Introduction For centuries, people from all latitudes have been fascinated by the night sky. The unreachable stars, the Moon, the comets and all the events happening in the sky, fired up imaginations and became symbols of life and death, of war, peace and the passing of time and the seasons. The movement of the stars was used to establish the time for planting and harvesting, to prepare for the long winters and to try to discover the future and destiny, the eternal unknown destiny of the human race. Three large human groups, the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Zapotecs populated the Central and Southeastern regions of Mexico long before the discovery of the continent by Columbus. These ancient cultures developed a very complex knowledge of Astronomy and built a large number of structures destined to be used as observatories. They made precise measurements and kept records of all the important events in the skies. This paper will explore some of the most important discoveries of these ancient astronomers and the precision of the alignments of their buildings. It will also establish the importance the astronomical knowledge had in their lives and societies. Part I - The Mayans The Mayan Culture occupied the Southern part of Mexico and part of Central America. They were the only pre-Hispanic civilization with an advanced written language and a very developed culture and body of knowledge that included the most advanced mathematics, art, architecture and a very accurate astronomy. The Mayans developed sophisticated hydraulic systems, built extraordinary palaces, and designed and built pyramids and buildings believed to be observatories which were aligned with some celestial bodies and marked some of the most important astronomical eve... ... middle of paper ... ...heoCUs/99-01-08.htm>. Ruggles, Clive L. N. "Ancient astronomy: an encyclopedia of cosmologies and myth." 2005. Google Books. December 2011 . Vail, Gabrielle and Christine. Hernandez. "Astronomers, scribes, and priests." 2010. Google Books. . Welser-Sherrill, Leslie. Astronomy of the Mayans. 2007. November 2011 .
It is very likely that most people have heard about the Mayan Civilization in one way or another. Whether fictitious or factual, this ancient culture iw idelt recognized. The Mayan people lived from about 250 to 900 CE in Mesoamerica. Which includes modern day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and parts of southern Mexico.These people had many remarkable achievements, all of which can fit under the categories of scale, genius effort, and significance. These achievements include an advanced trade system, an amazing understanding of numbers, and the ability to design and build cities that are still mostly standing today. However, their most impressive achievement is their complex calendars.
Ancient Pueblo Indians had a great understanding of astronomy. All of the pueblos in the canyon were aligned to match the movements of the sun and moon. Also, they marked their complexes with daggers and spirals to keep up with the moon cycles and sun movements. The film explains that the moon moves north for nearly ten years and then south for about ten years. To fully understand this cycle of the moon, Pueblo people had to study it for years in order to build their Pueblos in relations to it. The sun however, was different because it set and rose in the same position. The concept of building structures in an astronomical pattern this complex cannot be found anywhere else.
The Olmec, Mayan, and the Aztec Indians were very advanced civilizations for the 14th, 15th, and 16th century. They would used different kinds of resources found around them to create the technology they used to survive. For example the Olmec and the Mayans used cotton to create all kinds of garments, the Mayans also created a number system and their weapons and armor to go to war, the Aztecs adopted an education on how to hunt, how to fight, jewel cutting, metal polishing, song composition, science of the heavens, planing trees and flowers, cooking, cleaning, and many other things. Many cultures were influenced by these three civilizations as they had spread across the world and still use many of their techniques in our everyday lives.
Clarke, Leonard W.‘Greek Astronomy and Its Debt to the Babylonians' The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 1, No. (Cambridge University Press. 1962)
For many years astronomers and people alike have constantly heard about the observations and records of the Chinese and Europeans. No other culture can provide as much information as that gathered by the Chinese and Europeans, but there are many other cultures that observed and recorded the night sky, one of those being the Native Americans. During the last fifteen to twenty years archaeoastronomers have uncovered much concerning the beliefs and records of Native Americans. Unfortunately, the methods of keeping records of astronomical events were not as straight forward as the Chinese and Europeans. The Native Americans had to use what they could to record what they observed. Their records were found on rock and cave drawings, stick notching, beadwork, pictures on animal skins and story telling. One of the few dateable events among the various records of Native Americans was the 1833 appearance of the Leonid meteor shower.
Heavenly navigation techniques, that are used in the site of sun and stars in the sky, along with knowing that the earth is a spherical, which astronomers used as a beginning to be executed by sailors that was in Columbus time.
Architecture, like many things, can also be made for the use of or inspired by the symbols people believe in. Therefore, art and architecture in Ancient Mesoamerica can be stated to be made for the use of religious symbols. Making architecture and art forms takes effort, dedication, and patience. Architecture can take years to make, as was s...
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society.
In the fertile valleys or high plateaus the Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs built communities and villages practicing sedentary lifestyles. They had for the most part “permanent, intensive agriculture.” (Lane and Restall 2012) This allowed them to produce complex foods that benefitted the villages because it made them possible but it also resulted in social stratification. “Agricultural activities of the majority allowed a minority to live and work as artisans, merchants, warriors, nobles and royalty – permitting the development of writing, metallurgy, bureaucracy, and other features of high civilization.” More specifically, the Mayans were able to create the most complete of the three Mesoamerican writing systems, “one that was still used in the early sixteenth century.” (Lane and Restall 2012) They were also able to expand, but their expansion would also be their demise. Because they were so large -- filled with regional kingdoms and empires -- the Spanish were easily able to conquer
The Mayan civilization was located in southeastern Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. One of the first American civilizations, it lasted from about 1000 B.C.-1542 A.D. Their civilization flourished during the Sixth Century. They built many temples and over forty cities. The Mayan population consisted of almost fifteen million people who were all living in one of the many cities. The Mayan people were extremely religious and believed in multiple gods which meant they were polytheistic. Their most commonly worshiped god was the Maize God, or god of corn, as corn was the most grown and most relied on crop. The Mayans grew all of their own food so they needed to have useful farming methods. The one they used most often was the slash and burn method, which involved cutting down trees and burning them to make the soil fertil which was necessary to grow crops. This method worked for many years, but soon started to backfire. The Mayans were ahead of their time, but that did not prevent their mysterious decline which occurred between the years 800 A.D.-900 A.D. Although it is not known exactly why the powerful empire fell, but there are various probable theories. The mysterious decline of the Mayans may have been caused by
The Mayans lived in Southern Mexico and Central America in their capital, Tikal, which is in present day Guatemala. The Mayans were known for their engineering, one structure they were famous for is their pyramid temple in Tikal (Document 1). This pyramid was the tallest structure in the Americas up until the 20th century and is still standing today. The government must have been strong and well organized in order to carry out such a large task. The Mayan religion had multiple gods and this pyramid was most likely devoted to one or used as a place for sacrifices. Another accomplishment of the Mayans was the creation of their calendar. An extra document that would be useful is one that explains how the calendar was created. The Mayans must have studied astronomy and math to a great length. Similar to the Ancient Egyptians, they wrote with symbols and pictures known as glyphs that were used in the calendar. These glyphs were gods, such as Zotz (Document 2). The use of glyphs is an acknowledgement of a writing system, which is another accomplishment.
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
Astronomy is a very important field in science. Ancient Greece, China, and India all contributed to our everyday ideas and uses of astronomy. Ancient Greece was the most influential because the Indian’s based most of their astronomy off of Greece. The Greeks created calendars that were based off of the eclipse cycle, which they called by two different names, Hellenic Calendars and Lunisolar Calendars. Because of Ancient Greece, we now have calendars to keep us on track every day. The Greeks observed a celestial object passing through the eastern and western morning sky. After a long time of observations, they came to a realization that it was a planet and now that is the planet is well known as Venus. (Sarton, 75) Plato and Aristotle’s theories were incredible contributions on us today. Both of their theories were all about the behavior and life of the planets, such as their theory that the earth is spherical. (Sarton, 421). Ancient Greece als...
The Maya civilization is a very important culture that has left a great impact on our world today. They are known for their written language, art, mathematical system and astronomical system. The Maya territory includes Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico. In these areas the Maya thrived in their religious practices, politics, and their use of the territory.