Aveni (Ch.1): An appreciation for astronomy is key to understanding what phenomena happen in the sky above us. He explains the differences in what one might see in different latitudes of the globe, at night and during the day. He mentions 3 significant differences between equatorial and higher latitude zones. As latitude changes, sky patterns move across the sky differently relative to the horizon. Higher latitudes have higher coordinates and are further, and altitude also results in extreme seasonal differences in climate because sunlight and sun angle vary at different times of the year depending on latitude.
Aveni (Ch3,4): Discusses the Mayan calendar more in depth. The earliest example of the 260 day calendar was found in the ruins of San Jose near Monte’ Alban. This calendar consists of 20 named days and numerals from 1-13. The difference is noting between a Mayan an Aztec calendar. They look similar, except the Aztecs had their own names and symbols. The Mayan Day names corresponded with hieroglyphs while the Aztec’s day names corresponded to element name, animal or nature.
Aldana: Mesoamerica and their calendars; specifically the Mayan’s gave insight to their spiritual world through their hieroglyphic texts. Their view of time was as a cycle, while we view time as having a beginning and end.
Pohl: Most Mesoamerican writings such as the Mayan script, Isthmian script and Oaxacan scripts all have close similarities indicating that the probably originated from a common script (Olmec). Pohl continues to show the similarities in hieroglyphs of the scripts.
Rodriguez-Martinez: Goes into detail about the Olmec influence on Mesoamerican scripts. A special script named the serpentine block was found in Veracruz, Mexico. This block was special because it contained a script that was previously unknown. This serpentine script gave greater insight to the culture of the Olmec, linking it to a form of literacy.
This week in lecture gave a more in depth study of astronomy and what it means to different cultures. We discussed the Mayan calendar and how they kept track of time. The Mayans have always intrigued me with their sense of time and fixation on the heavens. These people built their entire civilization around astronomy. Take the temple of Tenochtitlan for example; although it is a religious site we must remind
