"Clive D.W. Feather" wrote:
It is also not clear [weather] the years ~600-~900 do exist or were just inserted by some calulcation error during the calendar switch.
I've been wondering - what on earth does this last comment mean ? How can 300 years not exist and be "just inserted by some calculation error" ?
It is related to a theory promoted by certain Soviet authors in an attempt to discredit "The West", in which things like repeated patterns of kings and queens hint that someone has accidently duplicated and thus streatched history, putting classical Rome or ancient Egypt not as far back as we normally think of them. For an example, see: http://www.univer.omsk.su/foreign/fom/fom.htm Consider the idea that Byzantine, Jewish, Moslim, Coptic, Hindu, ... chronologies would all suffer from this same 'stutter' present in Western European chronologies in a way that the problem of the insert of extra years has been masked for going on 500 years now. There is also the challenge of correctly correlating various recorded astronomical events. The theory also often relies on some bit of counterfeiting of any document that comes before the mistake or crime was committed. Once you've considered these ideas, you'll appreciate why not many folks have been motivated to look for the 300, 500 or 1000 year gap. The range of missing dates and how and when the mistake or mistakes were made vary depending on who you talk to. This is another topic that got some play on the calendar mailing list back two years or so. Like I hinted at before they're a weird bunch over there. Then again, you can't trust me maybe, I've mistakenly duplicated some chronologies, so it was only last year it was discussed :-) Even on that list it was often more than a bit off topic. Certainly there are no timezone issues that would involve mistaken chronologies from the medieval period, therefore that is all I will say on the subject. -Paul -- Myriad Genetics: http://www.myriad.com/ Java FAQ: http://www.afu.com/javafaq.html (Section 9, Computer Dating)