These are the kea glyphs I have found in Tahua:
The odd 247 can be changed into a more comfortable 248 (where 24 * 8 = 192) if we include Aa6-7. Yet the glyphs seem to contradict by forming a quartet ending with kea in Aa6-7:
Maybe ua in Aa6-7 is the dominant sign and has its position there in order to reflect ua in Aa6-4. 6 * 7 = 42 is similar to 420. But why is there a kea sign at right (a specimen with a cracked shell on its front side)? 247 could be alluding to 24 weeks, i.e. to 168 days which is a significant number. Perhaps this kea needs to be where it is because 423 = 300 + 123 (which we recognize as the number of kara etahi in Aa2-33). 488, the ordinal number for kea in Ab6-84 if we count from Ab1-1, can be expressed as 248 + 240. Furthermore, 488 + 248 = 736 = 2 * 368 (equal to the number of glyph spaces in Q):
The very last glyph in the Tahua text is also a kea, and 488 seems to be reflected in 8-84:
An arrangement in twice 4 glyphs could have been intended here. The 'egg' balancing precariously in Ab8-80 can be compared with kea in Ab8-84. Here it is the bottom and not the top end of the glyph which has the oval form, and the two faces which are looking at each other belong to the same entity as the bottom 'egg'. Kea in Ab8-84 could correspond to Moon. But the numbers seem to indicate both Sun and Moon: 8 * 84 = 672 = 24 * 28 = 192 + 2 * 240. The 'egg' balancing on top in Ab8-80 is similar to the 'egg' balancing high up in Ha5-24, but the bottom signs are quite different. Perhaps Ab8-80 (where 8 * 8 = 64) stands at winter solstice and Ha5-24 at summer stolstice:
The last glyph in line a6 is Aa6-84 (a number corresponding to that of kea in Ab6-84). 500 is the ordinal number of Aa6-84 counted from Aa1-1, and 500 = 300 + 200, and the figure in Aa7-1 could indicate Aa6-84 as the 'zero' day of the calendar following in line a7:
Or, better, we could have the 'zero' day at Aa6-77 and count with 2 * 4 = 8 glyphs as an introduction to the calendar in line Aa7:
6 * 76 = 456 = 19 * 24, which is an argument for Aa6-77 as a 'zero' day. By the way, we should also notice the similarity between Aa7-2 and Ab8-80:
Counting could, therefore, maybe begin anew with 1 at Ab6-85, forcing us on to the first glyph on side a:
Is this structure in agreement with the bird list in Manuscript E? There are 5 glyphs from the 'egg' in Ab8-80 and the 'newly hatched chicken' in Aa1-1. |