Crux ought to have been among the constellations which everyone on Easter Island would have recognized. There is a possibility that the glyph type which consistently - when reading the Mamari tablet but not otherwise - was referred to by Metoro as rau hei (branch of mimosa) represents the star Mimosa. Or some time defined by the position of Mimosa in the Crux constellation, or some other characteristic of Mimosa connected with measuring time, e.g. the midnight culmination of stars:
There are 3 + 1 rau hei glyphs on side a and 9 + 1 on side b, i.e. 14 in all:
There is one exception, viz. Cb6-25 (the one with a rounded great head):
Possibly Metoro here identified the time when a Fish (ika) asterism was rising (tu). Fomalhaut is α Piscis Austrinus (or Notius) and Fum al Samakah is β Piscium (in the southern of the twin fishes). Both these names mean 'mouth of the fish'. A mouth is normally what comes first, but the Southern Fish has been turned around to an inverted position (like the rau hei figures) and therefore its 'nose' (Fomalhaut) comes last instead of first. The southern of the pair of fishes in Pisces is not upside down and therefor the last part of this fish is its tail, not its mouth. Fum al Samakah is the first 'point' in Pisces.
Once again it seems to be the nightside stars which are referred to in the text, not the heliacal ones. From the first point in Aries (Sheratan) to the first point in Pisces (Fum al Samakah) - in the night - there were 429 (March 4) - 107 (April 17) = 322 days, but counting to the heliacal rising of Fum al Samakah there were only ca 365¼ + 27.4 - 48.3 = 44 days (and 44 + 322 = 366). Possibly the number of glyphs on side a of the tablet, 392, is a Sign referring to the first point in Pisces, because 365¼ + 27.4 = 392:
Counting with 71 years per precessional day we can reach an estimate of 44 * 71 = 3124 years for the duration of the Aries epoch. If it ended with year 1 B.C., then ít would have begun in the year 3125 B.C. 3125 = 5 * 5 * 5 * 5 * 5, which was a powerful Sign for the Sun ruling the epoch of Aries. It is hardly a coincidence that the old Aries epoch was determined to end with the birth of Christ (ICHTYS) and that it should have a duration of 3125 years.
After these decisions it would then have been a fairly easy task to find out where the mouth of the southern fish in Pisces should be, which star should be Fum al Samakah, the first point in Pisces. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
