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Based on these and the occasional other —provisionally omitted— supposition:
« Circle K: a Piscis Austrinus, Fomalhaut, Ku, with a magnitude of 1.15.
« Circle k1: a Ursa Minor, Polaris, with a magnitude
of 2.02.
« Circle k2: a Cassiopeia, Schedar, with a magnitude
of 2.2.
« Circle k3: a Perseus, Algenib, with a magnitude
of 1.78.
« Circle k4: the Pole and Draco.
« Circle k5: the Pole and Draco.
« Circle k?1: the Pole and Draco; or
k Perseus, with a magnitude of 3.8.
« Circle k6: b Taurus, El Nath, with a magnitude of
1.64.
« Circle k7: a Taurus, Aldebaran, with a magnitude
of 0.8.
« Circle k8: b Perseus, Algol, with a magnitude of
2.08.
« Circle k9: g Andromeda, Alamak, with a magnitude
of 2.25.
« Circle k10: 41 Aries, with a magnitude of 3.63.
« Circle k11: a
Aries, Hamal, with a magnitude of 2.00.
« Circle k12: b
Aries, Sheratan, with a magnitude of 2.64.
« Circle k13: b
Andromeda, Mirach, with a magnitude of 2.05.
« Circle k14: a Cetus, Menkar with a magnitude of 2.53.
Having made these specifications, we now have to explain them. In the first
place we should remember that we are looking for solutions
of astronomical coherence, i.e. impeccable from the
technical point of view, correctly related to the other
stone circle representations, to the overall solution
for the group and to the Mesopotamically demonstrated
astronomy of the period. In this respect, I have to
explain my choice of Fomalhaut when comparing circle
K. Star
chart 3 indicates that, from a graphic point of view, this preference may be arguable,
given that some of the stars corresponding to Cygnus
—Deneb, Sadr or Gienah— would seem to be a better choice
with respect to position. Regarding concordance between
the brilliance/diameter of the circle, Deneb could be
the right choice from among the stars of Cygnus; this
said, likewise rejecting the other options studied,
despite the graphic error in height implied by the choice
of Fomalhaut, I finally decided to choose this option
over and above the others. The reasons for this are
manifold: historically, as we can see from the Spanish
work presented as part two of this web site, From
North to South along the Path of Fomalhaut and Deneb
Kaitos, Fomalhaut is widely represented the length
and breadth of the Pyrenees, with obvious toponymic
remains, as an indicator of territorial limits towards
the south and of seasons of the year. I therefore started
by taking it into account when neatly splitting the
year into three, before finally preferring it over the
others. On the other hand, these graphic slip-ups on
a strict reproduction of the celestial vault, already
remarked and commented upon in other places, largely
arise from the ruggedness of the terrain, in this case
on a hillside, and from the fact that the graphic representation
drawn on the terrain, as though it were a sheet of paper
to scale, would lead us to draw Fomalhaut within the
Southern subgroup, thus making the representation and
its understanding cumbersome, a factor I had been trying
to avoid as can be seen from the interpretations made
to date. Likewise, circle K,
in addition to having an excellent brilliance/diameter
ratio, has its Southern witnesses at the points corresponding
to the culmination and setting of Fomalhaut. It is also
probable that the position of circle K could be justified
if we could study the local horizon, which towards the
south is packed with toponyms once again preferentially
pointing towards Fomalhaut.
This subsequently means that we can ask ourselves what stars we should
expect to find in the celestial sector of Ku-Or
defined by the Pole of the time and the culminations
of Fomalhaut —Ku— and of Sirius —Or— which, in any case,
generalizing, around 1000 BC, were the same as they
are today. Now we would say: part of Aquarius; Pegasus;
Lacerta; Cepheus; Cetus; Pisces; Aries; Triangulum;
Andromeda; Cassiopeia; Pleiades; Perseus; Eridanus;
Taurus; Orion; Auriga; Canis Major and the east of Gemini.
The skies, apart from the precession of the equinoxes,
have changed little, and today’s astronomy (alignments,
stellar geometry, star magnitude, distance between stars,
sequential tables of risings and settings which can
be put together with even the simplest computer program,
star charts, etc.) permits us to identify with relatively
little effort the stars represented on The
Crown and any others to be found, to deduce the
potential location of any striking absences and what
at the end of the day the creators intended to convey
on symbolizing so many stars, for the simple reason
that they built with astronomic coherence. Celestial
chart 3, on which I have surrounded the chosen stars of the sector in red, give
an idea of why they were chosen and the doubts they
may have caused; on this chart, we can also see why
the stars were chosen, on occasions due to an alignment
within the same meridian, at approximate intervals of
1 hour, which, taken to the year, represented 15 days.
On the other hand, looking at the skies with yesterday’s eyes obliges us
to take account of Mesopotamic astronomy, the astrolabes,
the Mul-Apin lists, the ZIQPU texts, the GU texts, etc.
The Crown is
better understood to the north of the group in the presence
of Arcturus, Shupa, Enlil the god and his path; here
in the centre, beneath the god Ea, we can observe to
its left, principally along the celestial equator, stars
belonging to the Path of Anu. The different astrolabes
and the Mul Apin list don’t always coincide with respect
to the names of the stars and constellations limiting
the Paths of Enlil, Anu and Ea, although we can select
from the Mul-Apin list, referring to the stars of Ku-Or:
the path of Enlil: Mul-Apin, Aratus, a, b Tri and g And; Mul Shugi, The Old Man, south of Perseus;
Mul Gam, The Sickle, part of Auriga; Mul Mashtabbagalgal,
The Great Twins, Castor and Pollux; on the Path of Anu:
Mul Anunitu, The Goddess, The star behind the great
square, h Psc; Mul Luhunga, The Hired Man, Aries; Mul Mul, Zappu, Pleiades; Mul Guanna,
The Bull of Heaven, Taurus; Mul Lee, The Bull’s Jaw,
Aldebaran and the Hyades; Mul Sipazianna, The True Shepherd
of Anu, Orion; Lulal and Latarak, p3 and p4 Orion; Mul Darlugar, The Hare, Lepus; Mul Kaksisa,
Canis Major-Canis Minor- parts of Puppis and Pyxis;
Mul Ban, The Arch, the Elamite goddess Ishtar, daughter
of Enlil, d, e, s, w CMa-k Pup. Mul Apin, also a list containing other heliacs
of 34 stars, starting with Aries, 15th of Nisan, followed
by the Sickle — Auriga — the 20th of Nisan,
the Pleiades on the 1st of Iyar, Aldebaran
on the 20th of Iyar, Orion with Castor and
Pollux on the 10th of Sivan... The astrolabes,
likewise with variations, similarly echo stone circle
melodies: table 51 of the Enuma Anu Enlil, lists, alongside
other ‘3 for each month’, Sagitta-Old Man-Supa, while the Pinches astrolabe lists in month V The Arch,
The Great Twins and the Ursa Major, stars on the paths
of Ea, Anu and Enlil respectively. I won’t continue
along these lines, this is only a qualitative analysis,
but the sequential Mesopotamic lists applicable to the
Psc which need no more understanding than attention
are certainly incredible.
On applying these lists, we see that in sector Ku-Or of The Crowns of the Moon,
they ignored the stars and constellations located
to the north of Perseus, except to make reference to
the North and the Pole, as would seem to be the case
of circles k1,
k2, k4 and k5.
Given that this belongs to the Northern part of the
following subgroup, we will make a list of the lunar
seasons present in The
Crowns. These seasons, the origin of the zodiac,
in the case of the moon and like in The Crowns, in all civilizations, spread
further to the north and south of the solar zodiac due
to the 5º inclination of the lunar orbit.
Subgroup Ku shows an obvious
inconsistency regarding the reproduction of two nearby
stars, of a different sign from that which we will see
in the following subgroup. These are the a and b of Perseus, circles k3 and k8 respectively,
which, on the field, are quite a bit more far apart
from one another than is to be expected of an astral
replica, given the criteria followed with the rest of
the subgroup. This anomaly doesn’t seem to have occurred
by chance and very much less so to be the result of
an error or ignorance, as proven all over the Pyrenees
in more than a hundred sites already decoded. It could
be that in this case, the sequence coming from the lunar
path and continuing in the following sub-group, for
whatever reasons —we will make several hypotheses— intended
to relate it to the Pole, hence the reason for having
related circles k4 and k5 to the Pole in the solution, following the dictates of other sites
and the important witness fallen at 0º towards the inside
found on circle k5.
While still under study, this preview of the solution of The Crowns, of a qualitative analysis,
is however clear; establishing the sequence of the times
of passage of each one of the stars chosen in the solution,
by point of transit, southern culmination or, by extension,
by ziqpu,
on 21st December 540 BC with the program
MacStronomy 2.0.3, gives the following:
a Cepheus: 14 hours 34 m 19 s
Ku, Fomalhaut,
a Piscis Austrinus:
14 hours 45 m 34 s
a Pegasus: 15 hours 18 m 55 s
b Pegasus: 15 hours 24 m 13 s
k Draco: 15 hours 48 m 57 s
g Cepheus: 16 hours 30 m 58 s
b Cassiopeia: 16 hours 32 m 48 s
a Cassiopeia: 16 hours 55 m 07 s
a Ursa Minor: 17 hours 14 m 19 s
b Andromeda: 17 hours 18 m 08 s
d Cassiopeia: 17 hours 28 m 09 s
b Aries: 18 hours 00 m 54 s
g Andromeda: 18 hours 03 m 11 s
a Aries: 18 hours 11 m 54 s
41Aries: 18 hours 49 m 47 s
k Perseus: 18 hours 56 m 32 s
b Perseus: 18 hours 58 m 08 s
a Perseus: 19 hours 04 m 33 s
a Cetus: 19 hours 12 m 32 s
a Taurus: 20 hours 35 m 15 s
b Taurus: 21 hours 11 m 14 s
This means that the circles
of the subgroup Ku are located either to the right or
to the left according to the time of their culmination,
with almost total precision, a factor which causes
me not a little consternation. How can people have existed
almost 3,000 years ago capable of making calculations
of these kinds, and how was all of this knowledge lost?
Between the culminations of Ku
and El Nath, b Tau, the right
and left extremes of the wheel of circles making up
the subgroup, 6 hours 25 m 40 s passed, which, transferred
to the year, meant almost three and a quarter months.
In a contemporary note, the remaining three-quarters
of a month until completing the four corresponding to
each segment are reflected in the following subgroup.
This said, it doesn’t look as though the point of reference
on the basis of which to measure time in The
Crowns, except for Ku,
Or and Un, was the culmination point, given that it is too far away on the
terrain, but rather Lenito, as mentioned in the introduction,
and the area surrounding Lenito. Lenito, from Len =
prelude and ito = hiding place, in the Basque language?
‘Prelude of the occultation’ or something of the sort?
According to a map the area of Lenito starts at around
200º, a claim and landscape which it would be a good
idea to confirm once the trees invading the group so
permit; whatever the case, as stated above, there are
different witnesses pointing towards 200º on various
circles among which we should signal K,
k1, k2, k3, k7, k9, k10 and k13. Were the nearby escarpments of Lenito
and its area the geographical reference which permitted
them to measure the passage of most of the stars of
The Crowns,
or, simply, are these witnesses indicating the position
of Fomalhaut at the moment the group was drawn on the
ground?
Considering the subject from another
angle: the circle/star magnitude diameter ratio represented
in the subgroup is perfect; as is the case of the entire
Crowns. In
fact it seems to come from a modern astronomy manual.
The transfer onto the terrain of stars
to stone circles in this central subgroup was made by
observing the stars towards the south and making notes
looking towards the north, hence reflecting the stars
on the ground as though it were a mirror —just as we
would today replicate the celestial vault or a star
chart. The stone circles in The Crown, hence its easy comprehension,
are legible, written on the ground, just like a star
chart read from S to N, as reflected by the three subgroups
on the diagrams appearing on page 1.
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