Astronomy

In contrast with modern cultures, religious beliefs in indigenous societies in the Western Hemisphere played an important role in the development of astronomy. Archaeoastronomy consults written and unwritten sources for information about how these diverse peoples thought about and observed the heavens within the context of their worldview as a whole. For example, the Maya emphasized the special relationship between the Sun and Venus to which they assigned religious significance, whereas current astronomy arranges planets according to distances from the Sun. Mayan inscriptions on stelae (carved monuments) likewise connect important events in the lives of rulers with eclipses and other astronomical events. It is likely that Andean and Mesoamerican peoples shared the belief that time flowed around the horizon, as Mexicans depicted on their calendar wheels. Scholars have discovered that the Maya even constructed buildings in alignment with astronomical events occurring at the horizon, as did peoples in the Central Valley of Mexico, Andean peoples, and those who lived in the present-day U.S. Southwest. The Governor's Palace at Uxmal, for example, displays over 300 Venus glyphs, and the constructions at Teotihuacán show planning designed in accordance with a solar horizon calendar, as did those at Tenochtitlán. Some suggest that the Caracol, built around 1000 ce at the site of Chichén Itza served as the astronomical observatory behind the written Venus calendar found in the Dresden Codex, which also includes an almanac showing that the Maya could predict solar eclipses. Indeed, five of the sixteen surviving pre-Columbian codices include Venus almanacs used to regulate specific practices of warfare and ritual sacrifice.

Although it is harder to discern astronomical orientations among the indigenous peoples of the present-day U.S. Southwest, Brazil, and the Andean region, suggestive evidence abounds. The Casa Rinconada, from the eleventh-century Anasazi-Pueblo cultures of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, a huge circular kiva for worship, is perfectly aligned on the pole star and contains a special window, possibly designed to admit the light emanating from the summer solstice sunrise. A sketch of the 1054 supernova was drawn on the walls of the canyon. In Casa Grande, Arizona, buildings contain accurate solar alignments at solstices and equinoxes, and the Chu-mash people of California carved their astronomical sightings into rocks.

Archaeologists in the twenty-first century unearthed structures in the Brazilian Amazon that have expanded existing knowledge of the region. An ancient stone structure dating from between 3000 to 1600 bce suggests ancient peoples in present-day Amapá had sophisticated astronomical knowledge; this challenges the previous hypothesis that there were few advanced societies in the Amazon during that period. The structure, which may be a temple or observatory, is composed of more than 127 evenly spaced large stone blocks driven into the ground. Scholars believe the stones' arrangement aided in pinpointing the winter solstice, and that this and other information derived from the stars and Moon helped to determine crop cycles.

Andean peoples, too, watched the skies for information about the future. Manuscripts produced after the Spanish conquest and on-site observations indicate that the Coricancha Temple (Temple of the Sun) in Cuzco possessed an astronomical orientation; opposite inner halls look out toward the June and December solstice sunrise and sunset positions, reflecting the Incas' dualistic, vertical view of the cosmos still held today. It is thought that the Incas built pillars (huacas) along the Cuzco horizon to demarcate solar positions and provide information about when to begin planting at what altitudes. Record keepers called quilcaca-mayoc wove astronomical data into textiles. The desert plateaus of coastal Nasca, Peru, contain over 100 geometrical shapes known collectively as the Nasca Lines. Although some scholars have speculated that the lines were the remains of a horizon-based astronomy system, that view has been discredited. Nevertheless, modern Andean peoples believe that a sighting of a bright Pleiades constellation will yield good harvests, and Quechua speakers think the Milky Way (Mayu) continues the river system flowing through the Valley of Cuzco into the heavens. The Guane people of Colombia also developed a calendar based on astronomy.

Since these ancient times, the study of astronomy has continued to develop. Many universities have academic departments of astronomy, and observatories exist throughout the Americas. A leading Mexican astronomer, Guillermo Haro (1913–1988), not only has made many important contributions to the field, but also was a significant promoter of institutional development. Despite a tragic accident in 2003, Brazil continues to press on with its space program. Also the region continues to witness many astronomical events. One of the largest meteors ever recorded, the 37.2-ton Campo del Cielo, landed in Argentina in 1969, generating interest and study.

See alsoAztec Calendar Stonexml .

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                                    John B. Carlson