Megalithic Astronomy of Easter Island: A Reassessment

Liller W. , The ancient solar observatories of Rapanui: The archaeoastronomy of Easter Island (Wooland, 1993).

Liller W. , “The megalithic astronomy of Easter Island: Orientations of ahu and moai”, Archaeoastronomy , no. 13 (1989), S21–48.

See, for example, Liller W. , “Ancient astronomical monuments in Polynesia”, in Astronomy across cultures: The history of non-Western astronomy , ed. by Selin H. (London, 2000), 127–60.

See, for example, Ramírez J. M. Huber C. , Easter Island: Rapa Nui, a land of rocky dreams (Santiago, 2000), 109–10. Hereafter in the text we shall refer to Easter Island as Rapa Nui, “Small Rapa”, its Polynesian name, while the contracted form Rapanui is frequently used for both the people, or their culture, and the language of the island.

The relevant works are: Mulloy W. , “A solstice oriented ahu on Easter Island”, Archaeology and physical anthropology in Oceania , x (1975), 13–18, and Mulloy W. Figueroa G. , The A Kivi-Vai Teka complex and its relationship to Easter Island architectural prehistory (Hawaii, 1978).

Cf. Liller , opera cit. (refs 1 and 2). See also Liller W. Duarte J. , “Easter Island's solar ranging device, Ahu Huri A Urenga, and vicinity”, Archaeoastronomy (College Park), ix (1986), 39–51, and Lee G. Liller W. , “The sun stones of Easter Island: A revaluation”, Archaeoastronomy , no. 11 (1987), S1–11.

See Routledge K. S. , The mystery of Easter Island (London, 1919); Metraux A. , Easter Island: A stone age civilization of the Pacific (London, 1957); and Englert S. , La tierra de Hotu Matu'a: Historia y etnología de la Isla de Pascua (Santiago, 1974).

Routledge , op. cit. (ref. 7), 235.

Metraux A. , Ethnology of Easter Island (Bulletin no. 160, Bishop Museum Press Reprints; Honolulu, 1971). See also Babadzan A. , Les dépouilles des dieux: Essai sur la religion tahitienne à l'époque de la découverte (Paris, 1993), 241.

Liller , op. cit. (ref. 1), 27.

Liller , op. cit. (ref. 2), S37.

Liller , op. cit. (ref. 3), Figs 5 and 6.

Englert , op. cit. (ref. 7), 81.

Liller , op. cit. (ref. 2), S30 and S37–38.

See Edwards E. Clark M. A. , “Preliminary report of possible astronomical relationships in Quadrangle 31, Ahu Ra'ai, Easter Island, South Pacific” (unpublished); and Clark M. A. , “Sun, moon, and volcanoes on Easter Island”, paper delivered at the International Conference on Easter Island and Easter Polynesia, Easter Island, University of Chile, 1984.

Liller Duarte , op. cit. (ref. 6), and Mulloy , op. cit. (ref. 5).

Liller , op. cit. (ref. 1), 31.

Lee and Liller , op. cit. (ref. 6).

Ferdon E. N. Jr , “The ceremonial site of Orongp”, in Archaeology of Easter Island: Reports of the Norwegian archaeological expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific , i, ed. by Thor Heyerdahl Ferdon Edwin N. Jr (School of American Research and Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fé, 1961), 221–72.

See Makemson M. W. , The Morning Star rises: An account of Polynesian astronomy (New Haven, 1941); Gladwin T. , East is a Big Bird: Navigation and logic on Puluwat Atoll (Cambridge, MA, 1970); and Lewis D. , “Voyaging stars: Aspects of Polynesian and Micronesian astronomy”, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London , cclxxvi (1974), 133–48. See also Ruggles C. L. N. , “Astronomy, oral literature and landscape in ancient Hawai'i”, Archaeoastronomy: The journal of astronomy in culture , xiv (1999), 33–86.

As for example, Routledge , op. cit. (ref. 7). Actually, only a very small part of Routledge's ethnographic notes were ever published. In 1981 the Royal Geographical Society released some of Routledge's unpublished notes to researchers of the Institute of Easter Island Studies of the University of Chile.

Makemson , op. cit. (ref. 20), reported as many as 772 names of stars and asterisms for Polynesia. Also relevant is Johnson R. K. Mahelona J. K. , Na Inoa Hoku: A catalogue of Hawaiian and Pacific star names (Honolulu, 1975).

Following Routledge's field notes, kindly provided to the authors by the Institute of Easter Island Studies.

Actually, both authors were substantially surprised to find that they wholeheartedly agreed on this controversial point. The first author had suspected this for many years but had published nothing on the subject.

Van Tilburg J. A. , Easter Island: Archaeology, ecology and culture (London, 1994), 33.

Van Tilburg , op. cit. (ref. 25), 33.

In addition, this singular moon crossed the island's zenith several times.

Van Tilburg , op. cit. (ref. 25), 33.

For a review on the rock art of Rapa Nui , see Lee G. , The rock art of Easter Island: Symbols of power, prayers to the gods (Monumenta Archaeologica no. 17, The Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, 1992).

As suggested by Liller , op. cit. (ref. 1), 23. See also Liller , op. cit. (ref. 2), S29.

For a discussion of the different interpretations of cupules, see, for example, Belmonte J. A. Hoskin M. , Reflejo del cosmos: Atlas de arqueoastronomía del Mediterráneo antiguo (Madrid, 2002), 91–101.

Liller , op. cit. (ref. 1), 36–37, also speculated on the identification of the Southern Cross and α Cen and β Cen (yet another important group of stars of Rapanui skies) in another set of cupules found elsewhere in the island.

Mr Felipe Teao Mr Santiago Pakarati among many others. A more detailed report on the astronomy of Rapa Nui from ethnographical sources, clearly exceeding the aim of this paper, will be presented in Edwards's E. monograph Rapa Nui: Cuando el Universo era una isla (Universidad de Chile, in press).

For a good definition of these stellar events, see Aveni A. F. , Skywatchers of ancient Mexico (Austin, 1980), 114.

See also Van Tilburg , op. cit. (ref. 25), 85.

All the dates have been calculated for 1950, when most of our informers were active fishers and farmers.

As, for example, the information reported in Metraux , op. cit. (ref. 7), 52.

The term hitu describes the period of time when a certain star or asterism is not visible in the sky. The hitu of Matariki was especially nefarious. See Edwards E. , op. cit. (ref. 33).

See Esteban C. , “Some notes on orientations of prehistoric stone monuments in western Polynesia and Micronesia”, Archaeoastronomy: The journal of astronomy in culture , xvii (2002–3), 31–47.

As suggested by Metraux , op. cit. (ref. 7), 52.

The importance of the moon will be illustrated elsewhere. See also Edwards , op. cit. (ref. 33).

As suggested in Edwards Clark , op. cit. (ref. 13) and discussed in Edwards , op. cit. (ref. 33).