CULTURAL HERITAGE: - Macedonian Information Centre

kokino – HolY Mountain and anCient oBServatorY - 19
The American space agency
NASA approved these facts and in
2005 it ranked the Kokino Megalith
Observatory on the fourth place on
the list of ancient observatories in
the world..
Ancient observatories used
to have a very important role in
organizing the life of the community.
The observatories were used for
making a calendar that had a double
purpose. On the one hand it helped
understand the natural cycle of the
Fig.19
vegetable and animal kingdoms. By
simply setting fire on the top of the observatory that is dominating in a
circle of about 30 kilometers the people were informed that the day for
starting ploughing, seeding, harvesting, taking cattle out for pastry had
come. In this, the observatory had the key role in increasing the harvest
in the farming and improving the security and the quality of the life
of the community. Via a continual follow-up of the movement of the
Sun and the Moon, the ancient observers could also define the days for
the rituals and ceremonies. So, the calendar made on the observatory
helped organizing the religious life of the community as well. The
mentioned rituals connected with the Great Mother Goddess, the Sun
- God, and the day of the harvest are apparently just a part of the rich
spectrum of ceremonies and rituals performed on the Kokino Megalith
Observatory. They are the testimony of a developed and well founded
cosmogony created in the imagination of the inhabitants who lived on
this space at the time marked as the Bronze Age in the development
of human civilization.
Scientific researches from the area of archaeology and astronomy
have not been completed and therefore we can expect new surprises in
the future that can only increase the scientific value and attractiveness
of this site.