Michael Nickiforov

Galina Kolganova

Drawing on the data gathered by Russian and Soviet ethnographers, the authors attempt to reconstruct fragments of the astral calendar that was used by the agricultural population of Pamir. Having compared star visibility periods as recorded by the ethnographers with those calculated by themselves, they argue that the calendar was based on the observation of heliacal rising. It is quite possible that the Pamir calendar had originated in the plains and later was brought to the mountainous area where it has survived through the present day.