Ancient Babylonian Clay Tablets Reveal People Used Astronomical Geometry to Chart Jupiter

Ancient clay tablets reveal that Babylonians actually managed to use geometry to calculate the position of Jupiter. The findings show that these ancient people used advanced techniques to chart the movements of the planets.

The newly discovered tablets are actually the earliest known examples of using geometry to calculate positions in time-space. Until now, researchers believed that humans had not developed these techniques until about 1,400 years later in 14^th century Europe.

The researchers discovered the fact that geometry was being used after translated four almost completely intact tablets that were likely written in Babylon between 350 and 50 BCE. They depict two intervals from when Jupiter first appears along the horizon, calculating the planet's position at 60 and 120 days.

The tablets include geometrical calculations based on a trapezoid's area and its "long" and "short" sides. Previously, it was thought that Babylonian astronomers operated exclusively with arithmetical concepts. Astronomers also computed the time when Jupiter covers half of this 60-day distance by partitioning the trapezoid into two smaller ones of equal area. While Greeks used geometrical figures to describe configurations in physical space, the Babylonian tablets used it in an abstract sense to define time and velocity.

These tablets actually help redefine our history books, and show that European scholars were actually centuries behind their ancient Babylonian counterparts.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

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