I have chosen “The Present Status of Egyptian Chronology.” I found this to be a very interesting subject since I know there has been quite a bit of contention in the last few years about Egyptian chronology. All one must do is google the topic and tons of articles come up pledging loyalty to one side or many others.

I found that the author, William Ward, made many viable observations regarding the way time had been calculated in the past and how these methods may not be the best way to estimate a timeline for the past now since it mainly has to do with ancient Egyptians methods.
He pointed out that we cannot really know how the ancient Egyptians used these methods; they may not have used them the same way we do so we can only guess. To hypothesis about a timeline…that, in and of itself, could and did put that timeline into question; the traditional chronology of yesteryears has been nullified (or mummified!).

Ward stated, “it is important that scholars in other disciplines understand that absolute dates for Egypt are not as clear and well-established as they are often thought to be.” This meaning that in the past absolute dates were more accepted than they are today. Ward specified that the only dates that can be considered absolute are those from the Middle and Late Bronze Age that are written documents; anything else would be presupposition.

Ancient Egyptians didn’t have just one calendrical system, they had many and they used different “units” of measurements. One was the Nile Year, which would base a calendar year based on the planting and harvesting seasons along the Nile. Another was the phases of the moon, or lunar calendar, which basically is on a 30-day cycle. Still another was a civil calendar, which did not calculate to 365 days a year, so every four years, the Egyptians had a “wandering year.” Also, to correct this deficiency they would have a heliacal rising on a specific day on the civil calendar and in a specific month during a reigning king. The specific dates in question were two different observations made, one in the 12th Dynasty and one in the 18th that essentially did not line up, i.e. the basis for the debate.

From looking at the time shifts as Ward writes them in the end of his writing, the major difference among scholars seems to end with the 18th Dynasty in the time of Ramses II. After the 18th Dynasty the dates match up between the “High” and “Low” chronology, but before that, back to the 12th Dynasty, it is misaligned by about 30 years difference.

I can see how this would be important based on any significant archaeological evidence that was found from during these times. It would require a need for a re-cataloging of artifacts and history’s, even for just 30 years of time. It doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but in the eye of the archaeological record, it’s an eon!