Biological Time

From the dawn of history, man has looked to the heavens in search of his place in time and space. He charted the stars and planets, followed the path of the sun, timed the moon, and created astral, solar and lunar calendars to describe these celestial events, believing their movements dictated life on earth. Finding synchrony with their rhythms promised harmony with the natural world and offered hope for predicting the future. Although common archeological evidence points to such practices across cultures, the specifics of how he used these signals have been a mystery.

Author Bernie Taylor decodes the riddle in his slide presentation Biological Time, based on his recently released book of the same title. He uncovers that indigenous and ancient peoples used the movements of the celestial bodies to time the rhythms of plants and animals. The author argues that they needed this information to survive. He shows that waterfowl, salmon and the deer all synchronize their movements to the natural cycles of light and darkness from the sun and moon and with these signals we can time their major events almost to the day. Taylor similarly shows that the pollination of trees and the blooming of the grape vines can be precisely counted with the same methodology, all shifting with the moon in the solar year. The list goes on.

Taylor claims this find as a re-discovery, providing evidence that the first artwork of man at the Lascaux cave in France, dating to 17,000 years ago, was used to time the events and movements of large mammals. The author similarly uses Mesopotamian artifacts to demonstrate knowledge in biblical times. He also brings in native wisdom from around the Pacific to show that the practices are still carried on today. Biological Time is for astronomers, naturalists, outdoors persons, and anyone who has pondered if there is order in the cosmos.

"The astrophysics group at the Linus Pauling house enjoyed Bernie Taylor's captivating and scientific presentation on cyclical and biological time. Bernie's expertise in the areas of the lunar and day/night cycles of nature were interesting to the amateur and professional astronomers in attendance. For the astronomer, it gave us many reasons to preserve the night sky and the inspiration to understand the clocks of nature and the lunar cycle."