The Aztec Schedule Stone was sculpted from strengthened lava in the late 15th century. It somehow got shed for 300 years as well as was located in 1790, hidden under the zocalo, or main square of Mexico City.
The stone– also called the Sun Stone or the Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl– went on screen in the city’s Metropolitan Sanctuary. About a century later, in 1885, it was relocated to Mexico’s National Museum of Sociology, where it continues to be to today.
Weighing concerning 24 loads, the rock is around 3 feet thick and steps practically 12 feet across. We do not understand simply exactly how it was made use of– sacrificial altar? Sundial? Schedule?– however we do understand that it predicts solar eclipses.
Its layout is rich with animals and also various other signs, all component of an intricate cosmology. For example, the divine being Tonatuih sits in the middle, holding a human heart in each hand. His outstretched tongue is a blade for routine sacrifice, a typical Aztec technique.
The rock illustrates not one but 2 calendar systems, each absolutely different yet interlinked. Daily has 2 identities, one per system. Below’s a short explanation of just how they work.
— The 365-day xiuhpohualli defines the days as well as routines by periods, so it’s a farming year. It contains 18 months of 20 days each, plus five “unfortunate” days when catastrophes were likely to happen. Circling the Sun Stone’s facility there’s a band of the 20 icons assigned to days.
— The 260-day tonalpohualli explains each day in terms of the Aztec gods, so it’s a spiritual year. Every 24-hour cycle has one of 20 day names (such as jaguar, reed, wind, etc.) and a number from 1 to 13, because their weeks were 13 days long.
The method the two schedules engage, no date could be duplicated for 18,980 days … or 52 years. The Aztecs thought that when the solar as well as sacred cycles dropped on the exact same day, the universe was in wonderful threat. So every 52 years, they executed a sophisticated event of human sacrifice and fire to guarantee everyone’s survival. Well, every person except the sacrificial victims.
