unix epoch data wrapping

[<pl...@pi...>]

Hi,

I have just tried a quick plot of some historical C14 data and got the 
the plot split in two.

the data format is:

   68    5   31  31-May-68  -24.8   560.5    3.9 NZ2206

I'm reading it with :
set timefmt  "%d-%b-%y"


the data goes from 1957 to 1990 but gets parsed incorrectly such that 
any dates prior to '70 gets plotted as dates upto 2070

This presumably has something to do with unix year zero. However, I 
don't see why underlying system internals should be exposed to the 
interpretation of user data.


Is this some cunning feature or a bug?

TIA, Peter.