According to Worthen (Thomas D. Worthen,
The Myth of Replacement.
Stars, Gods, and Order in the Universe.) the nakshatra method was used in
India to determine the day of winter solstice:
... The
system of Nakshatras, then, is quite distinct
from systems that use the appearance of heliacally
rising or setting stars as the equinoctial marker.
Furthermore, the Indian system is all but unique in
that two calendar systems competed with each other -
a civil system, in which the year's beginning was at
the winter solstice, and a sacrificial year, which
begins at the spring equinox. The beginning of the
former was determined by the Nakshatra
method, observing the winter full moon's apparition
near the point of the summer solstice in the sky ...
The southern winter solstice is in June and it was
apparently described in line Cb3. This could mean we should
change from heliacal stars to nakshatra stars when
turning from side a to side b (the back side) of the
tablet.
But possibly such a change occurs not until Cb3-1:
Rohini 9 (50) |
10 |
Pleione 6 (20) |
7 |
June 5 |
6 (157) |
|
|
Cb3-1 |
Cb3-2 (443) |
E vae ra - ka oho - ki te henua - kua huki |
ku kikiu - te henua |
5h (76.1) |
λ Eridani (76.7) |
Haedus II (75.9), ε Leporis (76.0), Cursa (76.4) |
December 6 (340) |
7 |
Az Zubana 8 |
9 (205) |
Sabik (259.7), η Scorpii (259.9), Nodus I (260.0) |
π Herculis (260.7), Ras Algethi (260.8), Sarin (261.0), ο Ophiuchi (261.4) |
The 'gate of the goat' (Haedus I and II) could then be imagined as a 'door of exit' for the 'goat of winter' and the picture in Cb3-1 maybe should be interpreted from the nakshatra perspective.
The strong Spring Sun light
would tend to make observations of the stars in the
mornings (or evenings) difficult. The nakshatra
method would be better. According to Worthen there
is a minimum 16º
distance between the last visibility of a star and
the rising Sun:
... The heliacal rising of the
Pleiades is the sign of the equinox. The Pleiades
rose an hour before the sun and have become visible,
since their separation from the sun [in 3102 B.C.]
is just beyond the minimum distance of 16º
that a star may
be from the
sun and still be visible ...
In rongorongo times the Pleiades
began to rise heliacally in May 15 = 55 days after
March 21. Around 3100 B.C. they rose an hour before
the Sun, i. e. since that time precession has carried
Sun ca 15 + 55 = 70 days earlier. (1870 + 3100) / 70 = 71
means Sun had moved with around 1 day each 71 years.
16º
equals ca 16 days and March 21 (80) - 16 = 64 (March
5). Instead of the Pleiades cluster we should search
for some star rising around March 5, a star which in
rongorongo times could have been used to announce
the equinox.
Reasonably this 'Sheratan' (dual of 'Sign') was the
pair of 'Mouth
Fishes' (Fom-al-haut and Fum al Samakah). Then there
could have followed a 15-day long transition period ending
with 32 Piscium:
Saad Balaa 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 (293) |
March 2 |
3 (63) |
4 (429) |
5 |
|
|
|
|
Ca13-4 |
Ca13-5 (348) |
Ca13-6 |
Ca13-7 (350) |
tagata ma te
kihikihi |
koia ra kua oho |
manu rere |
τ Aquarii (345.7), μ Pegasi
(345.9), ι Cephei (346.0), γ Piscis
Austrini, σ Pegasi, λ Aquarii
(346.5) |
Scheat Aquarii (347.0), ρ Pegasi
(347.2), δ Piscis Austrini (347.4) |
Fomalhaut (347.8),
Fum al Samakah (348.3) |
Scheat Pegasi, π Piscis Austrini
(349.3), Markab Pegasi (349.5) |
September 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 (248) |
Alterf 4 |
5 (140) |
6 |
7 |
no
star listed |
Alkes
(165.6), Merak (166.2) |
11h (167.4) |
no
star listed |
Dubhe (166.7) |
Saad Balaa 9 |
10 (295) |
11 |
March 6 |
7 (432) |
8 (68) |
|
|
|
Ca13-8 (351) |
Ca13-9 |
Ca13-10 |
kua moe koia i
toona tahoga kua pu |
haki pu |
ka pu era |
23h (350.0) |
π Cephei (350.6) |
Simmah (351.7), φ Aquarii (352.0),
ψ Aquarii (352.4) |
no star listed |
September 6 |
7 (250) |
8 |
Alterf 8 |
9 (144) |
10 |
Al
Sharas (168.6), Zosma (169.2), Coxa
(169.4) |
Alula
(170.5) |
Labrum (170.6) |
Saad Balaa 12 |
13 |
Saad Al Saud 1 |
2 (300) |
3 |
March 9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 (73) |
|
|
|
|
|
Ca13-11
(354) |
Ca13-12 |
Ca13-13 |
Ca13-14 |
Ca13-15 |
e toru gagata, tuhuga nui, tuhuga
roa, tuhuga marakapa (Jaussen:
kapa chant) - ma te
hokohuki te tapamea - te kihikihi |
te vaha erua - te
maro |
tagata kara te
roturotu - te maro |
ka pu te niu - mai
tae huki hia |
ka pu te niu |
χ Aquarii (352.6), γ Tucanae
(352.8), ο Cephei (353.3) |
Kerb (353.6),
κ Piscium (354.2), θ Piscium (354.4) |
υ Pegasi (354.9) |
no star listed |
ι Phoenicis (357.3),
ι Piscium (357.4) |
September 9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 (256) |
Alterf
11 |
12 |
13 |
Dschuba 1 |
2 (120) |
κ
Crateris (172.5) |
no
star listed |
ο¹
Centauri (173.8), ξ Hydrae (174.3) |
ο²
Centauri, λ Centauri (174.8), θ
Crateris (175.0), ω Virginis
(175.3), ι Crateris (175.5 |
ο
Hydrae (176.1) |
Gredi
(617) |
Saad Al Saud 4 |
5 (303) |
6 |
March 14 (π) |
15 |
16 |
|
|
|
Ca13-16 (359) |
Ca13-17 |
Ca13-18 |
oho te vae |
tagata puoko
erua |
tagata puo
pouo |
λ Piscium (358.0),
Alrai, θ Phoenicis (358.4) |
ω Aquarii (359.2) |
σ Phoenicis (360.4) |
September 14 (257) |
15 |
16 (624) |
Dschuba 3 (121) |
4 |
5 |
ζ Crateris, ξ Virginis
(177.0), λ Muscae (177.1), ν
Virginis (177.2) |
μ
Muscae (177.8), 93 Leonis
(178.0), Denebola (178.3) |
Alaraph (178.6), Phekda, β
Hydrae (179.3) |
Deneb Cygni (624) |
Saad Al Saud 7 |
|
8 (306) |
March 17 (77) |
18 (443) |
|
|
Ca13-19 |
Ca13-20 (363) |
vero hia |
- |
no star listed |
φ Pegasi (361.7),
Dzaneb (362.4) |
Acubens (442) |
September 17 (260) |
18 |
Dschuba 6 |
7 (125) |
η
Crateris (179.9) |
π
Virginis (181.0) |
Saad Al Saud 9 |
10 |
11 |
12 (310) |
13 |
March 19 |
20 |
21 (81) |
22 |
23 (448) |
|
|
|
|
|
*Ca14-1 |
*Ca14-2 |
*Ca14-3 |
*Ca14-4 |
*Ca14-5 (368) |
Kua tupu te ata i te henua |
ψ Pegasi (363.1),
32 Piscium (363.2),
π Phoenicis (363.4) |
τ Phoenicis (363.9) |
0h |
ε Phoenicis (0.8) |
Algenib Pegasi (1.8), χ Pegasi
(2.1) |
Caph, Sirrah (0.5) |
September 19 |
20 |
21 |
22 (265) |
23 |
Dschuba 8 |
9 |
10 (128) |
11 |
12 |
ο
Virginis (182.1) |
12h (182.6) |
Minkar
(183.7), ρ Centauri
(183.9) |
Pálida (184.6), Megrez (184.9),
Gienah
(185.1), ε Muscae (185.2) |
Zaniah (185.9),
Chang Sha
(186.3) |
Alchita,
Ma Wei (183.1) |
On Easter Island the nakshatra method
could have been used to determine when the last
part (the 'tail') of the first fish in
Pisces had risen heliacally. At that
time in the year the Raven
stars were close to the full Moon.
Possibly the
nakshatra method was used
from the beginning of line Ca14.
|