answered question
0
Votes
Votes
1
Answer
Answer
M$0.25
Did the Uxmal Governor's palace align with Venus?
Where the people of Uxmal astronomers?
|
Report
answers (1)
Palace of the Governor
The Mayan at Uxmal has been shown to have striking orientations towards the cardinal compass directions.
The Palace of the Governor served in part as an astronomical observatory for the planet Venus (as shown by the sight-line arrow No. 1 above). Venus was tracked intensely by the Mayans and its celestial movements played a key role in devising their calendar cycles.
The face of the Palace of the Governor is covered with Venus symbols. Standing at the doorway of the Palace, an alignment to the east-southeast of a phallic symbol statue, a double-headed jaguar can be seen, and far into the distance a rise on the flat horizon. The line formed by this off-cardinal bearing points straight to the winter rise of Venus.
Amazingly, the bump on the horizon is itself another Mayan pyramid in the distant citadel of Nohpat (as shown by the horizon arrow in the image below). It is still unknown why it was engineered to serve as this sight-line or how could the Mayans have surveyed over vast distances and so accurately?
Image borrowed from Anthony F. Aveni 1980 book, "Observadores del Cielo en el Mexico Antiguo" (Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico )
| Asker's rating: |
One theory, the Mayan had a balloon technology that allow them to survey from above the ground. However, there seems to be no evidence to support this idea.
some Mayan Montgolfier brothers from the Classic period?
Tip pixelsilva for this comment
|
Report
Related questions
140 characters left
ask any question
