THE ASTRONOMICAL RELATION OF THE RITUAL PLATFORMS OF THE PEAK SANCTUARY KOKINO

Abstract

The rituals performed on the peak sanctuary “Tatićev Kamen” (Tatić Rock), located near the village of Kokino, FYR Macedonia, were connected with the agricultural activities of the Bronze Age people in the surrounding area and with the change of seasons. For that purpose the motion of the sun and some other celestial objects were observed over the course of several centuries and their positions on specific dates were marked by stone notches. We present here the new results of the archaeoastronomical research of the site. By relating the stone notch that was used to simultaneously mark two different sky events, the sunrise on the specific morning in May and the heliacal rising of Aldebaran, we indicate the mutual astronomical relation of two different observational platforms: the one with the thrones, on which a ritual that had solar characteristics was performed, and the platform located on the north part of the locality, which was probably used as a observation point of the heliacal rising of Aldebaran.