3. I have so far not listed any star where 'May is joined to 'June:
The bottom in Ka1-5 may have been drawn to resemble the bottom in Ka1-6. We know the front part of a glyph represents time ahead and the left part the past. Likewise the bottom of a glyph presumably represents the beginning and its top the last part of its growth in time. The pair Ka1-5--6 could at bottom visualize the cup (È) part of the sky. Or maybe a part of the sky which is hidden by earth (puo), in which case no star can be seen. There is a tendency for those nights which are lacking in prominent stars to coincide with 'dark nights' (interregnum nights) in the calendars. We can put in contrast Ka1-5--6 with the preceding pair Ka1-1--2, which I earlier have guessed might represent Ana-mua (Antares) and Ana-muri (Aldebaran), see chapter Kb3: ... Given 181 glyphs in the text - equal to the number of days from Aldebaran to Antares - it is possible Ka1-1 refers to Antares:
From May 27 to November 25 there are 329 - 147 = 182 days (26 weeks). Antares can thereby naturally become the star at the beginning (Ana-mua) ... On the other hand, the number of glyphs from Ka1-2 to Kb3-8 is 135. Although we have no direct information as to the date of the midnight culmination of Spica (Ana-roto) we can deduce where it should be, viz. 365 - 135 = 230 days later than 'October 10, in 'May 28 (513 = 365 + 148):
Notice the number play where 135 can be reshuffled into 513. 315 = 314 + 1 = 5 * 63 = 45 weeks and 531 = 3 * 177 = 18 synodic lunar months. Thus Aldebaran is rising heliacally where Spica culminates (although it does not prove Aldebaran is at Ka1-2 and Spica at Kb3-8). This fact could account for why Ana-roto in the Tahitian star list is mentioned together with Ana-mua and Ana-muri.
The RA cycle has 330 - 148 = 182 days and the culmination cycle 558 - 375 = 183 nights, (and 182 + 183 = 365). The Tahitian 'star pillars' are all - excepting Polaris - in the region from the end of 'May to the end of 'November:
Maybe there was no need to list stars for the rest of the year, because the listed stars could cover also that part if their midnight culminations were used. |