Numbers are necessary for the rongorongo texts, but they are quite difficult to get a firm grip on. I must, however, here venture to make a few suggestions, because our understanding needs numbers:
168 could primarily be a measure for the Earth Turtle, with a shell which is 24 weeks long:
... An iconographic study by Jeff Kowalski suggests a cosmological layout for the Nunnery. The higher placement of the North Building, with its 13 exterior doorways (reflecting the 13 layers of heaven), and the celestial serpents surmounting the huts identify it with the celestial sphere. The iconography of the West Building, with 7 exterior doorways (7 is the mystic number of the earth's surface), and figures of Pawahtun - the earth god as a turtle - indicate this to be the Middleworld, the place of the sun's descent into the Underworld. The East Building has mosaic elements reflecting the old war cult of Teotihuacan, where tradition had it that the sun was born; thus, this may also be Middleworld, the place of the rising sun. Finally, the South Building has 9 exterior doorways (the Underworld or Xibalba had 9 layers), and has the lowest placement in the compex; it thus seems to be associated with death and the nether regions. Side b of the C text has 348 = 12 * 29 glyphs and 13 + 7 + 9 = 29. Line Ga7 could represent the last phase of the Earth Turtle. There are 8 + 8 = 16 lines on the G tablet and 16 - 7 = 9.
Not counting the 'zero day' I have glyph number 168 at Ga6-28 - where we suddenly can count in another way than the normal because 6 * 28 = 168. The henua 'time stick' in Ga6-29 is different, possibly to show 'dry land' ahead for those living on Easter Island. However, there are other possibilities, e.g. to give a sign of 2 months ahead to the end of side a, the 62 days added by Caesar:
It should be noticed that the sign of the 'cut-off' henua appears also at bottom in Ga6-8 and in Ga6-20 where both ends are 'truncated' (somewhat like the top of viri in Aa8-26):
The 'claws' of the Scorpion is the place where Saturn terminates the 'shell' of the Earth Turtle, perhaps forcing her down to Orion:
"Scorpio, or Scorpius, the Scorpion was the reputed slayer of the Giant, exalted to the skies and now rising from the horizon as Orion, still in fear of the Scorpion, sinks below it ..." (Allen) |
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