8. It means an astronomer ought to be able to see a connection between Antares and Castor
50 + 64 = 114 and 80 + 114 = 194. Day 194 = 50 + 144. Ihe tau in Ga2-20 suggests someone has died (cfr at The Queen of Hearts). There are 472 glyphs in the text and therefore we should not count mechanically 229 glyphs backwards from Ga2-19:
Day 250 in our calendar is the position of the current heliacal rising of Antares (day 186 beyond March 21). Castor is rising heliacally 250 - 114 = 136 days earlier. Moving in the opposite direction the distance is 365.25 - 250 + 114 = 229 days. 472 - 365 = 107. Or rather 472 - 364 = 108, I would prefer a nice number equal to a double pack of cards + 4 jokers. My intuition early told me side a is the front side. Therefore it ought to represent heliacal risings, not midnight culminations. The stars cannot be seen in the daytime and maybe these 108 glyphs belong on side a. 230 - 108 = 122. On the other hand could another solution be 104 + 368 = 472. I cannot see any sound reason why the midnight culmination of Castor should be visualized by a mago glyph. Thus Ga7-16 ought to represent the heliacal rising of Antares:
... For Rapa Nui, as for the Maori, the Mangarevans and the rest of the people of the Southern Hemisphere, the rising of the Pleiades is almost simultaneous with the Austral June solstice. The Rapa Nui calendar begins with the month of Anakena (the name of the landing site of Hotu Matu'a). Anakena was said by Thomson to mean August, but Métraux corrected that to July. Taking into consideration the conflicting evidence of the timing of Orongo ceremonies and based upon consultation with noted Pacific astronomer Will Kyselka, I think it is probable that the Rapa Nui ritual calendar, as that of the Maori, Mangarevans, Samoans, Tongans and other Polynesians began in July following the rising of the Pleiades ... We have grasped an important insight, viz. the possibility to move forward 136 days from the heliacal rising of a star to its culmination at midnight:
In a cycle with 365 days it is possible to move forward 136 days and reach the same date as when moving 229 days in the opposite direction. |
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