Some new discoveries respecting the dates on the great calendar stone of the ancient Mexicans, with observations on the Mexican cycle of fifty-two years / [E.G. Squier].

  • Ephraim George Squier
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some new discoveries respecting the dates on the great calendar stone of the ancient Mexicans, with observations on the Mexican cycle of fifty-two years / [E.G. Squier]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS. [SECOND SERIES.] ’ /'8Ufi Art. X.—Some New Discoveries respecting the Dates on the great Calendar Stone of the Ancient Mexicans, with Observa¬ tions on the Mexican Cycle of Fifty-two Years ; by E. G. Squier, New York. The most interesting monument of antiquity which has been discovered in America, is unquestionably the great Calendar Stone of the Aztecs, which now occupies a place in the walls of the Cathedral of the city of Mexico. It is an immense mass of por¬ phyry, estimated to have weighed originally upwards of thirty tons. Its horizontal face is inscribed with a circle in relief, with¬ in which is found a complication of signs and figures, chiefly of an astronomical character, and referring to the motions of the sun. The relative positions and dependencies of these signs can¬ not be indicated without the aid of an engraving. I shail there¬ fore, without going into a particular account of the stone,—in¬ volving, as it necessarily would, a complete analysis of the Aztec Calendar,—simply call attention to some of the results which have attended its study by Gama, Humboldt, Gallatin and others, so as to be able to submit, in a comprehensible manner, some ad¬ ditional discoveries which have followed its investigation, under more favorable circumstances. The authorities above named, ascertained the existence of live signs upon this stone, referring to the principal annual positions of the sun, viz : the dates of the two transits of the sun by the zenith of Mexico, the dates of the vernal and autumnal equi¬ noxes, and the date of the summer solstice. The summer sol¬ stice, according to the stone, occurred on the 22d of June ; the Second Series, Vol. VII, No. 20.— March, 1840. 20