Abstract
The Maya culture flourished in the area which extends from the Yucatan peninsula to south-east Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras (Coe in The Maya. Thames and Hudson, New York, 2001). Between the third and the ninth centuries AD—the so called Classic period—hundreds of Maya city states developed here; most of them then rapidly collapsed, for unclear reasons.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ashmore, W. (1991). Site planning principles and concepts of directionality among the ancient Maya. Latin American Antiquity 2: 199–226.
Aveni, A. F. (1981) Horizon astronomy in Incaic Cusco. In Williamson, R.(ed.), Archaeoastronomy in the Americas, Ballena, Los Altos, CA, pp. 305–318.
Aveni, A. F. (1996). Astronomy and the ceque system. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 24(1/2): 157–172.
Aveni, A. F. (2001). Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Aveni, A. F., and Hartung, H. (1978). Three Maya astronomical observatories in the Yucatan peninsula. Interciencia 3: 136–143.
Aveni, A. F., Hartung, H. (1986). Maya city planning and the calendar. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 76: 1–79.
Aveni, A. F., Gibbs, S. L., and Hartung, H. (1975). The Caracol tower at Chich´en Itz´a: An ancient astronomical observatory? Science 188: 977–985.
Aveni, A. F., Hartung, H., and Buckingham, B. (1978). The pecked cross symbol in ancient Mesoamerica. Science 202: 267–279.
Aveni, A. F., Hartung, H., and Kelley, J. C. (1982). AltaVista (Chalchihuites), astronomical implications of a Mesoamerican ceremonial outpost at the Tropic of Cancer. American Antiquity 47: 316–335.
Aveni, A F., Milbrath, S. and Peraza Lope, C. (2004) Chichen Itza’s Legacy in the Astronomically Oriented Architecture of Mayapan, Anthropology and Aesthetics, 45: 123–143.
Bauer, B. (1998). The Sacred Landscape of the Inca: The Cusco Ceque System, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Bauer, B., and Dearborn, D. (1995). Astronomy and Empire in the Ancient Andes, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Bauer, B., and Stanish, C. (2001). Ritual and Pilgrimage in the Ancient Andes: The Islands of the Sun and the Moon, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Bricker, V. R. & Bricker, H. M. (1988) The Seasonal Table in the Dresden Codex and Related Almanacs Journal for the History of Astronomy, Archaeoastronomy Supplement, Vol. 19, p.S1.
Burger R. and Salazar-Burger L.C. (2004) Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Carlson, J. B. (1999). Pilgrimage and the equinox “serpent of light and shadow” phenomenon at the Castillo, Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Archaeoastronomy 14(1):139–152.
Coe, M. (2001). The Maya, Thames and Hudson, NewYork.
Dearborn, D., and White, R. (1983). The Torreon of Machu Picchu as an observatory. Archaeoastronomy 5: S37–S49.
Dearborn, D., Seddon, M., and Bauer, B. (1998). The sanctuary of Titicaca: Where the sun returns to earth. Latin American Antiquity 9: 240–258.
GarcĂa-Salgado, T (2010) The Sunlight Effect of the Kukulcán Pyramid or The History of a Line Nexus Network Journal 2010, pp 113–130.
Gasparini, G. and Margolies, L. (1980) Inca Architecture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Ghezzi, I, and Ruggles, C. (2007) Chankillo: A 2300-Year-Old Solar Observatory in Coastal Peru. Science 315. no. 5816, pp. 1239–1243.
Kelley, J. C. 1971 Archaeology of the northern frontier: Zacatecas and Durango, in Handbook of Middle American Indians (vol. 11), edited by R. Wauchope, pp. 768–801. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Kowalski J.K. (2012) Twin Tollans: Chichén Itzá, Tula, and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World, Harvard University Press;
Magli, G. (2005) Mathematics, Astronomy and Sacred Landscape in the Inka Heartland. Nexus Network Journal - Architecture And Mathematics 7 p. 22–32.
Magli G (2010) At the other end of the sun’s path. A new interpretation of Machu Picchu. Nexus Network Journal - Architecture And Mathematics 12:321–341.
Malville JM (2011) Astronomy and ceremony at Chankillo: an Andean perspective. In: Ruggles CLN (ed) Archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy: building bridges between cultures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 154–161.
Malville, J. M., Thomson, H. and Ziegler, G. 2004. El observatorio de Machu Picchu: Redescubrimiento de Llactapata y su templo solar. Revista Andina 39: 9–40.
Malville JM, Zawaski M, Gullberg S (2009) Cosmological motifs of Peruvian huacas. In: Vaiskunas J (ed) Astronomy and cosmology in folk traditions and cultural heritage. Archaeologia Baltica, vol 10. Klaipeda University, Klaipeda, pp 175–182.
Milbrath, S (1988) Astronomical Images and Orientations in the Architecture of Chichén Itza, In New Directions in American Archaeoastronomy, pp. 57–79, A. F. Aveni (ed.). Oxford: bar (British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 454).
Milbrath S (1999) Star gods of the Maya: astronomy in art, folklore, and calendars. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Moseley, M. (2001). The Incas and Their Ancestors, Thames and Hudson, London.
Niles SA (2004) The Shape of Inca History. Narrative and Architecture in an Andean Empire University Of Iowa Press.
Protzen, J.P. (1993) Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo Oxford University Press.
Reinhard, J. 2007. Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center. New York: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, NY.
Rowe, J. (1967) What Kind of a Settlement was Inca Cuzco? Ñawpa Pacha 5 (1967), 59–70.
Rowe, J. (1979). Archaeoastronomy in Mesoamerica and Peru. Latin American Research Review 14: 227–233.
Ruggles, C. L. N. (2005) Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth ABC-CLIO, London.
Schaefer, B. (2006). Case Studies of the Three Most Famous Claimed Archaeoastronomical Alignments in North America. In T. Bostwick, & B. Bates, Viewing the Sky Through Past and Present Cultures: Selected Papers from the Oxford VII International Conference on Archaeoastronomy (pp. 27–56). Phoenix: City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department.
Schele, L., Freidel, D., & Parker, J (1995). Maya Cosmos Quill, New York.
Sprajc, I (1993) Venus orientations in ancient Mesoamerican architecture. In “Archaeoastronomy in the 1990s” Edited by C.L.N. Ruggles, Group D Publications, Loughborough.
Sprajc, I (2001) Orientaciones astronĂłmicas en la arquitectura prehispánica del centro de MĂ©xico. MĂ©xico: Instituto Nacional de AntropologĂa e Historia (ColecciĂłn CientĂfica 427).
Sprajc I and Sanchez Nava PF (2012) Orientaciones astronomicas en la arquitectura maya de las tierras bajas: nuevos datos e interpretaciones. In: Arroyo B, Paiz L, Mejıa H (eds) XXV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueologicas en Guatemala, vol 2. Instituto de Antropologıa e Historia, Tikal, pp 977–996.
Sprajc I and Sanchez Nava PF (2013) Astronomıa en la arquitectura de Chichen Itza´: una reevaluacion. Estudios de Cultura Maya 41:31–60.
Urton, G (2003) Signs of the Inka Khipu: Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records Un. Of Texas Press, Austin.
Vail, G and Hernandez, C. (2010) Astronomers, Scribes, and Priests Intellectual Interchange between the Northern Maya Lowlands and Highland Mexico in the Late Postclassic Period Dumbarton Oaks Res. Publ., Dumbarton Oaks.
Zawaski M, Malville JM (2010) An archaeoastronomical survey of major Inca sites in Peru. Archaeoastronomy: Journal of Astronomy in Culture 10:20–38.
Ziegler J and Malville K (2003) Machu Picchu, Inca Pachacuti’s Sacred City: A multiple ritual, ceremonial and administrative center. Inkaterra 1, 1–5.
Zuidema, R. T. (1964). The Ceque System of Cusco: The Social Organization of the Capital of the Inca, Brill, Leiden.
Zuidema, R. T. (1988). The pillars of Cusco: Which two dates of sunset did they define? In Aveni, A. (ed.), New Directions in American Archaeoastronomy, BAR International Series 454, Oxford, pp. 143–169.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Magli, G. (2016). Pre-columbian Cultures. In: Archaeoastronomy. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22882-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22882-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22881-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22882-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)