Menstrual Calendars: How Ancient History Can Support Modern Women

The first time I read that prehistoric calendars were made from bones with notches, I was curious. But when I read that these bones could’ve been menstrual calendars, I was hooked.

I’d never learned of the role women’s cycles might’ve played in prehistoric society, until I became interested in women’s health, and specifically, cycle charting.

Menstrual Calendars May be the World's First Calendars

Today, 190 countries, including the U.S., use the Gregorian calendar, but keeping track of time was not always done this way.

Astronomy and mathematics are required for calendars, so women keeping track of their menses and the moon, both measurements of around 28 to 29 days, seem like a good starting place for any ancient society.

Let’s entertain the possibility that menstrual calendars were the world's first calendars.

Archaeologist Alexander Marshack examined notches found on bones, referred to as a “bâton,” from the Upper Paleolithic period of human history (40,000-10,000 B.C.E.) throughout Europe.

He found engraved bones to have exact lunar tallies, a way of time-reckoning.

His research also shows that these notched bones fall in line with hundreds of Venus figurines, vulvar imagery, and other symbols of fertility, leading some archeologists to believe that these female figurines were revered— not pornographic in nature.

Though many notched bones with female imagery have been discovered, one artifact found stands out. The Bâton from Le Placard (or Venus de la grotte du Placard in French) found in present day France, is a realistic looking sculpted vulva with widespread legs. There are sequential marks, or notches, carved into the bâton.

In his book, The Roots of Civilization, commenting on the Bâton from Le Placard, Marshack writes, “Could these, then, be notations related to menstruation or pregnancy…?” (1972, p. 293).

Could these notches found in female imagery, carved in bone or antler, be counting marks of time in the form of menstrual periods?

If other more simple bâtons found in the same area were notched with exact lunar counts, then how could this bâton with explicit female imagery not have to do with counting menstrual periods?

No matter the interpretation, these carvings were used in a type of time-factored way— the world’s first documented “calendars.”

The ancients paid attention to cycles of fertility—lunar, menstrual and seasonal—because life depended on it.

A Return to Slow, Cyclical Time

Once I got off hormonal birth control and began charting my menstrual cycles, my concept of time changed. My menstrual cycle quickly became a much more compelling calendar than the Gregorian calendar and the 9 a.m.-5 p.m. industrial revolution schedule (both solar and masculine in nature).

I began to acknowledge the very real inner calendar with which all females are endowed.

Instead of following a 24-hour solar and male hormonal pattern of build, peak, decline, repeat (testosterone), I began flowing with my 28-ish day lunar and feminine cycle of build, peak and decline, repeat (estrogen + progesterone).

(*Note: this is an extremely simplified outlook on the primary sex hormones for males and females. Of course, we're all more nuanced and complex than this!)

My “inner calendar” was slower, cyclical, patient, spacious and forgiving. This seemed to suit my female body much more than my previous concept of time, which was linear, quick-paced, demanding and goal oriented.

The calendar that society chooses to use is created to serve the current needs of society. Currently, for half the population (females), the calendar and time as we know it is not on our side.

This is not meant to be as bleak as it sounds. Once women know about and are encouraged to honor their internal rhythms, life and our perception of time as women can be different—better.

Charting my cycle (for me, this includes taking note of my fertility signs as well as energy levels, mood, introverted vs. extraverted tendencies, etc.) shows me how I continuously cycle through phases, just like everything else does in nature.

A cyclical concept of time gives us grace to be kind to ourselves no matter what phase or season we find ourselves in.

There is a time to plant seeds in the cold dark soil, a time to be patient as a seed germinates when all outward signs show no growth, a time to enjoy the eventual bloom and fruit, and a time to sit with the discomfort when the blossom begins to die back and return to the dark soil again.

It’s up to the needs of its users to determine the evolution of a calendar. With women suffering from reproductive diseases—spanning from PMS to infertility—I can’t help but wonder if we reinstate our relationship to and dependence on nature, and remember our slower, lunar-like cyclical nature, would women suffer so? 

Is following a five-day on, two-day off, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. work schedule best for society? It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, a woman with a cyclical nature closely related to that of the moon’s, I think not.

For any woman who has ever had the cyclical experience of following her inner calendar, she knows that time is different than what modern culture would have her believe.

And if you haven’t yet had the pleasure or permission to follow your inner calendar, consider this your invitation and initiation. (Link to buy your menstrual calendar here!)

_{Veronica Ricksen is a Registered Herbalist specializing in menstrual health and fertility and is a certified Fertility Awareness Educator. She is the creator of Menstrual Calendar Journal: Go with the Flow which is a calendar to help women tap into their power with cyclical living.}

Copyright of Artwork: Veronica Ricksen and Anna Friedland. Artwork is a rendition by Anna Friedland of the Bâton from Le Placard