MichaelHoskin, “The orientations of the taulas of Menorca (1): The southern taulas”, Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 14 (1989), S117–36. In the paper I gave examples, from Ethiopia and the Caroline Islands, of other cultures where these stars have a special significance. Such examples could be multiplied. In particular, Anthony Aveni suggests that the famous Building J at Monte Albán, a Zatopec ceremonial centre southeast of Mexico City, was oriented on the setting of these stars. He adds: “The ethnographic evidence suggests that the Southern Cross was of considerable importance in Mesoamerica. The Aztecs venerated it as a ‘beautiful bird with a bone piercing its body’, Father Diego Duran tells us. ‘Feasts were regulated by its appearance and disappearance at different times of the year.’” (AveniAnthony F., Skywatchers of ancient Mexico (Austin, Texas, 1980), 252–3).
2.
HeraclidesCriticus, [De Graeciae urbibus], ed. by PfisterF. E. (Vienna, 1951), II.8. See also Plutarch, Moralia 646f-647a. Mr Ceragioli summarises what we learn from these sources, as follows: “It appears then that there was a class of hereditary medicine men at Mt Pelion, who claimed to be Chiron's descendants. The people of the region sacrificed to Chiron by offering medical plants as firstfruits. It seems reasonable to suppose that they did so under the guidance of the hereditary medicine men, since only they knew about how to use the plants. In addition, at Sirius's heliacal rising, the upper-class men were slaughtering sheep, skinning them and donning skins for a procession up to the cave of Chiron. The slaughtering must be a sacrifice, perhaps to Chiron, perhaps to Zeus Actaeus whose shrine was close by, perhaps to both. It could also be that all the above-mentioned gods, people and activities belong to a single ritual, but it is impossible to say” (private communication).
3.
See MUL.APIN: An astronomical compendium in cuneiform, by HermannHungerDavidPingree (Archiv für Orientforschung, xxiv; Horn, Austria, 1989), 138 etc.
4.
MichaelHoskinHochsiederPeterDorisKnösel, “The orientations of the taulas of Menorca (2): The remaining taulas”, Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy), no. 15 (1990), S37–48.
5.
Geografía e historia de Menorca, ed. by PasariusMascaré J. (Mahón, 1982), 198. I owe this reference to Mr Hochsieder.
