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Maya Calendar Reform? Evidence from Orientations of Specialized Architectural Assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Anthony F. Aveni ,
Anne S. Dowd  and
Benjamin Vining
Anthony F. Aveni
Affiliation:
Departments of Physics and Astronomy and of Sociology and Anthropology, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346
Anne S. Dowd
Affiliation:
Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192
Benjamin Vining
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
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Abstract

Long before they devised a written calendar, the Maya articulated their seasons by means of an “orientation calendar” that consisted of visual alignments involving their architecture. One specialized set of buildings, Group Eat Uaxactún, Guatemala, in the Petén lowlands, has been regarded as the prototype of such a calendar. We present new data based on precise measurements made in the field at 12 Group E complexes and obtained for a number of additional sites from reliable maps where on-site astronomical fixes were acquired. Statistical analysis of the resulting 99 alignments supports the hypothesis that, at least at some stage of development, certain of these specialized complexes did indeed function astronomically. The earliest version of the orientation calendar seems to have developed in the Petén; it was focused on the solstices. A later orientation calendar seems to have functioned principally during the season leading up to the onset of rain and crop planting. It consisted of a division of the dry season into 20-day months prior to the first annual passage of the sun across the zenith (approximately May 10 in the Christian calendar). We argue that this later orientation calendar was derived from Teotihuacan during the Early Classic period (A.D. 278–593).

Antes del calendario escrito, los Mayas Antiguos organizaban las estaciones mediante un “calendario de orientación” basado en alineaciones visuales demarcados por su arquitectura. Este parece ser el caso de un complejo arquitectónico llamada Grupo E, en el sitio Uaxactún en las tierras bajas de Petén. Siguiendo este planeamiento, presentamos nuevos datos, unos basados en medidas precisas del campo que proceden de dos estructuras del tipo Grupo E, y otros son datos que se derivan de mapas fiables corregidos por medidas astronómicas. El análisis estadístico de unas 99 alineaciones que apoyan la hipótesis de que ciertos de estas estructuras especializadas funcionaron astronómicamente, por lo menos durante algunas fases de su desarrollo. Proponemos que la versión más antigua del calendario de orientación, centrada en los solsticios, se desarrolló en el Petén. Sin embargo, encontremos alineaciones posteriores que pertenecen a otro calendario de orientación. El análisis de la distribución de las alineaciones indica un calendario que funcionaba principalmente entre la estación lluviosa y la estación de siembra. Específicamente, el calendario de orientación dividía la temporada árida en meses de 20 días, hasta el primer paso anual del sol a través del cenit (aproximadamente el día 10 de Mayo según el calendario Cristiano). Proponemos que este calendario de Uaxactún se derivó del de Teotihuacan durante el periodo Clásico Temprano (278–593 d.C.).

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 2003 , pp. 159 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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