Ancient Astronomy Series:
THE AGE OF ASTRONOMY. 3/7 Places: El Caracol, Chichen Itza, present Mexico. 906AD.
What is the age
of Astronomy? How old is it? Can we find some tangible evidence of
it's age?
Many clues can be
found in almost all civilizations on Earth before us.
In this mini
series of articles we will establish the chronology of astronomy with
astronomical relics, instruments, artifacts, alignments, maps,
references and places in ancient periods pinpointing exacly in time,
the age of Astronomy.
Ancient Astronomy Series. List of articles:
1/7 Instruments:
NASA's STEREO mission. Predicting the Sun's activities. 2006AD
2/7 : Relics:
Abù Bakr Ibn Yùsuf's medieval Moroccan astrolabes. 1216AD
3/7: Places: El Caracol, Chichen Itza. Mayan Observatory. 906AD
4/7: Artefacts:
Nebra sky disk of North Germany. 1600BC
5/7:
Astronomical References: The scarab and the Dung beetle in ancient Egypt. 1813BC
6/7: Alignments:
Megaliths of Carnac, France. 3300BC
7/7: Maps:
Prehistoric Starmap. 10500BC
Illustration 8: Mayan astronomical Observatory. El Caracol, Chiche Itza, Mexico. Credit: Bruno Girin
906AD.
El caracol, Mayan Observatory.
Location: Present North-America.
In
the archaeological site of Chichen Itza in Mexico we find a peculiar
building known as El Caracol, The Mayan astronomical observatory. A
place where Mayan astronomers could have use the knowledge of the
motion of the heavens to set a belief system, understand cycles of
time and predict celestial events. Can this peculiar building be an
astronomical observatory? And if it does, we could push the age of
Astronomy back into an much earlier past than the previous evidence
suggested in a past article of the Age of astronomy Series.
This is what we find
on Wikipedia: ”El Caracol, the Observatory, is a unique structure
at Pre-Colombian Maya civilization site of Chichen Itza. El Caracol,
which means 'snail' in Spanish, is so named due to the spiral
staircase inside the tower.”
The structure is
dated to around 906 AD, the Late Classic period of Meso-american
chronology, by the stele on the Upper Platform.
It is suggested that
the El Caracol was an ancient Mayan observatory building and provided
a way for the Mayan people to observe changes in the night sky due to
the flattened landscape of the Yucatán Peninsula. The observers
could view the heavens above the vegetation on the Yucatán Peninsula
without any obstruction.
Illustration 9: El Caracol, Chichen Itza, Mexico. Good surround viewing for tracking of the planet Venus. Credit: Dr. de la Cova, latin american studies.org.
Observation of
the planet Venus.
Mayan astronomers
used the building as some sort of telescope. The narrow windows all
around the top portion of the building was to observe the planet
Venus at a very "narrow" window of time, when it was in the
sky. Mayan astronomers knew from naked-eye observations that Venus
appeared in the East before the rise of the Sun at some point and
other times appeared in the West after the Sun had set. The figured
out with the aid of this construction the cycle of Venus in relation
with Earth.It takes 584 days to complete one cycle.
Illustration 10: The Mayan astronomical observatory in Chichen Itza, Mexico. View from the grounds. Credit: Bruno Girin
They also knew that
five of these Venus cycles equalled eight solar years. Venus would
therefore make an appearance at the northerly and southerly extremes
at eight-year intervals.
Of 29 possible
astronomical events (eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, etc.) believed
to be of interest to the Meso-american residents of Chichén Itzá in
the past, sight lines for 20 can be found in the structure. Since a
portion of the tower resting on El Caracol has been lost, it is
possible that the other measurements will never be ascertained to
have been observed.”
Illustration 11: Orientation to the planet Venus and other astronomical alignments. Credit: Not mentioned.
The Mayan
civilization clearly had knowledge of geometry that allowed them to
build building align to celestial objects. The Summer/ Winter
solstices rising and setting of the Sun is represented in the
geometry of the building of El Caracol observatory. The high windowed
niches at the top of the building was precise observatory platforms
tracking the celestial objects.
Illustration 12: Precise astronomical alignments within the architecture of the building. Credit: Not mentioned.
It
is clear that the Mayan
knew and understood their location.
building
alignments within the
building itself was genius.
This to me is
evidence of knowledge of astronomy.
So
what is the age of Astronomy, you ask? At least since 906 AD
(Accepted date). That means the knowledge of astronomy is at least
1110 years old.
The search for the age of Astronomy is still
out there.
Read the next article of our series on The age of Astronomy and see how far back we can push it's age in time. Stay tuned, and continue reading Ancient Astronomy Series: THE AGE OF ASTRONOMY.
Next article: THE AGE OF ASTRONOMY. 4/7. Artifacts: Nebra sky disk 1600 BC.
Read the next article of our series on The age of Astronomy and see how far back we can push it's age in time. Stay tuned, and continue reading Ancient Astronomy Series: THE AGE OF ASTRONOMY.
Next article: THE AGE OF ASTRONOMY. 4/7. Artifacts: Nebra sky disk 1600 BC.
Please take time to
read the links and PDF files on this subject.
[PDF]
http://www.iifl.unam.mx/html-docs/cult-maya/29/trejo.pdf
(in spanish)
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| Pubic outreach program by Astronomy club Toutatis, Kustavi, Finland |
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