Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.
Ezcurra and his team set about finding this single spot by scouring Mexica manuscripts for references to such a location. The researchers found that these texts referred to Mount Tlaloc, which lies to the east of the Basin.
Exploring the high mountains around what is now Mexico City and a temple at the summit of Mount Tlaloc, and by using computer-basedmodels, the researchers identified a long causeway at the temple that aligns with the rising sun on Feb. 24, which marked the beginning of the Mexica new year. "Our hypothesis is that they used the whole Valley of Mexico. Their working instrument was the Basin itself," Ezcurra said."When the sun rose at a landmark point behind the Sierras, they knew it was time to start planting."
The study is the first to suggest that the Mexica kept time with the mountains as reference points while using the fact that the sun, when viewed from a fixed point onIt also shows what the real time-keeping method used in ancient Mexico was — not the Sun Stone, which is often incorrectly described as the"Aztec calendar." The most famous example of Aztec sculpture, the Sun Stone was instead used solely for ritual and ceremonial purposes.
"It did not have any practical use as a celestial observatory," Ezcurra said of the Sun Stone."Think of it as a monument, like Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square or Lincoln's Memorial in Washington, D.C.""The Aztecs were just as good or better as the Europeans at keeping time, using their own methods," Ezcurra said."The same goals can be achieved in different ways. It can be difficult to see that sometimes.
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