Scientists report that a solar eclipse recorded on a Syrian clay tablet as occurring on May 3, 1375 B.C. really happened about 150 years later on March 5, 1223 B.C. The scientists compared the criteria stated on the tablet, e.g., Mars visible, and the likely age range of the tablet to a list of possible total solar eclipses visible from Ugarit, where the tablet was found. Only the later date fit the bill. A team led by Dr. David A. Stevenson, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles, used data from NASA's Kepler space telescope to determine how long it would take for Earth to pass through the sun The next oldest is a Chinese record from the Eight Century B.C.
Scientists report that a solar eclipse recorded on a Syrian clay tablet as occurring on May 3, 1375 B.C. really happened about 150 years later on March 5, 1223 B.C. The scientists compared the criteria stated on the tablet, e.g., Mars visible, and the likely age range of the tablet to a list of possible total solar eclipses visible from Ugarit, where the tablet was found. Only the later date fit the bill. Even so, it would remain the oldest known reliable record of a total solar eclipse. The next oldest is a Chinese record from the Eight Century B.C.