Megalithic observatory Kokino
摘要
In 2001, on the footpath of a mountain peak, near the village of Kokino, arche- ologist Jovica Stankovski discovered an archeological site from The Bronze Age. The site occupies a large area and is scaled in two levels. Several stone seats (thrones) are dominant in this site and they are pointing towards the east horizon. The high concentration of the movable archeological material found on the upper platform probably indicates its use in a function containing still unknown cult activities. Due to precise measurements and a detailed archaeoastronomical analysis of the site performed in the past three years by Gjore Cenev, physicist from the Planetarium in Skopje, it was shown that the site has characteristics of a sacred site, but also of a Megalithic Observatory. The markers found in this observatory point on the summer and winter solstices and spring and autumn equinoxes. It can be seen that on both sides of the solstice markers, that there are markers for establishing Moon's positions. The markers are crafted in such a way that for example on days when special rites were performed (harvest rites for example) the Sun lled a narrow space of the marker and special ray lighted the man sitting on only one of the thrones, which of course had a special meaning. According to the positions of the markers that are used for Sun marking, especially on the solstice days, it was calculated that this observatory dates from 1800 B.C.