Many ancient civilisations were preoccupied with astronomy
and keeping accurate calendar systems. By observations of the
Sun’s movements annually and recording its Solstice and Equinox positions,
a careful count of days beyond these events, would determine when to
plant, harvest, celebrate festivals or observe holy days. Solar
movement, throughout the year, was the primary tool for determining
the timing of significant events by civilisations world-wide.
An emerging science, here in New Zealand, is Archaeo-astronomy
and researchers, assessing ancient New Zealand sites, are beginning
to find a strong astronomical component in the ruined stone structures
or excavations scattered throughout the country.
Many marker stones or stone circle sites were set up
in ancient New Zealand for accurately determining the Solar Equinoxes
or Solstices, as well as for more refined stellar fixes.
The 20th of March marked the first Equinox of the new
millennium and our Auckland (New Zealand) based archaeo-astronomical
group, wanted to re-establish recognition, at the time of the Equinox,
of how a small section of the ancient astronomical alignment system
of the Auckland Isthmus formerly worked.
This was a part of the system set up by the once numerous,
stone-working people, some of whom Polynesian Maori called the Patu-pai-arehe,
also referred to in Maori oral traditions as the “fairy folk”.
Using the 36 volcanic hills of the Auckland Isthmus,
the pre-Polynesian Patu-pai-arehe devised and built a complex
astronomical alignment system. One small part of this system related
to a perfect east-west Equinox line, which ran from ancient stone markers,
found by 19th century surveyors, on Stockade Hill, Howick, a suburb
of Auckland.
The line from Stockade Hill continued through the crest
trench in the volcanic rim of Mt. Wellington, many kilometres directly
west and then dissected an ancient standing stone marker on Mt Albert,
further west again. The Coromandel and Waitakere Ranges provided
additional extensions to this perfect east-west dissection of the Isthmus.
The picture above looks westward through the Mt. Wellington
“V”, over the hill’s volcanic cone, toward Mt. Albert, where the large,
original equinox marker stone still resides, adjacent to the modern
day trig point. Archaeo-astronomer, Alan Seath, has identified
about 135 significant alignments onto Solar or stellar positions, coupled
with overland mapping functions, originating from marked positions on
these 36 Auckland hills. One hill uses another, more distant,
hill or range as the target outer marker for a celestial event.
A
group of enthusiasts, researchers and media representatives assembled
on Stockade Hill, before sunset on the 20th of March 2000 to witness
the equinoctial Sun’s descent into the trench on Mt. Wellington.
The Sun’s journey down to its age-old
Equinox position was accompanied by the musical strains
of a lone, Scottish piper, Bryan Mitchell. The ceremony, to re-establish
recognition of the ancient astronomers of the Auckland Isthmus, was
both moving and visually spectacular.
Much of the sculpturing of the Auckland hills was for
astronomy, although the larger plateaux are reminiscent of Celtic hill
forts. There is, however, almost no evidence of “palisading” (defensive
post barrier walls) on any of the hills, which suggests that the hills
were not used as fortified positions. All available evidence suggests
a predominant astronomical usage.
These New Zealand astronomical alignment systems are
an exact counterpart to surviving marker systems from Great Britain’s
Megalithic Age. A growing body of evidence establishes a link
between civilizations of these two regions of the world and a part of
that evidence relates to remains of red, brown or blond-haired Indo-European
skeletons, found in ancient burial caves throughout New Zealand.
Martin Doutré