A 2023 Science Advances study mapped 415 ceremonial sites via LiDAR. Nearly 90% aligned with Feb 11 and Oct 29 sunrises, 260 days apart. Built 1100-750 BC, they predate any written calendar. The Cascajal Block (~900 BC) may be the earliest writing in the Americas 📅
2023 LiDAR study reveals 260-day calendar encoded in Olmec city alignments
Key facts
- Twice a year (February 11 and October 29) the sun rises over the same stone alignments at hundreds of Gulf Coast sites
- Ivan Šprajc, Takeshi Inomata, and Anthony Aveni published the study in Science Advances in January 2023
- They measured 415 ceremonial complexes mapped by LiDAR; nearly 90% aligned with sunrise on those specific dates
- The two dates are exactly 260 days apart, matching the sacred Mesoamerican calendar
- The sunrise alignments were built between 1100 and 750 BC, centuries before the oldest known written record of the 260-day calendar (a Maya site in Guatemala, 300-200 BC)
- The Cascajal Block is a serpentine slab about the size of a hardback book with 62 signs cut into one face
- Found in the late 1990s in road-building rubble in the Olmec Heartland, not in a controlled excavation
- Associated pottery dates to around 900 BC
- Considered possibly the earliest writing found anywhere in the Americas
Sources
allthatsinteresting.com
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mayaztequemexique.fr
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education.nationalgeographic.org
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archive.archaeology.org
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worldhistory.org
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Architecture, wealth and status in Classic Maya urbanism revealed by ...sciencedirect.com
Archaeologists have long associated high-quality Classic Maya (250-900 CE) masonry buildings with elite and perishable material structures with commoners.
Origins of Mesoamerican astronomy and calendar: Evidence from ... - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Šprajc, Astronomical aspects of Group E-type complexes and implications for understanding ancient Maya architecture and urban planning.
Ivan Šprajc - ORCIDorcid.org
Mesoamerican astronomy and calendar: Evidence from the Olmec and Maya regions Science Advances 2023-01-06 | Journal article DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq7675
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