Tahua is
an extremely long text (1,334 glyphs) and therefore not a good
starting point for investigating how an Easter Island calendar
can be constructed. The best text for doing so is instead K (probably once 192 glyhs).
Earlier (in the
pure 'chapter') we have for K established a summer half year with 52 glyphs:
The calendar 'summer' covers 15 periods and the glyphs of this summer are 52. 14 periods and 192 - 52 = 140 glyphs remain. These 52 glyphs probably correspond to 26 weeks (one glyph for the night part of the week and one for the daytime part, i.e. 2 glyphs per week). Summer would then extend for 7 * 26 = 182 days, half a year. 140 glyphs therefore ought to represent the other half of the year. But 140 / 2 = 70 weeks cannot be correct. The carver of the text must have tried to use the total surface of the tablet (and not to stop after 2 * 52 = 104 glyphs). Possibly he created a little riddle: 182 + 140 / 2 = 252 can be read as '2nd 52'. The summer half of the year need not have the same number of glyphs as an equally long winter half of the year. |