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whoneedscience wrote
Is there any way to test this idea or is it purely conceptual?
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Try this; it'll take a while, but it'll probably be worth it. Probably.
Set up a tank of water in your backyard a few feet off the ground, and set a valve that drips water slowly by consistently. At sunrise, place an empty bucket under the drip and let it collect water until sunset; at sunset, switch out the bucket with another empty one and allow that one to fill until sunrise. Measure the volume of water in each bucket and repeat this process for one calendar year. I told you it would take a while.
You'll notice a few things:
1) Adding together the volumes of any two consecutive "sunrise-to-sunset" and "sunset-to-sunrise" buckets (in that order) will give roughly the same number; this establishes the natural phenomenon of the "day."
2) Chart the volumes of just the "sunrise-to-sunset" buckets, or just the "sunset-to-sunrise" buckets; you will find a broad sine curve. The highest point on the curve -- the point at which the light part of the day is the longest (since "more water" = "more light") -- is the summer solstice; the lowest point on the curve -- the point at which the dark part of the day is the longest -- is the winter solstice.
3) The two points on the curve that represent the two days with equal volumes of light and dark are the two equinox days; the one after the summer solstice is the autumnal equinox, while the one after the winter solstice is the vernal equinox.
4) Take the number you acquired from 1) -- the length, or "volume," of one day -- and divide that number by 24; you just invented the hour. Divide that number by 60; you just invented the minute. Divide that number by 60; you just...well, you get the idea.
If you begin a new curve on the summer solstice -- which you've identified simply by marking the period of light with the largest volume of water -- and chart the curve until the next summer solstice, you just invented a solar year that corresponds with nothing more than the rising and setting of the sun. To invent months, simply track the appearance of the moon; full moon to full moon gives you a lunar month.
Now cross-reference your solar year with your lunar months, and you've invented a calendar with nothing more than a couple buckets of water and drawings of the moon. Congrats! (Well, technically I invented it, but I'll let you tell the hot chicks at the party that you did if it'll help you get some play :D)