Mesoamerican archaeoastronomy

One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. This article is an excerpt of pages 98-99 from the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson with a numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depicting the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Mural photograph: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

El Trópico de Cáncer es un paralelo situado en la latitud 23° 26’ 15”. El Trópico de Cáncer delimita el punto más septentrional en el que el Sol puede ocupar el cenit al mediodía, lo cual ocurre durante el solsticio de verano. En este día los rayos solares caen verticalmente sobre la superficie terrestre a lo largo de esta latitud, lo cual se supone fue significativo para los sacerdotes/astrónomos de la antigüedad dedicados a observar el aparente movimiento del Sol. Sucede que Alta Vista, en Zacatecas, corresponde al punto extremo septentrional donde este fenómeno puede suceder, la fecha del paso cenital di ere según la latitud de cada emplazamiento, y diferentes especialistas en arqueoastronomía destacan cómo las culturas indígenas de la antigüedad, al menos desde el periodo Clásico, valoraban esta apreciación para la elaboración de sus calendarios.

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The 'Castle' pyramid (El Castillo) in Chichén Itzá constitutes a magnificent example of the genius and skill of the erudite Maya, who imbued the structure with their astronomical and calendric knowledge, and mastery of geometry. This exceptional construction reveals a highly sophisticated civilization that thrived throughout the southeastern region of Mexico. Recent studies demonstrate that the apex of the pyramid in the northeast direction points to the Templo de Mesas (Temple of Tables); and, to the west, the western stairway extends the pyramid's diagonal symmetrical axis to the cenote of Hotline, which lies at a distance of 2.5 kilometres. On days when the Sun reaches is zenith over Chichén Itzá, these alignments signal prominent directions at sunrise and sunset. As such, the building is aligned to the Sun's zenith.

Moreover, the pyramid rises as the axis of a delicate line on which alignments intersect that unite with three other cenotes. We have then, one cenote for each cardinal point, highlighting the goal of the city planners to make their idyllic model of the world implicit.

Its entire composition and architectural intention is quite elaborate, and the builders took pains to exhibit the mathematics of their calendar in the design of steps, stairways, tiers and panels. This being the case, they also included their interpretation of the cosmos in the form of the pyramid, using whole numbers in the measurements of angles and lengths, where factors, products, dividends, divisors and quotients reveal the metaphorical harmony of space and time.

In this article, see pages 164, 166-168 for Stuart's discussion of the Grolier Codex.  It is highly significant that the Mexican State of Chiapas and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas chose to include the Grolier Codex as an authentic ancient Maya book in 1985 and make a fine color facsimile available along with the Dresden, Paris, and Madrid codices for further research. 

This review and essay of "Los Codices Mayas" is being posted as a personal tribute to my friend and colleague, the late George E. Stuart, Ph.D. (1935 - 2014) for his great generosity and many extraordinary contributions promoting world archaeology over several generations.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

"Selected proceedings of the “First International Conference on Ethnoastronomy: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Traditions of the World”held at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 5-9 September 1983."

Available on Amazon.com  - see link in listing. Ships internationally from the USA.

A finales del mes de octubre del año 2017, quien suscribe acompañado de un selecto grupo de colaboradores y amigos,  comprobó una de las hipótesis que desde hace 70 años prometía ser uno de los adoratorios más espectaculares de la alta montaña mexicana. En la ladera oeste del Pico de Orizaba a 4137 metros de altitud se registró un sitio arqueológico del período Epiclásico, compuesto por una estructura cuadrangular con muros de 35 m por lado,  estas paredes se encontraron parcialmente enterradas por erupciones volcánicas y cubiertas por pastos de montaña en un paraje circunscrito por agrestes crestas. Estos factores mantuvieron al sitio oculto por siglos, lejos del saqueo y sin registro en la literatura especializada. Un hecho que marca para el autor la diferencia con otros sitios arqueológicos de la alta montaña de su tipo, es la alineación de sus muros norte y sur con azimut (Az) 270º, justamente apuntando al ocaso del Sol sobre la cima del volcán Popocatépetl para los equinoccios de primavera y otoño. En busca de una interpretación del sitio en relación con el paisaje y otros adoratorios del Altiplano Central se desprende este ensayo.

Nuevas observaciones confirman que El Castillo, la pirámide principal de la antigua ciudad de Chichén Itzá,
en Yucatán, fue orientada para fungir como un marcador astronómico, a partir del cual los sabios mayas del
período Posclásico ajustaban el año, además de ser el centro de un cosmograma que en sus cuatro puntos
cardinales mantiene una alineación con los cenotes Sagrado, Holtún, Xtoloc y Kanjuyum. En 2012, el arqueólogo Ismael Arturo Montero García dio a conocer en la revista National Geographic del mes de agosto de 2013 -con base en valores de orientación- que el paso cenital del Sol por esta estructura prehispánica
ocurre los días 23 de mayo y 19 de julio, asomándose al amanecer en el eje de su esquina noreste en dirección hacia el Templo de las Mesas. La investigación articula la geometría, la astronomía y la arquitectura de una manera extraordinaria gracias al acimut del Sol al amanecer de su día de paso cenital en esta latitud
geográfica y a la singular geomorfología de su entorno.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This article is a summary of the talk given on November 7, 2014 to the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC and includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

          *See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of the November 7, 2014 talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

*****

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

This study explores the multifaceted Maya Deluge Myth, from its pre-Columbian origins to current fantasies about a great world-destroying flood at the 13 Baktun period ending of the Maya Long Count on 21 (or 23) December 2012. No such flood is prophesied in any Maya records for this date, and the famous scene on Dresden Codex page 74 is discussed in its context as a symbolic depiction of the annual world-renewing downpours at the onset of the rainy season in springtime in the Maya world. The presiding gods of warfare and blood sacrifice were the agents of fertility and the regeneration of nature, and not the agents for the destruction of the Maya in a world-ending deluge. The misinterpretation of Dresden page 74 has propagated, unchallenged, for over a century of Maya scholarship and found its way into “new age,” fringe, and popular culture. This research helps to set the record straight along with providing a history of the meme.

El observatorio astronómico a más altitud de toda la América septentrional en la antigüedad es un monumento arqueológico conocido como la Estela del Nevado de Toluca, una escultura emplazada a gran altitud que servía para marcar el sitio exacto desde el cual se registraba sistemáticamente el aparente movimiento del Sol sobre el horizonte, esta observación permitía calcular con suma precisión la duración del año teniendo como referencia el paso cenital del Sol.

El presente trabajo de tesis analiza las orientaciones astronómicas del antiguo jardín-santuario Tetzcotzinco,  y las contextualiza dentro de su propio marco socio- histórico es decir el postclásico tardío. Tetzcotzinco se ubicaba en el señorío de Texcoco y su construcción se atribuye al señor Nezahualcoyotl , en este sito convergían las creencias religiosas, la jardinería, el conocimiento arquitectónico y el saber astronómico.
La investigación realizada descubrió orientaciones relacionadas con las salidas y puestas de sol en los días de mitad del año, así como en fechas probablemente relacionadas con el antiguo calendario prehispánico.

Las montañas más emblemáticas de México son los altos volcanes Popocatépetl e Iztaccíhuatl. Hoy en día, el imaginario colectivo se recrea con la personificación del Popocatépetl como un victorioso guerrero azteca que a su regreso encuentra a su prometida Iztaccíhuatl inerte; fiel a su juramento de amor permanece arrodillado a sus pies, pero el designio de los dioses los transfigura en montañas, Popocatépetl con fuego (es un volcán activo) e Iztaccíhuatl (una montaña que se asemeja a una mujer yaciente), son la perpetuidad de una pasión irrealizable. Pero más allá de esta romántica leyenda, ambas montañas han sido veneradas desde hace más de dos mil años, depositándose en sus cimas, laderas y cuevas ofrendas que ahora son del interés de la arqueología. Para el siglo XVI el conquistador español Hernán Cortes pasará con su ejército entre ambas montañas para aproximarse a Tenochtitlán, la capital del entonces imperio azteca, hoy capital de la República Mexicana.

En toda su composición, la pirámide de El Castillo en Chichén Itzá tiene una intensión arquitectónica específica. Sus constructores manifestaron en el número de escalones, escalinatas, cuerpos y paneles un mensaje aritmético que hacía evidente su calendario. De ser así, propongo que también incluyeron su interpretación del cosmos en el cuerpo de la pirámide, recurriendo a un patrón de números enteros en las medidas angulares y, de longitud, donde factores, productos, dividendos, divisores y cocientes hacían evidente la metafórica armonía del espacio y el tiempo.

La pirámide de El Castillo en Chichén Itzá, denominada en el año de 2007 por una campaña mediática una de las 7 Maravillas del Mundo Moderno, cobró notoriedad internacional al convertirse en edificio emblemático para los pregoneros de las supuestas profecías apocalípticas mayas del año 2012. Cierto es que nunca disminuye su popularidad, pues durante cada equinoccio de primavera es centro de atención para miles de turistas que se congregan para apreciar el “descenso de Kukulkán”, a tal escala que la NASA en el año 2005 fijó su atención en este fenómeno. Por otra parte, cuenta con un sinnúmero de publicaciones de todo tipo y en varios idiomas, que la hacen una verdadera celebridad. Su perfil es un icono tan reconocible para todo el mundo que ciertamente es una imagen de identidad para México, opinión adecuada pues en conjunto con todo el sitio arqueológico la pirámide está inscrita en la lista del Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO desde 1998, bajo el criterio de erguirse como una obra maestra del genio creativo humano.

Abstract: A tiny bone plaque found at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey, and currently on display in nearby Sanliurfa Museum, shows the first recorded depiction of the site’s familiar T-shaped pillars. In addition to this, the etching on its surface might well be the earliest known use of a 3D perspective in prehistoric art. The plaque’s finely carved imagery also reignites the debate over the axial orientation of the site’s main enclosures and any potential astronomical targets during the epoch of their construction.

In this paper presented at the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC, November 2013, the author proposes answers to questions which have puzzled scholars since the 19th century concerning the enigmatic recumbent Mesoamerican figure known as the "chacmool", so named by French adventurer and photographer Augustus Le Plongeon.  While most scholars are convinced that chacmools were a genuine innovation for a specific type of sacrificial altar for the placement of an offering bowl, several key questions have remained: (1) What was the culture and place of origin of this remarkable sculptural innovation? (2) Who were these male figures?  (3) What is the origin and meaning of the challenging recumbent pose for these human figures with the unblinking, enigmatic gaze? (4) What were they, and what were they called, or described with a phrase, in any Mesoamerican language? Based on recent archaeological discoveries, the author presents a new interpretation of the "chacmool" as the elite "hip ulama" ball game ballplayer stylistically rendered in a serene and formalized ritual “por abajo” stance, well after the game is over, to play the final role as the recipient of the sacrifices. With this new interpretation the author hopes to open the door to finding the indigenous name or description of the "chacmool".

Follow the two (2) URL links to view this 2 page web based article (published May 3, 2015). Co-edited with Ian Mursell for Mexicolore (http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/) - who added many additional illustrations - based in part on an abbreviated version published in the "Smoking Mirror" Vol. 21, No. 4, December 2013, Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, DC.

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/maya/ballgame/the-chacmool-and-the-ballgame-part-1

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/maya/ballgame/the-chacmool-and-the-ballgame-part-2

The author proposes answers to questions which have puzzled scholars since the 19th century concerning the enigmatic recumbent Mesoamerican figure known as the "chacmool", so named by French adventurer and photographer Augustus Le Plongeon.  While most scholars are convinced that chacmools were a genuine innovation for a specific type of sacrificial altar for the placement of an offering bowl, several key questions have remained: (1) What was the culture and place of origin of this remarkable sculptural innovation? (2) Who were these male figures?  (3) What is the origin and meaning of the challenging recumbent pose for these human figures with the unblinking, enigmatic gaze? (4) What were they, and what were they called, or described with a phrase, in any Mesoamerican language? Based on recent archaeological discoveries, the author presents a new interpretation of the "chacmool" as the elite "hip ulama" ball game ballplayer stylistically rendered in a serene and formalized ritual “por abajo” stance, well after the game is over, to play the final role as the recipient of the sacrifices. With this new interpretation the author hopes to open the door to finding the indigenous name or description of the "chacmool".

A tiny bone plaque found at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey, and currently on display in nearby Sanliurfa Museum, shows the first recorded depiction of the site’s familiar T-shaped pillars. In addition to this, the etching on its surface might well be the earliest known use of a 3D perspective in prehistoric art. The plaque’s finely carved imagery also reignites the debate over the axial orientation of the site’s main enclosures and any potential astronomical targets during the epoch of their construction.

Cantona es uno de los sitios arqueológicos más relevantes del Altiplano central mexicano, y aún son muchas las conjeturas que los especialistas guardan sobre el mismo. Aunque las investigaciones son recientes, ya podemos considerar avances significativos que demuestran la importancia de esta singular cultura. Con el ánimo de sumarnos a los trabajos sobre este emplazamiento, nos dimos a la tarea de realizar un breve estudio sobre los posibles alineamientos astronómicos de los principales edificios del sitio. Suponemos que algunos de estos edificios fueron destinados no sólo al culto religioso, sino que también funcionaron como puntos foca­les de observación para un calendario de horizonte que marcaba los movimientos celestes, los cuales consideramos fueron referencia obligada para ordenar socialmente el tiempo en sus as­pectos productivo y ritual. Buscamos entonces en este recinto la articulación entre el ritual ancestral, la astronomía, el calendario y el paisaje orográfico con las altas montañas del Altiplano ya que desde Cantona se observan los volcanes: Cofre de Perote, Pico de Orizaba, La Malinche y Popocatépetl.

Año 4 N°10 Enero-Abril 2015

Sistemas de perspectiva prehispánica
Jorge Angulo Villaseñor P. 9

Con la muerte en la mirada
América Malbrán Porto P. 36           

El carácter venusino en el Tonalpohualli
de los códices Borgia, Vaticano B
y Cospi
Ofelia Márquez Huitzil P. 62

This monograph presents the results of a study of orientations in prehispanic architecture of western and northern Mesoamerica. Analyzing the alignment data collected with field measurements for a number of civic and ceremonial buildings at 21 archaeological sites, we have been able to conclude that they were largely oriented on astronomical grounds. Since the study area is extensive and culturally diverse, while the data sample is relatively small, the orientations that have been analyzed exhibit considerable variability. Although the alignment patterns are, therefore, less clear than in other, previously investigated Mesoamerican regions, they reflect the use of fundamentally the same principles, as well as a few peculiarities. In agreement with the general trend in Mesoamerica, most buildings are skewed clockwise from cardinal directions, but the exceptions are more frequent than elsewhere. The orientations were astronomically functional predominantly or exclusively in the east-west direction, largely marking sunrises and sunsets on certain dates, while a few structures possibly recorded the extreme positions of the Moon or Venus. The intervals that separate the dates recorded by solar orientations tend to concentrate around some multiples of 13 and 20 days. The distribution of dates in the year, the similarities with alignment patterns in other parts of Mesoamerica, and contextual data, including ethnographic information, suggest that the orientations recording the Sun’s positions had a practical function: allowing the use of observational calendars composed of elementary periods of the formal calendrical system and their multiples, they facilitated the prediction of important dates in the seasonal cycle and, thereby, an efficient scheduling of agricultural activities and the associated rituals. Some structures seem to have been deliberately aligned to prominent hills on the local horizon; if they also recorded celestial events, the places for their construction were necessarily selected on the basis of both astronomical and topographic criteria. Although few alignments to hilltops have been found, they are likely intentional, considering that they are common in central Mexico and can be interpreted in terms of the aquatic and fertility symbolism of mountains in the Mesoamerican world view. The fact that some buildings are oriented toward the Sun’s positions on the dates most frequently recorded by alignments elsewhere in Mesoamerica, including Teotihuacan, is particularly interesting, as it provides, on the one hand, the most compelling evidence that the same orientation principles were prevalent also in the West and the North and, on the other, contributes to the understanding of the processes of cultural interaction among particular regions.

"This brief essay introduces eight papers in
a thematic volume of Archaeoastronomy devoted
to research into the Maya calendar,
creation mythology, prophecy, and the 2012
phenomenon. It includes six new and expanded
discussions of research presented at the special
session “The 2012 Phenomenon: Maya Calendar,
Astronomy, and Apocalypticism in the
Worlds of Scholarship and Popular Culture,”
which was part of the Ninth “Oxford” International
Symposium on Archaeoastronomy
(IAU S278) held in Lima, Peru, January 5–9,
2011. These eight papers, including a brief introduction
(immediately following) by Mark
Van Stone to the Maya calendar and the Long
Count in particular, address research interests
within six categories of investigation, including
several caveats outlined here."

El Cacao: de los dioses para el mundo
América Malbrán Porto P.  9

Rituales de las láminas 15 a 17 del Códice Borgia:
¿Nacimiento del tlamacazqui?
Ofelia Márquez Huitzil P. 43           

Abrigo Rincón Mariano, un álbum de trabajo
Enrique Méndez Torres P. 115

The April 21, 1971 New York Times article by George Gent covering the opening of the Grolier Club exhibition, "Ancient Mayan Calligraphy" with interview quotes by Yale anthropologist Michael D. Coe. The article focuses on the significant importance of the Grolier Codex and features the first published photographs of four of the Codex pages by a NYT photographer.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

Con base en los principios urbanísticos de Mesoamérica y su vinculación (en algunos casos) con la astronomía, la llegada de los conquistadores significó una ruptura con muchas tradiciones pero ellos, en muchas ocasiones aprovecharon los recursos ya existentes en su infraestructura. En este caso, la traza de calzadas alineadas con fechas astronómicas y calendáricas pudieron conservarse en algunas ciudades coloniales como la Ciudad de México, Cholula y la propuesta de éste caso, Mérida.

The December 13, 1977 New York Times article by Laurie Johnson giving a brief history on the whereabouts of the Grolier Codex since its exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York City in 1971.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

Esta investigación busca acercar a México y Japón destacando sus coincidencias respecto al culto de los emblemáticos volcanes Popocatépetl y Fuji, alturas que al ser coronadas por el Sol en fechas significativas astronómicamente alcanzaron la apoteosis de su sacralidad. Popocatépetl y Fuji están unidos por un eslabón sísmico, conforman el Anillo de Fuego; así que comparten el sistema geológico que con una fuerza titánica ha atiborrado de montañas medio mundo. Los pobladores de México y Japón tienen cada uno en su volcán al testigo de su evolución cultural.

The Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes (official name of the monument), is a structure about 14 m tall and 8 m in diameter. It is an octagonal building, which incorporates a cylindrical structure on the south side. At the top of the eight vertical walls is a vaulted ceiling depicting the sky. Incised lines on the exterior of the eight sides of the edifice show that there once existed this number of sundials. Τhe building has two propyla (gate buildings) and rests on a three-stepped base (crepidoma). It is a particularly remarkable and unusual ancient Greek building, made of Pentelic marble. The name of this, the most important architectural masterpiece of the late Hellenistic period, is derived from the name of its manufacturer, Andronikos Kyrrhestes (Stuart & Revett, 1762; Noble & Price, 1968: 345). It is supposed that this great Greek astronomer, engineer and architect was also the sponsor for the construction of the monument (Wycherley, 1978: 103; Kienast, 2013: 28). The octagonal tower served as an astronomical and weather forecasting station (Vitruvius De Architectura I.6.4, Marcus Terentius Varro Rerum rusticarum libri III, 5, 9-17). The astronomical monument is also called The Tower of the Winds or Aerides (from the Greek word Αέρηδες which means winds) or Temple of Aeolus (Aeolus is the ancient Greek god of winds).
In the upper part of its exterior surface is a frieze with eight personified wind deities, one on each of the sides (Fig. 2). The wind deities are: Boreas (N), Kaikias (NE), Apeliotes (E), Eurus (SE), Notus (S), Lips (SW), Zephyrus (W), and Skiron (NW)......(more in the article)

The original 1982 manuscript presented both at the 44th International Congress of Americanists, Manchester, England in 1982 and the American Astronomical Society in Boston, January 1983.  This research article is the only scholarly study that provides an independent proof that the Codice Maya de Mexico, (CMM) formerly known as the Grolier Codex, must be a genuine pre-Columbian codex – because it contains key iconographic and other data that could not have been known to a potential fabricator in the mid-1960s when the Codex was found.  One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. The author also demonstrates his discovery that the previously labeled pages 10 and 11 of the Codex are actually two parts of the same page "10".

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

Harmony and Symmetry. Celestial regularities shaping human culture. Proceedings of the SEAC 2018 Conference in Graz. Edited by Sonja Draxler, Max E. Lippitsch & Gudrun Wolfschmidt. Hamburg: tredition (European Society for Astronomy in Culture - SEAC Publications; Vol. 01) 2020.
With contributions by Rita Gautschy, Aleksandra Bajić, Alexey Stoev, Penka Maglova, Marc Türler, Marc Frîncu, Tamaš Fodor, Göran Henriksson, Mary Blomberg, Marianna P. Ridderstad, Eberhard Zangger, Marc Thuillard, Barbara Rappenglück, Stefano Spagocci, Adriano Gaspani, Michael A. Rappenglück, Jadran Kale, Susanne M. Hoffmann, Hermann Hunger, Vance Tiede, Liba Taub, Juan Antonio Belmonte, A. César González-García, Milan S. Dimitrijevic, Isabella Leone, Vito Francesco Polcaro, Eva Spinazzè, Manuela Incerti, Sonja Draxler, Max E. Lippitsch, Nikolaos Ragkos, Mariusz Ziółkowski, Wojciech Mirocha, Barbara Kaiser, Nicholas Campion, Karine Dilanian, Sepp Rothwangl, Uliva Velo, Bruno P. Besser, Javier Mejuto, Arturo Morales Blanco, Raul Perez-Enriquez, Jesús Galindo Trejo, Hasso Hohmann, Stanislaw Iwaniszewski, Ivan Šprajc, José Nicolás Balbi, John McKim Malville, Silvia Motta, Reza Assasi, Akira Goto, Georg Zotti.
ISBN -- 978-3-347-14632-7 (Paperback), 978-3-347-14633-4 (Hardcover), 978-3-347-14634-1 (e-Book),
(440 pages, 126 colour pages)

A tropical year spans 365 k'in plus an implicit quarter-k'in, a ritual time occurring during the office-relay between two Year Bearers. This makes the 13 Bak'tun cycle measure 5,128 tropical years plus 280 days, a lapse within which both Venus and Moon complete respective cycles. Two hieroglyphic passages account for the astronomical configuration at the beginning of the 13 Bak'tun cycle, so recovering the starting date (July 27, 3117 B.C.E.) and the closing date (May 3, 2013 C.E.). On the haab' 0 Pop is always linked to August 13, be it at dawn, at noon, at dusk or at midnight. This paper can be totally or partially copied, provided the complete reference is given.

In 1931 John Teeple first proposed that the dates recorded on Stela A at Copán evi-denced the Classic Maya knowledge of the Metonic cycle. While his Determinant Theory has long been fully discredited, scholars&#39; explanations of a 6940-day period have been diverse (e.g. Morley, 1920; Spinden, 1924; Chambers, 1965; Alexander, 1988). The information , however, is not self-evident. At best, the use of the 235-lunar month cycle may only be inferred from a limited corpus of documents, but cannot be confirmed (Bricker and Bricker, 2011). While it may be imprudent to firmly dismiss the hypothesis concerning the Maya awareness of the Metonic cycle, it seems that even if the Maya has some knowledge of it, in practice this knowledge had never been consistently used or disseminated .

Ancient and pre-modern worldviews of the cosmos originated in practical lifeworld structures and experiences and therefore cannot be analyzed in the same manner as modern cosmologies are. Being embedded in everyday activities, worldview categories received ontological statuses, in contrast to socially and culturally disembedded cosmologies relying on specific epistemological frameworks. Uaxactunian Group E astronomical alignments are discussed to show that both approaches, the ontological and epistemological ones are equally important within the cultural astronomical paradigm.

A single page astronomical study guide of the ten Maya Grolier Codex pages.  This guide labels pages 1-9 and Carlson's reconstruction of page 10/11 based on the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original.

This guide has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

Ершова Г.Г Зодиакальный пояс в представлении мезоамериканцев. // Системные исследования взаимосвязи древних культур Сибири и Северной  Америки. Выпуск 3., Спб., 1996. С. 70-81
В древней Мезоамерике существовали развитые астрономические знания, в основе которых лежало учение о Зодиакальных созвездиях, как основе мироздания.

In a number of studies on Mesoamerican architecture and urbanism, it has been argued that the spatial distribution of buildings and architectural complexes of different types and functions reflects cosmological concepts. The archaeoastronomical investigations carried out in recent decades have provided additional information in this regard, revealing that the civic and ceremonial buildings were largely oriented on the basis of astronomical and calendrical considerations and that these criteria, notwithstanding regional and temporal variations in orientation patterns, were fundamentally the same over extensive areas and during long periods. One fact that has received less attention is that the astronomical alignments materialized in the most important buildings frequently conditioned their spatial relationships and were also reproduced, although approximately and without being observationally functional, in extensive sectors of the built environment. I discuss several specific cases that exemplify this practice, showing that it is precisely the importance of the astronomically significant directions that allows us to understand some clearly recognizable aspects of pre-Hispanic urban layouts, and even of broader cultural landscapes, which have partly been preserved to the present day.

Harmony and Symmetry. Celestial regularities shaping human culture. Proceedings of the SEAC 2018 Conference in Graz. Edited by Sonja Draxler, Max E. Lippitsch & Gudrun Wolfschmidt. Hamburg: tredition (European Society for Astronomy in Culture - SEAC Publications; Vol. 01) 2020.
With contributions by Rita Gautschy, Aleksandra Bajić, Alexey Stoev, Penka Maglova, Marc Türler, Marc Frîncu, Tamaš Fodor, Göran Henriksson, Mary Blomberg, Marianna P. Ridderstad, Eberhard Zangger, Marc Thuillard, Barbara Rappenglück, Stefano Spagocci, Adriano Gaspani, Michael A. Rappenglück, Jadran Kale, Susanne M. Hoffmann, Hermann Hunger, Vance Tiede, Liba Taub, Juan Antonio Belmonte, A. César González-García, Milan S. Dimitrijevic, Isabella Leone, Vito Francesco Polcaro, Eva Spinazzè, Manuela Incerti, Sonja Draxler, Max E. Lippitsch, Nikolaos Ragkos, Mariusz Ziółkowski, Wojciech Mirocha, Barbara Kaiser, Nicholas Campion, Karine Dilanian, Sepp Rothwangl, Uliva Velo, Bruno P. Besser, Javier Mejuto, Arturo Morales Blanco, Raul Perez-Enriquez, Jesús Galindo Trejo, Hasso Hohmann, Stanislaw Iwaniszewski, Ivan Šprajc, José Nicolás Balbi, John McKim Malville, Silvia Motta, Reza Assasi, Akira Goto, Georg Zotti.
ISBN -- 978-3-347-14632-7 (Paperback), 978-3-347-14633-4 (Hardcover), 978-3-347-14634-1 (e-Book),
(440 pages, 126 colour pages)