BCE, CE, and ACE or BC and AD

BP is very useful for archaeoligical descriptions, but cumbersome if one wants to describe a specific year: 1492 would be 511 BP, but next year it would be 512--very difficult if one is writing a history text. BC is n't too bad if one wants to base a calendar on a myth, but AD is offensive to many.

I think that AD and BC were avoided in the DDR since it had a Communist, hence atheistic regime (it was less militant in rejecting God than this in the USSR, though). The ideologists did not want to refer to any Christian symbols.

I agree steissd the use of a "common era" to define a period seems logical since most of the world are not Christians let alone Catholic.

Well, Joanne, this logic of yours would implicate that we should chance the names of the months and days as well, since there aren't a lot of people worldwide related to ancient Roman religion or Germanic beliefs.

Yup it would mean some very big changes but already not all of the world uses the same calander for instance the Chinese and the Hebrew calander.

It is England's fault after all isn't it. If it is not the fault of the English it must therefore be the French

But you must realize as a Whovian time and relative demsion in space, TARDIS I am not consumed by the issue of dates or time

And the Mayan Calendar.

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As Nelson pointed out - if you are identifying a specific date you do need a method of 'fixing' it to an agreed calendar. If it is a prior era or range of dates, then BP would do fine, as you are most likely dealing in ranges of millenia or millions of years. A briefish look at Chinese and Mayan chronologies (on Google) reveals that the earliest identifiable (fixable) dates is 841 BCE in China.

Joanne, Hebrew calendar is used only by the small ultra-Orthodox community in Israel; they deliberately decided to remain in 16th century, and the democratic government cannot prohibit to them doing this. All the other Israeli citizens and businesses use the same Gregorian calendar the Americans use.

Steissd we have many of those small ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in the US as well. Some in Balitmore and some in New York City and probably other areas that I am not aware of.

There are at least two ways of calculating the date of Passover Eve in Hebrew calendar.

And at least three ways of calculating the date of Easter are in use in Ecclesiastical calendar.

A history prof recently told me that the newer BCE and CE is more acceptable.

In my archaeology class, my professor gave us a chart comparing BC and BP and they don't line up... they are not interchangable. Using BP is adding on more years than what actually expired. I'm uncomfortable with this new use of dating because it seems to me that it will distort and the amount of time that things actually took place in history. Besides which in all of my research, they are also starting to replace BC with all these other things such as CE and BCE which makes me wonder what year that is on the BC scale.... I don't know. Where can I compare BC with these new dating methods?

A good start would be knowing the old ones, reading the date of the last post, for example: Mon 8 Sep, 2003.

In addition, and unfortunately, the original poster has left this world..

Ouch. Nothing ventured; nothing gained. I am doing research and wanted to find people who would be kind enough to help me understand this discussion. I will definitely look elsewhere, thank you.

Yes, seeing her name made me feel....strange. Hope her husband is ok.

Actually, I thought of her about a week ago, out of the blue.

Yes, her name come to mind quite often, same with Timberland...