Ancient Astronomy in the Americas
Practical Origins
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Ancient Americans were farmers and needed to
know the best time for planting and harvesting.
With farming came a practical need for a
calendar.
As civilization developed, deeper meanings
were attached to astronomical phenomenon.
An overall trend: the more settled a culture
became, the more religious meanings became
attached to the sky.
North America
Some Quick History
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People crossed from Asia into Alaska via the
now sunken Bering Land Bridge in about
(YEAR).
Following open areas free of ice people
migrated South into the continent.
First permanent settlements in about (YEAR).
Except for the Maya civilization, no Ancient
Americans ever developed writing.
Most information is based on educated guesses
and second-hand European sources.
Ancient Astronomy in Ohio
Moundbuilders (1000BC-500AD)
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A collective name given
to many Indian groups
between 1000BC and
1500AD.
By the time of European
colonists, the
Moundbuilders were
history.
Many mounds were for
burial.
Some may have been
related to astronomy.
The Great Serpent Mound
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Located in Adams
County, Ohio.
Built by the Adena
(YEARS)
At over 3 feet tall, 20 feet
wide, and 1,370 feet
long, it is the world's
largest effigy mound.
No burials, its purpose
remains a mystery.
Time of construction is
unknown.
From the Air
An Astronomical Explanation?
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Do the head and coils
point toward the
sunrises/sets on
solstices and
equinoxes?
Does the serpent
represent Draco?
Can lunar movements
be found within the
coils?
The Octagon
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Located in Newark,
OH, now incorporated
into a golf course.
Built by the Hopewell
Culture (200BC500AD)
In the 1980s during a
search for solar
alignments, several
Lunar alignments were
discovered (no solar
ones though).
Evidence of Advanced Observing
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The main axis, connecting the octagon and
circle, points to the Northernmost moon rise in
the 18.6 year lunar cycle.
Four other sides point to the maximum southern
rise, minimum northern rise, maximum northern
set, and minimum southern set.
A similar Hopewell structure, the High Bank
Earthworks in Chillicothe, also exhibit these
same alignments.
Newark (left) and Chillicothe (right)
Is There More?
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Newark and Chilicothe are very similar sites
about 55 miles apart.
The common design in obvious.
In Newark, traces of parallel Earth banks about
200 feet apart, leading 6 miles in the direction of
Chillicothe were first surveyed in 1862.
With aerial photography, traces of this
supposed road are visible at four additional
sites, which are in direct line between Newark
and Chillicothe.
The “Great Hopewell Road”
More?
Fort Ancient People (1000-1550)
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Descendants of the Moundbuilders
Named for a hilltop site occupied by the tribe. In
reality, this site, no longer considered a fort,
was probably built by the Moundbuilders.
Far more agriculturally orentated than their
Moundbuilder ancestors.
With agriculture comes a need for accurate
timekeeping.
Sunwatch Village
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Located in Dayton.
Originally intended to be a salvage excavation.
Now, the site is permanantely preserved.
Now restored.
The village centers around tall posts in the
ground.
Using line of sight, these posts mark the
solstices and equinoxes.
Special houses are also in these sight lines.
The Reconstructed Village
Cahokia
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Located in the St. Louis
area.
Flourished from about
650-1400 AD.
Monk's Mound (left) is
a pyramid-like structure
and is the largest man
made mound in N.
America with a 1,037' x
790' base (Egypt's
Great Pyramid is a 754'
square).
“Woodhenge”
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Located to the West of Monk's Mound.
Consisted of a circle of posts used to make line of
sight astronomical alignments.
There were as many as five henges, with posts
ranging from as few as 12 to as many as 60.
Original posts long gone, holes averaging 4 feet deep
and 2 feet wide were the evidence the henge existed.
The 48 post version, 410 feet in diameter, has been
reconstructed.
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Solstices and Equinoxes were marked.
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Other alignments are unknown.
Artist's Depiction
The Southwest
The Pueblo (1200AD-????)
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A collective name applied to many individual
tribes.
Lived in the Four Corners area of the
Southwest.
Known for their pottery and cliff side housing.
Modern Indians in this area claim these people
as their ancestors.
Although not certain, there are believed to be
links with Mesoamerican cultures.
An Ancient Pueblo Village
Chaco Canyon
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Occupied by the Anasazi People from about
900-1250AD.
Pearls and parrot feathers found here, which
are thought to be represent a link to Central
American groups.
The strength of these ties is uncertain, ranging
from trading partners to outposts of
Mesoamerican civilization.
Reasons for their collapse are thought to be
weather related.
The Supernova Petroglyph
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M1, the Crab Nebula, is the remnant of a
Supernova first seen on July 4, 1054.
The Supernova was visible in daylight for
almost three weeks, absolutely impossible to
ignore.
The people at Chaco Canyon may have
recorded this observation in stone.
Tracing back the sky, the glyph depicts the
moon's location on July 5, 1054.
The Petroglyph
The Sun Dagger
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Rediscovered in the 1970s.
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Used to mark the solstices and equinoxes.
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Created by the interplay of light and shadow.
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Consists of petroglyphs on rock behind a stone
slab in front with slits for sunlight.
The petroglyphs are a large spiral and a small
snake.
The effect would last about 15 minutes.
Due to shifting rocks, the effect is now altered and
the site is closed to the public.
In Detail
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Summer Solstice: The sun shines through a slit
and appears as a small point of light on the
spiral. Slowly the point of light grows into a
cone, which is then cut off at the top to make a
dagger, which slowly moves down.
Winter Solstice: The same except that two
daggers bracket the spiral.
Equinoxes: Long light shaft bisects the snake,
another illuminated the spiral.
At the Winter Solstice
The Great Kiva
Medicine Wheels
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Many are located in
the Western U.S.
Strongly resemble
henges.
Spokes and rocks are
thought by some to
mark astronomical
alignments.
A complete lack of
written history leaves
meanings uncertain.
Central/Mesoamerica
Quick History
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Many cultures in a small area.
Overall trend: cultural succession. A certain
culture becomes dominant, declines, and is
replaced by another.
As new cultures rise, they build on the legacy of
the previous civilizations.
In Mesoamerica, the astronomy/religion link is
common. By the Spanish conquest, religion and
astronomy are essentially one discipline.
The Olmecs (1200-300BC)
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The foundation culture of Central America.
Known as “The Rubber People” for their
ballgame-more later.
The tradition of pyramid temples started with
the Olmecs.
Known for carving giant stone heads, on which
there has been much speculation.
Astronomically, the development of the first
calendars is their most important achievement.
Olmec Sites
Olmec Pyramid
Olmec Stone Head
The Ritual Ballgame
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Played with a heavy (WEIGHT) rubber ball,
which represented the sun.
The object was to keep the ball moving and get
it through a stone loop high on a wall.
The game could last for days because the
players could not use hands or feet.
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Played by teams of two.
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The losers were often sacrificed.
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A potentially deeper meaning to the stone loop
will be addressed later.
Ritual Ballcourt
The Olmec Calendars
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The Olmecs used 2 parallel calendars.
A 365 day solar calendar. As far as we know, no
Mesoamrican culture used leap years. This was
the everyday calendar for practical activities.
A 260 day ritual calendar. The origins of this
calendar remain unknown.
Calendars would start at the same time, but
would not re align again for 52 years.
The later Maya expand greatly upon these
ideas.
The Maya (600 BC-1200AD)
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New evidence continually pushes the Origin of
Maya culture further back in time.
Some Maya pyramids rival Egypt's in size.
The only Mesoamerican culture to develop
writing.
Once thought to be a peaceful civilization ruled
by astronomer-priests. Actually very militaristic.
Did very detailed astronomical observations.
For reasons unknown, civilization mostly
collapsed by 900AD. Much speculation here.
More About the Maya
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The Maya believed that time was cyclical, not
linear.
With this idea came the belief that thew world
was created, will be destroyed, and then
recreated.
These cycles were known as Suns.
To the Maya, these suns were not random, but
were clearly organized. More to follow.
Important Maya Sites
The Importance of Time
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Kept the Olmec 365 and 260 day calendars.
Thanks to texts, we know more about the
division of the calendars.
Ritual calendar consisted of 20 months of 13
days each.
Solar calendar was 18 months of 20 days each.
The leftover 5 days were considered dangerous
because the gates of the underworld were
thought to open. People mostly stayed home.
The Ultimate Calendar
Religion and the Sky
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The Milky Way
represents the road to
the underworld.
The Milky Way is
often represented as
a monster devouring
the dead.
This is the
sarcophagus lid of
Maya king Pacal.
Or is it an Astronaut on a Rocket?
The Myth of the Hero Twins
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A king and his twin brother like to play the ritual
ballgame.
Problem: they play on a court over a gateway to
the underworld, which annoys the gods of
death.
The gods summon the king and his brother to
the underworld for a game.
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The gods win and the brothers are killed.
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The king had two twin sons of his own.
Take Two
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The younger twins also like to play the ballgame
and also annoy the gods of death.
Once again, the gods summon the twins to the
underworld. The twins take the challenge.
This time, the gods lose.
Before exiting the underworld, the twins
resurrect their father and uncle.
Their father becomes the sun, their uncle
becomes the planet Venus.
Cosmic Brothers
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The Sun and Venus share a rhythm that only
long observations can detect.
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The solar year is 365 days.
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The Venus Cycle (What) is 584 days.
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Coincidently, 8 solar years directly overlaps with
5 cycles of Venus (both are 2920 days).
Both represent life triumphing over death.
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Rising and setting sun
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Venus going from visability to conjunction
Venus and the Maya
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Since Venus represented life triumphing over
death, Venus was carefully observed.
The movements of Venus often dictated policy.
Venus approaching conjunction was an
ominous time and the reappearance of Venus
was a time of rejoicing.
Conjunction signified the ballgame between the
Hero Twins and gods of death. During
conjunction, the Maya believed that the
existence of the world was being determined.
Beyond the Century
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52 years too short for long term record keeping.
Maya invented the Long Count with its longer
cycles to fix this.
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1 day (kin)
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20 days (kins) = 1 month (uinal)
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18 months (uinals) = 360 days (1 tun)
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20 tuns = 1 K'atun (7200 days)
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20 K'atuns = 1 Ba'ak'tun (144,000 days)
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1 Ba'ak'tun = 1 Sun/Great Cycle (1,872,000 days or
5,125 years)
Astronomy, the Long Count, and
Doomsday?
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The Long Count dates to (DATE 3,114 BC) and
runs out on December 21, 2012.
Coincidently, on December 21, 2012, the sun
will rise directly in a black void in the Milky Way.
Since the Milky Way was the road to the
underworld, this dark void was the actual gate.
With the Hero Twins in mind, this astronomical
event signifies the birth of a new sun because
the Hero Twins' father exits the underworld.
Remember the ballgame and the stone loop?
What this Means
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The Twins myth comes from the Popol Vuh.
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Astronomical knowledge comes from observation.
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At the time the Popol Vuh was being written in
about 100 BC, the Winter Solstice sun rose about
30 degrees from the Void.
Precession shifts apparent location a degree every
70 years.
70 years x 30 degrees = about 2100 years.
The Maya must have understood Precession to
calculate when the sun would rise in the void.
Astronomy in Buildings
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Many Maya buildings
incorperate line of
sight alignments.
The temple group at
Uaxactun (left) is
designed to mark the
solstices and
equinoxes.
Some alignments are
not so obvious.
An astronomical City?
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Tikal, located in
Guatemala, is one of the
most impressive Maya
sites.
The 5 central temples
were all built within about
40 years and exhibit
possible astronomical
significance.
The equinoxes, Winter
Solstice, and August 13
are all possible.
The Ultimate Ancient Observatory
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The Caracol, located in
Chichen Itza, displays
many subtle aignments.
The main axis of the
temple is toward the
Northernmost rise of
Venus.
Windows in the building
align to rises/sets of
prominent stars.
The solstices are
discreetly included too.
The Caracol's Many Alignments
Teotihuacan (DATES)
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Located near Mexico
City.
Ran parallel to the
Maya civilization, but
much farther north.
Famous for its
pyramids.
Less known for its
astronomy.
Pyramid City
A Place of Mystery
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Compared to other civilizations, (CITY) was
short lived.
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Once again, no writing.
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Evidence of a catastrophic end.
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The later Aztecs believed that the gods created
the universe here.
The Aztecs were also responsible for naming
many of the major landmarks.
The Avenue of the Dead
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At the time of
construction, this
avenue was orentated
to the first helical
rising of the Pleiades.
This also coincides
with the beginning of
the rainy season.
56 other cities copy
this plan.
The Aztecs (1300-1521)
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The Last great Mesoamerican civilization.
Inherited, then added to the traditions of the
earlier cultures.
Known for their particularily gruesome method
of practicing human sacrifice on an industrial
scale.
Strong believers in astrology, which was often
used in policymaking.
Believed everything was predestined and that
nothing happened due to chance.
Sun Centered View
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Unlike the Maya, the Sun was most important.
Aztecs believed they were living in the 5th and
final Sun (the Maya had no limits)
When the world was created, the Sun refused
to move. To get it moving, the gods sacrificed
themselves to it.
The need for human sacrifice comes from a
need to keep the sun moving.
As long as the sun kept moving, the world
would not end.
Aztec Raisin Bran
Moctezuma's Comet
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Seen in (YEAR)
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Now known to have been Halley's Comet.
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Was unpredicted by the astrologers, who were
beheaded as punishment.
Something unforseen like a comet was taken as
a bad omen, especially for a people as fatalistic
as the Aztecs.
A period Depiction
The Templo Mayor
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The double pyramid temple in the Aztec capital on
Tenoichtitlan.
A main point of sacrifice.
From an observation point opposite the temple, the
sun would appear to rise directly between the two
pyramids.
Due to precession, the alignment bacame slightly
off over time.
At the time of the conquest, there was a plan to
completely disassemble and rebuild the temple to
adjust for precession.
South America
Quick History
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First traces of human settlement around
(YEAR)
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No real powerful, long lived cultures.
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Instead, many overlapping, differing cultures.
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Despite the cultural and chronological
differences, astronomy was a shared
characvteristiuc to varying degrees.
Did you know...
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The world's oldest
man made mummies
are from the South
American Chinchorro
culture and are from
about 5-6000BC, at
least 2000 years older
than the oldest
Egyptian mummy.
Now for Some Astronomy
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Writing was unknown
in South America until
the arrival of the
Spanish.
Without writing, there
is much speculation.
Basic astronomical
achievements can be
relatively certain.
The Nazca Lines
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Located in the Nazca
desert in Peru.
One of the driest places
on earth.
Lack of water and wind
has allowed the lines,
created by scraping
away iron oxide pebbles
to reveal the lighter lower
soil, to remain preserved
for about 1500 years
without change.
Several Mysteries
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Astronomical
significance?
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Religious motivation?
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Related to water?
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Proof of ancient hot
air balloons?
Aliens?
Is this an ancient
astronaut?
Possible Astronomical Significance
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These theories are all educated guesses, no
one knows anything about the lines for sure.
Some think the figures could represent
constellations.
Others argue that the figures and lines align
with certain celestial events.
The problem is that there are so many lines, it is
hard not to find any alignments!
A second problem is that there is no written
history from the time.
Other Ideas?
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No one knows the lines' purpose.
Religious motivation: The drawings depict gods
and/or were meant for the gods to see. They
could have also been mazes on which rituals
were performed.
A map of underground springs, which are
known to exist in the area?
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Proof of ancient hot air balloons?
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Ancient alien airfield?
Ancient Hot Air Balloon
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Not completely crazy.
A balloon was built in
(YEAR) with
technology/materials
that would have been
current at the Lines'
time of construction.
Potential problem:
Could the ancients
have thought of
manned flight?
Ancient Nazca Spaceport?
The Incas
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Very short lived
civilization.
Controlled an area
about the size of
Ancient Egypt.
The true empire only
lasted about 90 years.
Astronomical practices
were recorded, the
Sun was dominant.
The Intihuatana Stone
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Located in Macchu
Picchu, Peru.
Points at the Winter
Solstice sun.
Also called the
“Hitching Post of the
Sun” because, at mid
day on the equinoxes,
the pillar casts no
shadow.
A Threatened Site
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Macchu Picchu, as a whole, is Peru's most
visited tourist site.
Over 400,000 people visit the site annually.
In the 1990s, a cable car was built to allow
easier access.
Economic and commercial forces threaten the
sight, according to academics.
In 2000, the Stone was damaged when an
1,100 pound crane fell on it during filming of...
...A Beer Commercial!
“Oops!”
The Thirteen Towers
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About 2300 years old and located in Peru.
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Have been known of for almost 100 years.
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Thirteen well preserved towers are situated on a
ridge and run from North to South.
About 750 feet to the East and West are two
areas scientists think could be observation
points.
From these points, the rising and setting Sun will
travel from the Northernmost to Southernmost
tower during the course of a year.
Coincidence or Intended?
The Temple of the Fox
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Located in the Chillon River Valley, North of
Lima, Peru.
The site was first Excavated in 1987.
In 2006, an observatory marking the solstices
was recognized.
From carbon dating of objects at the site, the
age is estimated to be 4,200 years old.
This is the oldest known observatory in the
Americas.
The Amazon Stonehenge
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Discovered in 2003.
127 blocks in total
spaced along regular
intervals in a 100 foot
diameter circle.
Some stones are 9 feet
tall.
Located on a hilltop.
One block is situated so
that its shadow
disappears as the sun
rises over it.