MAYAN PYRAMIDS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 63, 15 March 1934, Page 17

MAYAN PYRAMIDS

CALEXDABS AND CLOCKS'

WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS

Members of thq Mexican Government Department of Archaeology believe they have obtained pi oof that the ancient Mexican Indian pyramids ■were timepieces by which the passing of the year could be accurately determined. The natural scientists investigated a scoie oi more of ancient Indian cities on the central Mexican plateau, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Yucatan, and found "that the city planning followed the orientation of the principal pyramid or building in almost all cases, ancl very consistently, states the "Christian sSoience Monitor." These central structures which usually determined the axes or planes oi entire cities fell into two groups. ' In Chiapas, Guatemala, and southern Yucatan, which is the region occupied by the "old" Maya Empire, and whose cities flourished'in the. eaily centuries of the Christian era, the" principal buildings were turned to true astionomical east and west, so they were exactly symmetrical with the lines of the setting sun on the days of t the summer and winter'aolsticis.'--* - i But faither north, on the central Mexican plateau, in northern Yucatan, and in part of Oaxaca, the central buildings of> the city, and the genera} axis of the city itself, weie not orient tated accurately, to the east and west, but turned slightly to We noith, Tho angle -by X which they vaiied fiom tiua east and west differed with tho latitude in which the citU3s weic found. SET, AT SAME ANGLE. Group's'of ancient cities as far apart as Tenayuca, Teotihuacan, Cholula, and Chichen Itza had pyiamids of practically the same angle, namely 17 degrees, because they were in about the , same latitude. The cities that were , turned, in this fashion, off ;the true ivest were places .where1 ths ancient Toltec culture seemed*to' have reached in,the past, to judge from otbpr archaeological evidence, j \ >iS U } f"' ' I In order to, leap-.why^ the inhabitants twisted their buildings',away from the true astronomicaVjeast-wes^ lino, the investigators made-,measurements on the Aztec 'pyrami^i'Mjf /Te'nayuca, 'six miles north -west/of Mexico 'Gity, which had been completely excavated by the Mexican Government. They 'determined the axis of the pyramid, which is 17 degrees north of astronomical east and west; the lines of the setting sun on the days of tKk .spring and fall equinoxes; the summer and winter solstices; and the two days in the tiopies year when the sun crosses the zenith, or directly overhead. It was then strikingly demonstiated that tho pyiamid was faced to look exactly into the setting sun on the days of the year that the sun passed directly oveihead. In other woids, these two moments in ( the year weie so impbitant »to the "ancient Indians that they built entne cities aceoidingly. The setting sun would shine straight into the temple doors on those days and the midday sun illuminated the pyramids equally on all sides for a moment. PROVES WOMAN EIGHT. The late American archaeologist Mrs. Zelia Nuttall had long insisted that the ancients took these two moments in their year as tho most important. It is only in the tropic zone that the sun is ever stiaight overhead, and in the moments when it is, a peipondicular 'object casts no shadow, This phenomenon, Mrs Nuttall said,i enabled the ancient Indians bf tropical America to gauge the length of the year with great accuracy, and may explain why the Mayas had a Calendar at the beginning of tho Chiistian era that was more accurate than that of the Europeans 15Q0 years latei. But Mrs. Nuttall's theories had not yet been accepted by other archaeologists when the Mexicans proved independently that she was right. " For the* latitude of Tenayuca, the two* days in the year'when the sun was straight overhead were $lay 16 and July 26, The Mexican archaeologists proved by means, of historical and other data that the of these two dates, namely July * 36, was the ancient Indian New Year's Day, ; This is in its'own--field an importrfn.V aiivantee in mchaeology,/which will'aid in the correlation of Indian and Christian calendars. , * ' ' {■, '» '" T,he other astronpmical measurements on the Tenayuca, Pyjamid revealed "many interesting fa6ts ] about the. ancient Mexican civilisation.,*' T-ha lineJ-qJHhe 'sotting sun on the laa.s"of 'too I summer solstice 'coincided with' ,tha£o£ the constellation of tho pleiades. and the line'of the sun qn the 'flay of the winter solstice, with ,th.at of Antaies of the Scorpion,' jvhile Orion was the star of tho'equinoxes,' * *> WERE IMPORTANT STARS. These were important star's in the religion and mythology o£*the Indians, and ~wqib- apparently chosen because they agreed i with the sun lines. But the most-impoitant star of all in ,ancient Mexican lore was Aldebaian, and it coincided exactly with tho line of the setting sun on the day when thaj heavenly body was directly overhead. Aldobaian. was called Yohualtecutli, or; Lord of Night, by the Aztecs, and its constellation was known as that of the "now lire," Its shape was sup posed to' represent that of sticks which were rubbed together when new* fiie was raide at the beginning of anew year, op at the beginning of a new ccntuxy, which was once in 52 years. The fact that Aldebaia.i. shone every night in that same plane, while the sun only marked that line twice in the year, enabled the Indian architects to lay the plans of , their buildings .and their cities at othpr times than •, on those two rare moments in the year. The Indiaii choico of one of, these movements for their New Year , was quite logical and made tKafc day a phenomenon in their livos. Custom made it more so, for on that day fires were also made by rubbing sticks togethoi. ' Moie striking still was the Indian New Year's Day, when it also fell on the day on which a.new,"century" or cycle of 52 years began. All the fires in tho countiy wore then extinguished, on every hearth and in every temple. Tho Spanish, chroniclers preserved the Btory o£' how at a certain hour of the night, fixed by the Indian astronomers, now firo was made by rubbing sticks tngoiher1. at-the summit of the Hijl of tho Star, near Mexico City, • a njoun(tain that was' visible 'from afar. .This end of a. 5j3-'year.. cycle .wa's • thoughtl to be the end of life, unless new firo could be produced. WAS A , WATCHFUL NIGHT. Everyone waited down bolow. at tl»e bottom of the hill for the light that would mark the decision of the gods that'they could live again. On'that night people watched the hill from distant places for the important message. When the priests upon the summit had caught the spark so laboriously produced, and made it burn, they lighted' a big bonfire. Sacred messengers ran down the sides of the mountain, one, in eaph world direction, bearing a burning torch from which the fires Qf tho temples were then lighted. • ' There was enormous rejoicing, for people knew "that life was given, them again for another 52 years. They'made new pottery for their kitchens and new mats, furniture and idols, for every-

thing/old had been destroyed during that awful night of" Waiting. Indian housewives got new flic for their healths from the nearest temple wh'ieh had taken it fiom the sacied flame mada on the mountain. " . ', Almost'all Mexican pyramids show signs 'of having been ".rebuilt unany times, and some of them aro like nests, of pyiamid-shaped boxes, .for -each antenor structure had been with earth and newly fa.ced wi^h stone or other material. Stairways, are superimposed o^ver old ones. The pyiamid of Tenayuca "was remade about seven times, and it is thought that perhaps it was remade every 52' years when all old was destroyed. _ In a report on the Tenayuca excavation, it is stated that the pjiamid had two temples on top. They were unequal in impoitance because the pair of stanwajs which, side by side, lead to the top, were of unequal width. One temple was to the sun and the other to the earth. The bottom of the pyramid is surrounded by a wall of coiled stone snakes.