Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:06:19.932Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Astronomical Orientations at Teotihuacán, A Case Study in Astro-Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Abstract

The streets of this Classic period city were laid out in a grid pattern. The axes of this grid were almost, but not exactly, perpendicular. There were a number of celestial bodies that in the period from A.D. 150 to A.D. 750 rose or set so as to markthe orientations of the streets. The Pleiades, Sirius, and the sun were the most probable orientation points. Two techniques which have been developed to test the more certain past existence of celestial references are described.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Alvarado Tezozomoc, Fernando de 1944 Crónica Mexicans, anotada por Sr. Lie. D. Manuel Orozco y Berra. Editorial Leyenda S. A., México.Google Scholar
Dobrizhoffer, M. 1822 An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay. John Murrary, London.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio 1951 Architectura Prehispanica, Memorias del Institute Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, No. I. México.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio and Ruiz, Luis 1935 Orientation de la Pirámide. In Tenayuca, estudio arquelogico de la pirámide de este lugar, hecho por el Departamento de Monumentos de la Secretaría de Educacion Publica, Chap. 6. Talleres Gráficos del Museo Nacional de Arquelogía, Historia y Etnografía, México.Google Scholar
Millon, René F. 1964 The Teotihuacán Mapping Project. American Antiquity, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 34552. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus Griswold 1946 The Ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Palacios, Enrique Juan 1935 La orientacion de la Pirámide de Tenayuca y el principo del año y del siglo indígenas. In Tenayuca, estudio arquelogico de la pirámide de este lugar, hecho por el Departamento de Monumentos de la Secretaría de Educacion Publica, Chap. 7. Talleres Gráficos del Museo Nacional de Arquelogía, Historia y Etnografía, México.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1951 “The Sun, Moon, and the Binding of the Years, Book 7 of the Florentine Codex,” translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles Dibble. Monographs of the School of American Research, No. 14, Pt. 8. Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Séjourné, Laurette 1959 Un palacio en la Ciudad de los Dioses. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México.Google Scholar
Séjourné, Laurette 1965 El Quetzakóatl en Teotihuacán. Cuadernos Americanos, Vol. 138, No. 1, pp. 13157. México.Google Scholar