28
in an interval between 93° and 100°, far from due-east and the equinox. They face a
conspicuous chain of mountains in the eastern horizon instead. Actually, only a few
shrines of the Hoysala Dynasty in Karnataka, like the Vishnu temples at Somnathpur
or the Hoysaleshvara Temple at Halebid are orientated close to due- east (88½° and
91½° respectively) to flat horizons, and hence quite far from any of the different
alternatives for ‘equinox’ discussed in this article for Mediterranean cultures.
Several ‘alien’ cultures could be explored searching for equinoxes, but I would
like to concentrate in only two. The first is the case of Easter Island or Rapa Nui.
Liller (2000) proposed that several of the ceremonial platforms or ahu with standing
statues or moai of the island were orientated either to the solstices or to the equinoxes, even qualifying them as ‘solar observatories’. However, Edwards and
Belmonte (2004) performed a new analysis of these sites using data from both
archaeo- and ethnoastronomy. Their conclusion was that most of the equinoctial
orientations could easily be re-interpreted as orientations to Tautoru (Orion‘s Belt,
Fig. 13) one the most important asterisms of Rapanui mythology, together with
Matariki (the Pleiades), and a key instruments for the control of time. Equinoctial
solar observatories in Polynesia are at least problematic, if not completely spurious.
Clive would certainly agree on this, as his most recent work in Hawai’i demonstrates (Kirch & Ruggles, 2019).
The second case is perhaps the most attractive and shocking. Mesoamerican
studies have always contemplated the possibility of equinoctial alignments within
the pre-Hispanic cultures of the region (Aveni, 1991: 338) and indeed in their sacred
architecture. However, recent statistical approaches to the problem (Šprajc &
Sánchez Nava, 2013, and reference therein) have clearly shown that there are patterns of orientation which are closely connected with cultural aspects of various
Mesoamerican civilizations, notably with the calendar system. The equinox was not
among them!
However, the nicest example of the equinox delusion in Mesoamerica is the
‘descent of the serpent’ equinoctial phenomenon on the Castillo (the step pyramid
of the Feather Serpent) at Chichen Itza in Yucatan (Arochi, 1992). People by the
thousands stand today at the site to view the light and shadow effect produced in the
eastern stair of the pyramid, as the sun descends on the western sky the day of the
equinox (Fig. 14). This phenomenon is today a mass event few people question (but
see, e.g., Ruggles & Cotte, 2010: 272).
In astronomy there is an important factor to be taken into account to do correct
research: this is the ‘selection effect’. This means, not to be selective with the sample of data to be considered, taking into account all possible alternatives. This is
exactly what Šprajc and Sánchez Nava (2018) have done when investigating what
would happen near sunset at El Castillo several days before and after the equinoxes,
when few persons were on site. What they found is astonishing! Figure 14 shows the
wonderful light and shadow effect on the eastern stair on April 12th, 2018, 3 weeks
after the masses have left the site. On this particular occasion, nine instead of seven
light triangles are visible—one for each step of the pyramid. Nine is an important
number in Mayan Mythology, seven is not. The reader can get his/her own
conclusions. Corollary: do not go to observe a phenomenon like this only when
preconceived ideas suggest, check alternatives.
J. A. Belmonte
in an interval between 93° and 100°, far from due-east and the equinox. They face a
conspicuous chain of mountains in the eastern horizon instead. Actually, only a few
shrines of the Hoysala Dynasty in Karnataka, like the Vishnu temples at Somnathpur
or the Hoysaleshvara Temple at Halebid are orientated close to due- east (88½° and
91½° respectively) to flat horizons, and hence quite far from any of the different
alternatives for ‘equinox’ discussed in this article for Mediterranean cultures.
Several ‘alien’ cultures could be explored searching for equinoxes, but I would
like to concentrate in only two. The first is the case of Easter Island or Rapa Nui.
Liller (2000) proposed that several of the ceremonial platforms or ahu with standing
statues or moai of the island were orientated either to the solstices or to the equinoxes, even qualifying them as ‘solar observatories’. However, Edwards and
Belmonte (2004) performed a new analysis of these sites using data from both
archaeo- and ethnoastronomy. Their conclusion was that most of the equinoctial
orientations could easily be re-interpreted as orientations to Tautoru (Orion‘s Belt,
Fig. 13) one the most important asterisms of Rapanui mythology, together with
Matariki (the Pleiades), and a key instruments for the control of time. Equinoctial
solar observatories in Polynesia are at least problematic, if not completely spurious.
Clive would certainly agree on this, as his most recent work in Hawai’i demonstrates (Kirch & Ruggles, 2019).
The second case is perhaps the most attractive and shocking. Mesoamerican
studies have always contemplated the possibility of equinoctial alignments within
the pre-Hispanic cultures of the region (Aveni, 1991: 338) and indeed in their sacred
architecture. However, recent statistical approaches to the problem (Šprajc &
Sánchez Nava, 2013, and reference therein) have clearly shown that there are patterns of orientation which are closely connected with cultural aspects of various
Mesoamerican civilizations, notably with the calendar system. The equinox was not
among them!
However, the nicest example of the equinox delusion in Mesoamerica is the
‘descent of the serpent’ equinoctial phenomenon on the Castillo (the step pyramid
of the Feather Serpent) at Chichen Itza in Yucatan (Arochi, 1992). People by the
thousands stand today at the site to view the light and shadow effect produced in the
eastern stair of the pyramid, as the sun descends on the western sky the day of the
equinox (Fig. 14). This phenomenon is today a mass event few people question (but
see, e.g., Ruggles & Cotte, 2010: 272).
In astronomy there is an important factor to be taken into account to do correct
research: this is the ‘selection effect’. This means, not to be selective with the sample of data to be considered, taking into account all possible alternatives. This is
exactly what Šprajc and Sánchez Nava (2018) have done when investigating what
would happen near sunset at El Castillo several days before and after the equinoxes,
when few persons were on site. What they found is astonishing! Figure 14 shows the
wonderful light and shadow effect on the eastern stair on April 12th, 2018, 3 weeks
after the masses have left the site. On this particular occasion, nine instead of seven
light triangles are visible—one for each step of the pyramid. Nine is an important
number in Mayan Mythology, seven is not. The reader can get his/her own
conclusions. Corollary: do not go to observe a phenomenon like this only when
preconceived ideas suggest, check alternatives.
J. A. Belmonte