But scientists have come to the rescue once again, shining so much light on the mystery that they managed to solve it, discovering that the observatory marked the summer and winter solstices, along with the days and weeks of the year.

The news has come from the March 2 edition of Science which has reported that Ivan Ghezzi, a graduate student in the department of Anthropolgy at Yale University, and Clive Ruggles, a leading British authority on archeoastronomy from the University of Leicester, have co-authored a paper on the subject.

An article at Playfuls provides interesting details of the discovery for those unable to access the printed version of Science Magazine.

They quote Ghezzi, the lead author of the paper, as saying that: “Archaeological research in Peru is constantly pushing back the origins of civilization in the Americas. In this case, the 2,300 year old solar observatory at Chankillo is the earliest such structure identified and unlike all other sites contains alignments that cover the entire solar year. It predates the European conquests by 1,800 years and even precedes, by about 500 years, the monuments of similar purpose constructed by the Mayans in Central America.”

The Chankillo site is massive, with walls, gates and parapets. For years no-one quite knew whether it was ceremonial or served a military purpose, and more puzzling still were the thirteen towers in a line 300 meters long. Now, they are known to all be connected in part of a great solar observatory.

Ghezzi was also quoted at the Playfuls article as saying that: “Focusing on the Andes and the Incan empire, we have known for decades from archeological artifacts and documents that they practiced what is called solar horizon astronomy, which uses the rising and setting positions of the sun in the horizon to determine the time of the year. We knew that Inca practices of astronomy were very sophisticated and that they used buildings as a form of "landscape timekeeping" to mark the positions of the sun on key dates of the year, but we did not know that these practices were so old.”

Ruggles was also quoted at the article. He said that: “I am used to being disappointed when visiting places people claim to be ancient astronomical observatories.  Since everything must point somewhere and there are a great many promising astronomical targets, the evidence — when you look at it objectively — turns out all too often to be completely unconvincing."

“Chankillo, on the other hand, provided a complete set of horizon markers — the Thirteen Towers — and two unique and indisputable observation points. The fact that, as seen from these two points, the towers just span the solar rising and setting arcs provides the clearest possible indication that they were built specifically to facilitate sunrise and sunset observations throughout the seasonal year”, said Ruggles.

Ruggles also said that “Chankillo is one of the most exciting archaeoastronomical sites I have come across. It seems extraordinary that an ancient astronomical device as clear as this could have remained undiscovered for so long.”
{moscomment}

Tags See All Tags

Alex Zaharov-Reutt  Earth  Research  Science