Solar and lunar calendars of the mountain sanctuary Kokino

Olgica Kuzmanovska, Jovica Stankovski, and Gordana Apostolovska

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1722, 040003 (2016); doi: 10.1063/1.4944137

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4944137
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 Solar and Lunar Calendars of the Mountain Sanctuary
Kokino
Olgica Kuzmanovska1,a), Jovica Stankovski2,b) and Gordana Apostolovska1,c)
1
Institute of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril & Methodius University,
Skopje, Macedonia
2
National Museum Kumanovo, Kumanovo, Macedonia

a)
Corresponding author: olgicak@pmf.ukim.mk
b
) stankovskijovica@yahoo.com
c
)gordanaa@pmf.ukim.mk

Abstract. The mountain sanctuary Kokino is located in the northeast part of Macedonia, on the summit of a hill of
volcanic origin. The archeological research that has been performed for more than a decade confirmed its use as a large
extra-urban religious site during the whole period of the Bronze Age. Additional astronomical analyses showed that it has
the characteristics of a megalithic observatory, with some of its religious cults related with the motion of the sun, moon
and some of the brightest stars. For that purpose the periodic motion of these celestial objects was observed and their
position on specific calendar dates marked by stone notches cut in the surrounding rocks. In this paper, we present the
results of the astronomical investigation of a group of stone markers aligned toward the specific positions of the full
moon and analyze their purpose in creating a simple solar and lunar calendar which was used in planning the everyday
life of the Bronze Age people in the region.

INTRODUCTION
The archeological locality ‘Taticev kamen’, i.e. the peak (mountain) sanctuary Kokino, is located in the northeast
part of Macedonia, near the village of Kokino, about 30 km away from the town Kumanovo. Its geographical
coordinates are ij ƒ¶ƎQRUWKlatitude, and Ȝ 21° 57’ 10” east longitude. The site was discovered at 2001 by
a team of archeologists of the Natural Museum Kumanovo. According to the archeological analyses of the huge
number of excavated archeological artifacts it functioned during the Bronze Age as an important peak-sanctuary [1].
The topographic characteristics of the site, namely its dominant position on the summit of a hill of volcanic origin
and the large radius of visibility from the top, provide additional arguments in favor of its sacred purpose. The
excavated material dates from all three phases of the Bronze Age and had been used in the arrangement of several
rituals [2]. Some aspects of the cult are similar to that uncovered on peak-sanctuaries on Crete from the Early
Minoan and Middle Minoan Period (from around 2300 BC till 1700 BC) [3,4,5]. The fragments of small and large
ceramic vessels, ceramic votive figurines, as well as fragments of stone tools and moulds for casting bronze objects,
were scattered on the site, or placed inside the two types of religious structures identified in archeological context:
the ritual pits and the circular stone constructions [1,2,6,7].
The archeological analyses indicated that one of the cults had solar characteristics [2]. The connection of the
Kokino rituals with the prominent celestial objects was conclusively proved by the additional astronomical research
of the sanctuary [6]. The natural predisposition of the volcanic rocks to crack vertically and horizontally enabled the

9th International Physics Conference of the Balkan Physical Union (BPU-9)

AIP Conf. Proc. 1722, 040003-1–040003-4; doi: 10.1063/1.4944137
© 2016 AIP Publishing LLC 978-0-7354-1369-6/$30.00

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 ancient builders to construct flattened platforms and stone seats. In our previous papers we showed that the purpose
of constructing the peak-sanctuary Kokino around 2000 BC was to provide a suitable location for religious
celebrations, but also for observing objects in the sky [6,7,8]. The astronomical observations had been carried out
during the whole second millennium BC. For this reason, the site is also called the "Megalithic observatory
Kokino". The precise placement of the platforms and the great accuracy with which the stone notches were carved in
order to mark particular celestial alignments indicate the celestial influence on the religious beliefs of the local
people, just like in many other communities in Bronze Age Europe [9].
The map of the locality is shown on Fig 1. The most significant religious platforms are marked with ‘A’ and ‘E’.
However, they had an additional role as astronomical observational sites. Platform ‘A’ contains the stone seats (or
thrones) used for performing the main sanctuary ritual which had solar characteristics [6, Fig. 3].The platform was
also an observation point for constructing a stone marker, also called a ritual marker. The marker is a notch that
aligns with the sunrise in the end of July (period of the harvest) and in middle of May [6, Fig. 5].
The second date was related with the heliacal rising of the bright star Aldebaran., observed from platform ‘E’.
The platform ‘E’ was an observation point for constructing five stone notches in the nearby rocks that mark with
great accuracy Aldebaran’s position during the first five centuries of the second millennium BC [6, Fig. 11, Table
2]. The first of the notches was constructed when the sanctuary was built and on the same stone block as the ritual
marker, forming a mutual or common marker for platforms ‘A’ and ‘E’ (noted as ‘K’ on Fig.1). Around 2000 BC
Aldebaran heliacally rose in the common marker in the May morning (seen from platform ‘E’) [7, Fig. 8, 11]. The
event happened some minutes before the sunrise in the ritual marker (seen from thrones’ platform ‘A’), determining
the beginning of the new season of nature awakening and ripening the crops, with ritual celebrations performed on
both platforms [7,8]. An additional four notches were made as the star slowly changed its position in the following
centuries, due to precession and its proper motion.

FIGURE 1. Map of the locality “Taticev kamen”. A – lower western platform with the stone seats. B – upper eastern platform. C
– astronomical platform . E - astronomical platform. D – northern terrace. F – sanctuary wall. G – main access path. H - access
from the northern terrace. I - side path used by the prehistoric observer. K - mutual marker (dashed lines). S1, S2, S3 – Sun
markers. M1, M2, M3, M4 – Moon markers

Although the heliacal rising of Aldebaran happened after the spring equinox, its position in the sky at the time of
constructiion the sanctuary coincided with the equinox point. Thus, the stone notch that pointed to Aldebaran in
2000 BC, also points to the sunrise of the equinox. The astronomical research of the platform ‘C’, positioned
approximately 30 m southwest of platform ‘A’, showed that it was no coincidence. With no archeological artifacts
found, platform ‘C’ had a strictly astronomical purpose. In our previous papers, we proved that it was used for daily
observations of the cyclic motion of the sun throughout the year [6,7]. In the rocks that cover the eastern horizon of
the observer there are three noticeable notches cut into the stone each having the approximate magnitude of the solar

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 disc (Fig. 2). Their position coincides almost exactly with the sunrise positions on the summer and winter solstices
and equinoxes [7, Fig.10]. Estimation of the extreme positions of the sunrise during the year and also the equinox
point, allowed the creation of a simple calendar. The calendar was probably the base for the observations performed
on platforms ‘A’ and ‘E’. In such a manner, the periodic cycles of the Sun and heliacal rising of bright stars were
used for dating the time of the year for performing agricultural activities upon which the whole community
depended, and arranging related ritual activities.
In this paper we will present four additional stone markers, made having platform ‘C’ as the observational point.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The astronomical platform ‘C’ was created by artificially flattening the stone surface and can be reached via a
side path [6, Fig.6]. The platform is narrow and does not allow significant changes of the position of the observer
and the astronomical coordinates of the markers carved in the nearby rocks. Additionally to the three sun markers
we distinguished four more stone notches whose shape is different from the surrounding natural cracks (Fig. 2).
Using geodetic instrument we measured their horizontal coordinates and calculated its declination į (altitude above
the celestial equator) with the following formula:

sin G cos A cos M cos h  sin M sin h , (1)

where A is the azimuth measured from the north horizontal point, h is the altitude above the horizon and ij is the
observer’s geographical latitude. The astronomical data of the four markers and the small correction due to the
astronomical refraction are presented in Table 1. We concluded that the calculated declinations of the object
appearing through the notches in the past coincide well with the position of the full moon in the time of its major
and minor standstills.

FIGURE 2. Markers observed from the astronomical platform ‘C’. S1 - Sun summer Solstice, S2 - Sun spring and autumn
equinox; S3 - Sun winter solstice, M1 –Winter major Moon standstill , M2 –Winter minor Moon standstill, M3 –Summer minor
Moon standstill , M4 –Summer major Moon standstill.

TABLE 1. Astronomical data of the four Moon markers shown on Fig. 2.

Marker Azimuth Altitude Refraction correction ƍ Declination (q)

M1 61qƍƎ 10qƍƎ 4.86 28.28
M2 70qƍƎ 11qƍƎ 4.90 21.79
M3 121qƍƎ 3q17ƍ00Ǝ 13.40 -20.45
M4 139qƍƎ 3qƍƎ 12 -31.29

The moon’s declination changes every lunar nodal period of 27.2 days, having positive and negative values in
less than two weeks. The plane of the moon’s orbit is inclined to the ecliptic by about 5.14q. The moon’s maximum

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 and minimum declinations also vary because the orbit’s inclination gradually changes over 18.6 years, alternately
adding or subtracting from the 23.5q tilt of the Earth’s axis. As a consequence, the maximum declination of the
moon varies from roughly (23.5q-5q) =18.5q to (23.5q+5q) =28.5q. At major lunar standstill the moon changes its
declination during the nodal period from 28.5q to -28.5q. About 9.3 years later, during the minor lunar standstill it
changes its declination during the nodal period from 18.5q to -18.5q.
The lunar phase cycle of 29.53 days is one of the most obvious of all the celestial cycles and has formed the
fundamental basis for reckoning time in a wide range of human communities to the present day [9], including the
ones that created the famous Bronze Age megalithic monuments in Britain [10,11,12,13]. It remains at the heart of
some of the world’s great calendar systems. The full moon is the most prominent phase at which the moon lights up
the entire night, and also the phase at which the lunar eclipses occur. Thus, it may well be that it was the annual
motions of the full moon northward and southward was most important to many human cultures in the past
[14,15,16,17,18,19,20].
Our findings suggest that much emphasis was placed on lunar standstills by the builders of the Kokino
megalithic observatory. The site even satisfies one of the basic criteria that Hawkins laid out for a site to be
considered as a megalithic observatory given that the postulated alignments for a homogeneous group of markers
can be observed from a single central point (platform ‘C’) [21]. During the winter the full moon culminated higher
in the sky reaching its maximum height throughout the year at the full moon nearest to winter solstice. In the
summer the full moon culminated lower in the sky until it reached its lowest position above the visible horizon at the
full moon nearest to the summer solstice (see positions on Fig. 2). Over the period of 18.6 years the full moon
nearest to the solstices swings much like a pendulum, reaching its maximum and minimum declinations at
standstills. The stone notches that point to these specific positions indicate the permanent observations performed by
the Kokino people in the course of many years and centuries in the Bronze Age period. It is quite possible they had
an understanding of the the Nodal cycle of 18.6 years, and maybe the cycle of eclipses and the Saros cycle.

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