2. The age of Taurus ought south of the equator to have been named the age of Scorpius, because the heliacal rising of Antares announced the arrival of spring equinox:
The distance from Antares to Aldebaran is 184 days (a long nice summer), and the distance from Aldebaran to Antares is 181 days. To reduce the right ascension days with 63 will not put Aldebaran at "March 21, because 80 + 181 = 261, not 266:
Had we wished Aldebaran to be at the end of winter north of the equator (in the age of Taurus) we should have added 5 days less than 63. Therefore the time of Taurus (the time of Aldebaran) was not 63 * 72 years ago but rather 58 * 72 = 4176 years ago, i.e. around 2300 B.C. (because 4176 - 1870 = 2306). The time of Scorpius (Antares) could have been ca 5 * 72 = 360 years earlier, but we know (cfr at Camp 9) that the distance from Antares to Aldebaran was greater in ancient times, for instance ca 188 days in 5000 B.C. However, on Easter Island at the time of G there probably was no such detailed knowledge. Instead 360 years could have been regarded as a nice number, especially as it indicated a year around 2660 B.C. - where 266 could be imagined as pointing at Antares. South of the equator the heliacal rising of Aldebaran announced the arrival of winter, the name Ana-muri implied summer was ending. The fish-like mauga at left in Ga1-6 is 'eating' (kai), i.e. the dark time is growing. But this sign is at left, in the past. North of the equator light had returned with Aldebaran. In front is a separate sign in form of an illuminated night sky (ragi). |
