Dear Bernard,
I've been reading about the lost city that has been discovered in the Andes, close to Machu Picchu. Apparently it is aligned to the Pleiades star cluster. What do you think of this?
Would you like the sensible answer, or the slightly wilder one? The sensible answer is that the rising and setting of the Pleiades were used by almost every ancient culture to mark the seasons of the year and to determine the starting point for the calendar, and for the planting or harvesting of important crops. The Pleiades rise just before the sun during May, so can be seen as a sign of spring or the onset of summer, depending on where you are. The slightly wilder answer is that in some accounts the Pleiades are where celestial visitors came from in pre-historic times. If you want to go down this line, you'll be pleased to know that to one Paraguayan tribe the Pleiades are known as the Grandfather, the stars of their ancestors. Coincidence? Or something else?
