The Astronomical and Ethnological Components of the Cult of Bird-Man on Easter Island

Abstract

The bird-man cult remains the main secret of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), a remote plot of land in the Pacific. This paper includes not only necessary ethnological data, but also some results on the archaeoastronomy. The research of some lines marked on a stone calendar from the Mataveri area, an archaic zone of the bird-man cult, allows to insist that the natives watched at least the stars Canopus and Aldebaran. There are strong grounds for believing that, among others, the Sun, the Moon as well as Beta and Alpha Centauri were the matter for quasi-scientific enquiry. Several astronomical and calendar records in the rock art and in the script have been decoded.