Ancient farmers used wooden ox yokes to predict rain
History
Long before modern meteorology, Anatolian farmers used the physical properties of their tools to detect invisible atmospheric changes and time their harvests with startling precision.
In the high plateaus of Anatolia, the Sitte-i Sevir or 'Ox Cold Snaps' act as a biological clock that has ticked since the Hittites ruled in 1600 BCE. While modern calendars often miss the mark, this folk system tracks the Pleiades star cluster to predict a sharp eight-degree drop in temperature every April. Farmers realized that the timber in their wooden ox yokes acted as a natural sensor, contracting by over one percent for every degree the air cooled.