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Last Post 10/7/2009 11:58 AM by Kris Sigsbee

ancient observatory

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3/12/2009 6:59 AM
Chris W (Fox) Is there any evidence to suggest that the ancient artifacts, or huge sculptures on easter island in the pacific ocean could have been used to study the skies or sun? thank you.

Tags: ancient observatories, Easter Island, Moai

Kris Sigsbee

Basic Member

Posts:415

10/7/2009 11:58 AM
Hi Chris, I'm not an expert on this, so I had to look it up on the Internet. The Rapanui people who lived on Easter Island were familiar with the Sun, the Moon, the stars, and some of the planets. They used them to measure time. There does seem to be a correlation with some of the structures on Easter Island and astronomical bodies, but most of the moai (the big giant heads) are not associated with objects in the sky. However, there appear to be some exceptions according to the article I found. For example, the Ahu Huri A Urenga site has a moai and this site may have been a solar observatory, but the connection does not seem to be clear. You can read more about Easter Island and archaeoastronomy in this article: http://adsabs.harvard.edu.../2004JHA....35..421E It's a little bit technical, but it is the best resource I could find. Kris