJƒ sit adjacent to particular lunar markers.

SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT INTERCALARY MONTHS.

The Calendar of Coligny is in a very fragmented state, with many column titles completely missing. Despite this imposition, researchers have been able to set out the titles in order and assign each of the months their correct 29 (AMN) or 30 (MAT) classifications.
There are two sections of the calendar that show or imply the heading titles "CIALLOS" and the number of column segments that they occupy would generally relate to 4-months. The layout seems to be an elongated single category, with the ATENOVX (midway) title displaced by 15 days.

Some prominent researchers have concluded that the 2 CIALLOS sections represent 2 intercalary months with a value of 30-days each. From this they conclude that the ancient Druids were working a system of 62 lunar months duration, which equated to very close to 5 solar years. This, they say, could also be broken down into two segments within the calendar of 2.5-years duration each.

The true facts of the matter are that the Druids set aside the CIALLOS, supplementary segments, such that they could make a variety of calculations using 33, 60, 62, 63, 64-lunar months or add in 1/8th of a solar year increments, depending upon what cycle they wished to calculate or which numerical increment they wished to work in. They had a choice to work in values of 5, 6, 7, 8 or 11 and use a variety of measuring rods, each set out in specific complimentary values, to act as calculators. Here is a reconstruction of how the months were set out:


Figure 8: A reconstruction of the Coligny Calendar, showing the placement of all the months and including the "CIALLOS" regions. In fact the calendar worked very fluidly to 60 lunar months. The yellow orb marker is this researchers way of indicating the ceremony of cutting mistletoe on the 6th day after the full moon. The ceremony was designed to accumulate 5.25 days, such that sun & moon periods would resolve to 7 solar years.

The CIALLOS regions simply provided the option of making a wider variety of calculations related to the Sabbatical Calendar, the lunar nutation & metonic cycles or world navigation…according to differing numerical values. These values included decimal, sexagesimal, septimal or "11" series increments… with the utilisation of appropriate rulers (working to those scales) acting as calculators. One primary function of the CIALLOS regions was to provide 45 or 46 days back from the Winter Solstice (midwinter) to the beginning of winter when the year commenced, or to make adjustments at the rate of 1/8th part of a year. During the solar year 6 half seasons would have to be 46-days apart and 2 half seasons 45-days apart (366-days).

OPTION 1: 60 MONTHS.

This option meant that the period of 2551.5 days in 7.2 lunar years could be calculated sexagesimally and a simplified formula kept lunar positions on track with the solar positions… under the Sabbatical Calendar system. The 60 lunar month period X 1.44 + 5.25-days = 2556.75-days = 7 solar years. The sum of 60 lunar months is also 5 lunar years.

OPTION 2: 62 MONTHS.

This possible option allowed for a close proximity conjunction of the lunar and solar periods every 5-years. The formula was 62 lunar months minus 5 days (4.6875 actual) = 5 solar years.

OPTION 3: 63 MONTHS.

The Greek Stadia measurement was 630 feet and the Brasen Sea calculator device of the Temple of Solomon was 630 inches in circumference. The inner rim of the Sarsen Circle at Stonehenge was 315 feet in circumference (½ a Greek Stadia). The Great Pyramid was 4.8 Stadia (288 reeds) in perimeter value.
One very important cycle was the lunar nutation cycle of 6804-days duration and it had to be read in terms of full moons as well as solar days. The 63 increment was for making readings within the lunar nutation cycle in terms of solar months of 30-days. The period of 30-days X 63 = 1890 days. There are 3.6 periods of 1890 days in 6804 days.
In a straight solar reading (30-days) of the 60 month panels within the Calendar of Coligny the total time elapsed is 1800-days. If the 2 CIALLOS sections were treated as 45-days each (1½ solar months), then the total time shown would be 1890-days.
Note: The Celtic year began on the first day of winter. This implies backing up the count of full days by either 45 or 46 from the Winter Solstice fix. The average is 45.65625-days for 1/8th of a year, so there would have been alternate insertions of either 45 or 46-days to describe a half season. This was, undoubtedly, one of the main functions of the CIALLOS sections.

Because a CIALLOS section could represent, essentially, 45-days (which is 30 X 1.5) there was absolutely no difficulty in configuring a section such that it kept the lunar phase aspect fully in step with other months on the plaque. Each CIALLOS would, quite simply, have had a supplementary day available to press into service, depending on whether or not one needed to utilise a MAT month (30-days) or an AMN month (29-days) for a particular type of calculation. In a full panel count of all holes in every section, the Calendar of Coligny had 63 full lunar months listed (plus, essentially, 2.5 or 3 supplementary days, used in other calculations). The option was always available to simply work the calendar to the 63 lunar month time span within the Sabbatical cycle...2551.5-days (7.2 lunar years) is 40.5-days X 63, whereas 2592-days is 40.5-days X 64. The ancient measurement unit of 16.2 inches on the "rounded" Megalithic yard ruler (32.4 inches) would have worked admirably for calculating spans of time in parcels of 40.5 or 81-days.

OPTION 4: 64 MONTHS.

This was for tracking lunar months within the 6804-day lunar nutation cycle. The sum of 29.53125-days (lunar month) X 64 = 1890-days…as stated there are 3.6 such periods in 6804-days.
Remember that the Great Pyramid is 756 feet per side or 189 feet X 4. Also the width of Stonehenge is 378 feet, which is 189 feet X 2. It seems that the lunar nutation cycle was being tracked in increments of 189-days (27 weeks).

OPTION 5: 2592 DAYS OR 86.4 SOLAR MONTHS.

This was an extension to the Sabbatical Calendar cycle, which was very beneficial to rural agrarian communities especially. It provided the means to offset the normal Sabbatical Calendar by 1/8th part of a true solar year. This allowed peasant harvest or planting festivals to occur at the beginning and end of the seasons…prior to the commencement of work or after its termination.
In the latitudes of Europe, where there were 4 distinct seasons and limited scope to grow crops in the colder months, such an offset from the Solstice fix would have been essential.

With this option, one worked their way through a CIALLOS month to arrive at the Solstice/ full Moon conjunction. From that point forward all determinations could be made in lunar months for 7.2 lunar years, which would fall short of 7 solar years by 5.25-days.

A convenient and easily remembered day count to work to was 2592-days, which reduced very well into solar months of 30-days. 2592-days could also be linked by the 5.25-day ratio to the 6804-day lunar nutation cycle (major standstill to major standstill). The half value of 2592-days is 1296 (43.2 solar months of 30-days). This period X 5.25 = 6804-days…the duration of the lunar nutation cycle.

Therefore, calculations could be made with apparent ease using the ½ reed ruler (5.25 feet) in conjunction with the 6804-day cycle. This information could then be translated into solar cycle terminology within the framework of 2592-days by use of a conversion formula. The two cycles could also be calculated concurrently using the "rounded Megalithic Yard (32.4 inches) or more so its ½ value (16.2 inches)…in a ratio of 420 to 160. The 16.2 measurement increment is marked on the Calendar of Coligny.

OPTION 6: THE 49-YEAR Jubilee CYCLE.

This was the most enduring cycle of the Sabbatical Calendar system and involved completing 49 full years or 7 X 7 Sabbatical Years. The goal was to enter into the Jubilee or 50th year with everything perfected, which wasn't hard to do considering how well the Sabbatical Calendar system worked.

In the peasant, agricultural societies of Europe it was essential that the year commenced at the beginning of winter, such that planting or harvest festivals were synchronised with the calendar. This meant coming backward from the Winter Solstice fix by 46-days, then extending the first Sabbatical year period out to 2592-days.
The CIALLOS periods, marked within the Calendar of Coligny bronze plaque, catered primarily to this function …that of providing the 46-days back from the Winter Solstice (midwinter) to commence the calendar on the first day of winter.
From what little can be seen of these 2 unique regions on the badly damaged artefact, the layout appears to be a considerable departure from the calibration of the normal months. The CIALLOS sections nominated a range of options that could be applied depending upon what type of calculation was being made, but could be used for indicating 1/8th solar year periods. In keeping with the order in which the MAT (30-day) or AMN (29-day) months were set out such that the larger number months preceded the lesser, the (symbolic) 46-day CIALLOS (top left corner) would have preceded its companion 45-day CIALLOS (central top region) of 30 lunar months later.

The trick to circumventing calculation difficulty when trying to break large numbers down into small increments is to find a number that works well in a mathematical progression. One of the most dynamic numbers of antiquity was 25920, which was anciently used to describe the Precession of the Equinoxes. The Heel Stone at Stonehenge sits 259.2 feet out from the site centre. The diagonal face length of Silbury Hill was intended to convey 259.2 feet, etc.
When considering the lunar year duration of 7.2 such years within a Sabbatical Year period (2551.5-days) then adding in 46-days (1/8th of a year) the count comes enticingly close to 2592…(2597.5-days).
Whereas 2597.5 is not going to function in a mathematical progression, 2592 will. It appears obvious that the number 2592-days was used as the guide for a period extending from the (year 1) beginning of the winter to the end of a Sabbatical year…with small corrections made later during the festival that marked the end of a Sabbatical period.

The mnemonic formula for the full Jubilee period was: 2592-days + 6 X 7.2 lunar years = 17901-days… compared to 7 X 7 solar years = 17897.25-days. Therefore, 17901 minus 17897.25 = 3.75-days deficit in 49-years.

Conjuncting with this close proximity relationship between the Moon and Sun is the 6804-day nutation cycle X 2.64 = 17962.56-days. In consideration of the fact that the actual duration of the cycle is 6798.36-days, the final number would be 17947.6704-days…or 46.6704-days greater than the 2592-day + 6 X 7.2 lunar years period. This excess represents, essentially, 1/8th of a year or 1 CIALLOS.

OPTION 7: THE 18.613-YEAR LUNAR NUTATION CYCLE COUNT.

On several prominent sites or artefacts, including the Calendar of Coligny, there is an occurrence of the number 466 (or near values). It is very prominently displayed upon the Bush Barrow Lozenge artefact from the region of Stonehenge, where the longest inscribed lines on each side equate to 4.66 inches. It is also found in the 3rd calibration segment of some Egyptian Royal Cubits (see Figure: 21).
The 4-part measurement on the Bush Barrow Lozenge seems to imply 18.64 (or near value) and represent the 18.613- year lunar nutation cycle.

We know that there were 60 lunar months represented by drilled holes in the Coligny plaque, each alternately 29 or 30-days in duration. This averaged 29.5 holes per month X 60 months = 1770.
There were also the 2 CIALLOS areas and in one usage of a CIALLOS it represented 1/8th part of a 365.25-day year. Under this system of intercalary day insertion, the first CIALLOS area had to represent 46-days, whereas the other had to represent 45. This equates to 91-days between them. Therefore, 1770 + 91 = 1861 individual count positions…positively/ symbolically coding the 18.613-year lunar nutation cycle.

It's considered that the CIALLOS regions were set out on the plaque as (MAT) months of 30 days each. One CIALLOS region on the plaque is virtually non-existent and the other, more centrally located one, is somewhat more complete. It's important to realise that the CIALLOS regions were the repository of extra periods of time in allotments of 29.5, 30, 45, 46, 60, 90 or 91-days, as required to make a particular type of adjustment in the overall reading of the calendar. The calendar served a series of calculation functions for the cycles of the sun, moon or counts between festival days, etc., and could be used or viewed in several related ways simultaneously.

The very important lunar nutation cycle (major standstill to major standstill) was always kept at the forefront of memory, for if ever lost it would take considerable careful observation to restore knowledge of its duration.

OPTION 8: 33 MONTHS.

This was used for navigation and remembering the size of the Earth. The total of 6804-days ÷ 33 = 206.1818182. The Egyptian sexagesimal Royal Cubit was 20.61818182 inches in calculated length and was used in a simple formula for working out the Earth's circumference in miles.

The Egyptian Royal Cubits were once fully a part of the British Standard of Measurement and the Calendar of Coligny vividly upholds this contention. Its inner frame length is 4.536 feet, which is 100th of the height of the Great Pyramid from the base to its flat altar floor. This measurement on the Calendar of Coligny is 2.64 Egyptian Royal Cubits (sexagesimal series).

Under the mnemonic system of the Calendar of Coligny the 6804-days could be converted to represent feet and there would be 19200 such increments (6804 feet) in the circumference of the Earth under the sexagesimal reading of the Earth's size.

OTHER CODED OPTIONS APPEARING ON THE PLAQUE.

Because of the utterly smashed state of the Calendar of Coligny we will never be able to fully retrieve all of the subtle and clever codes that its builders included, although we should be able to "double guess" what most of them were. A good example of "other coded options" is decipherable in the month of ANAGAN, as it occurs during the 5th year of the calendar's progress.
On the 5th day of the 2nd part of that month (V) the wording indicates that the value is to be "doubled".

'On peut remarquer à l'observation du calendrier que le jour V de la deuxième partie du mois d'ANAGAN de la 5° année est doublé'…(Julien Catherine, Lyon).

This kind of coding relates solely to a count of holes within the calendar, with each hole representing a phase of the Moon. Some months are MAT (30-days) whereas others are AMN (29-days). What this infers is a counting of holes at an average of 29.5 holes per month.
Starting from the solstice at MID SAM, 51 full months are completed. The month of ANAGAN is an AMN month composed of 15-days until its midpoint at ATENOVX and 14-days thereafter till the end of the month. Because the "doubled" indicator sits beside the 5th day in the 2nd half of the month (V) we can calculate 51 X 29.5-days to arrive at this particular month of ANAGAN = 1504.5-days. The "double" marker sits adjacent to the 5th day in the 2nd half of ANAGAN, therefore 20 full days are added = 1524.5-days.

But we still have to add the 1/8th of a year (in one usage of a CIALLOS) that came before the solstice (46-days) = 1570.5-days. Now, according to instructions, this number must be "doubled" = 3141, which is a dynamic and clear expression of the numbers that make the ratio PI @ 3.1416.

Pi is commonly coded within sites like Stonehenge, as well as in the length of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid (157 feet officially…but obviously intended to convey 157.08 feet). It was also very strongly represented in the Crosshouse of Miringa Te Kakara in New Zealand (as 15.708 feet), etc.

SUMMARY OF OPTIONS.

Each of the options listed allowed for highly accurate forecasts as to when significant dates would be achieved in terms of lunar, solar and calendar events… or relate directly to significant numerical codes. Everything was calculable in reasonably finite terms with no complex residual error to juggle or discard in the final analysis. The layers of interrelating cycles could be dealt with separately or in partnerships linked by mathematical ratios.

Certain durations, like the lunar nutation cycle, were allowed to carry a small amount of known error during their term such that convenient mathematical progressions, for lunisolar calculation purposes, were made available. At the end of cycles, however, the known, small degree of error was adjusted out with utter ease such that layers of cycles, tied to the lunar nutation cycle foundation, could recommence in perfected unity.

There was no drastic intercalation of whole months to make the ancient calendar system function, as suggested by some researchers, only the occasional accumulations of 5.25-day offsets between Sun and Moon each 7 solar years. These convenient, purpose-made clumps of 5.25-days, were ultimately discarded as the greater determinant cycle completed its exact 6798.36-day (as opposed to 6804 described) revolution.

The aligned Sabbatical calendar cycle was fashioned to very convenient, near perfect numbers, which were used to describe lunisolar attributes in terms that functioning humankind could understand in the day to day running of their affairs. Events in the heavens dictated the day and hour when the greater cycle was complete and the new cycle recommenced, carrying no burden of calendar error.

CONTINUE