Re: When and how did the compass directions originate? Which way is North ?

[James Braunsdorf <jamesbraunsdorf@HOTMAIL.COM>]

This was not offered in terms of the concept of north but in response to a
question about how desert people may have used  stars to navigate.
Mechanical calculators like this obviously come a long time after people had
the basics but these were made so that non-scientists could use the
astronomy to calculate directions.  This is sort of like what the new GPS
receivers let lay persons do now that formerly took a lot of training to
figure out.

JAB

> > ...  there exist some instruments
> > ... designed to set pointers to stars and the date and
> > calculate which way Moslems have to face to be praying
> > toward Mecca.
>
> This is misleading, in the same way that the earlier
> note citing William Gilbert was misleading.
>
> If somebody asks "when did frogs evolve" and I answer
> that I saw a frog last Thursday, my statement is not
> wrong but it doesn't contribute much toward answering
> the question.
>
> The Moslem era is 1422 years old.  Knowledge of which
> way is north is older than that.  Much, much older.


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