A discovery made in our preliminary survey of the beginning of the back side of R is that we probably should - at least sometimes - begin to count the ordinal number of a glyph from the last glyph of side b instead of from the first one on side a, in which case rona in Ra2-9 would be number 40 and rona in Rb8-5 be at position 405:
Moreover, we can be fairly sure that 364 glyphs in between indeed should be interpreted as 364 days. The main argument for this is based on reading a 'marriage' between Sun and Moon at midsummer in the following 4-glyph sequence:
Ordinal number 244 is probably here the result of adding 64 to 180. Furthermore, the important Hanga Ohiro I have allocated to Rb2-3, where its ordinal number 247 can easily be understood as pointing to the product of Sun (24) and Moon (7) - the everpresent 168 - and this 'in turn' ought to help us to define where the triplet of rona glyphs at the beginning of line Rb8 belongs:
Tagata kai in Rb8-15 obviously refers to spring, and its position must be beyond winter solstice. The open mouth is announced already in maitaki (Rb8-1). Hau tea in Rb8-13 has a single great mata in front and its position is 14 * 29.5 = 413 (Tama). By comparing with G it is evident that R cannot have Rogo in position 409, instead there are 2 'turtles' with fins in Rb8-8 and Rb8-11 (where 8 * 11 also is 88):
In G the Rogo figure probably defines winter solstice, but in R winter solstice could be located in the last glyph line on side b, an odd line where hardly any glyphs are visible. Manu kake in Rb8-3 probably stands at a cardinal point, and another manu kake has been located at position 264:
If glyph number 264 marks day 264, then we should be able to add 100 to reach the end of the year, and the glyphs seem to agree:
However, there are 4 + 4 = 8 feather signs at right in Rb6-30, which probably refers to Moon (not to Sun). 192 / 29.5 = 6½ + ¼. Therefore we have at least two alternatives to read Rb6-32, e.g. either as 365½ - 365 or as 192 - 191¾. In both cases a complete glyph should not be drawn here. A season of Moon (however it should be understood in detail) is ending at the beginning of line Rb8, and 2 of the rona glyphs are presumably to be read as a pair, with waxing first and waning following, maybe these:
The first in the triplet, we can guess, could then refer to rona in Ra2-9:
But the numbers seem to tell us this alternative is wrong: 361 (or 362) carries no great weight. Maybe, instead, the Sun rona is Rb8-7:
Rb8-7 is glyph number 180 on side b and it is also drawn without a full perimeter - it is not a true 'person' but only a rona. I have erased 40 respectively 407 (the ordinal numbers of these rona glyphs) because their ordinal numbers are not certain. If the total number of glyphs are to be counted as 451, then we can count 451 - 367 = 84 as a possible number for Ra2-9. It is all very uncertain. 361 maybe should be understood as 9 * 29 + 100? |
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