tidskalan

Tidskalan is a term used in Swedish and Norwegian that translates roughly as “the time scale” or “timeline.” It denotes a structured representation of temporal information, used to place events and processes in a chronological order. The concept covers both everyday usage, such as calendars and schedules, and scholarly frameworks that measure time across vastly different scales.

Etymology: tids means time and skala means scale in Swedish; Norwegian uses a similar form.

In science and humanities: A tidskalan provides a framework to compare events, durations, and sequences. In geology and Earth science, the most formal example is the geological time scale, which subdivides Earth's history into eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages, defined by stratigraphy and fossil content; the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) maintains standard boundaries and names. In archaeology and history, time scales help integrate dated sequences and cultural phases (for example, Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age) with cross-regional comparisons, often using radiometric dating or dendrochronology to anchor open-ended sequences.

Methods and precision: Dating techniques such as radiocarbon dating, luminescence dating, and uranium-series dating provide age estimates; calibration curves and Bayesian modelling improve consistency. Calendrical systems (Gregorian, BCE/CE) and time zones further subdivide scales for daily use and international communication.

Significance: A tidskalan enables coherent communication of temporal information, supports data analysis and visualisation, and underpins research across history, archaeology, geology, biology, and climate science.

See also: geological time scale; chronology; dating method; timeline; timeline software.