Chaco Canyon, in northwest New Mexico, has been inhabited since the times of ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Mohenjo Daro on the Indus River, at least since about 2900, BC. Around 200 AD, the nomadic life gave way to farming, and in about 850 AD, the people of the area undertook massive building projects, several of which have solar observation aspects.
The simplest kind of solar observation lines up two openings so that the sun shines through both openings at once only at the equinoxes, or only at one of the solstices, mid-summer or mid-winter. You can hang a large ring in a window and see where the sun shines through the ring onto the floor on a specific date. If you drew a circle on the floor and waited a year, the sun would fall there again at that time. This is the simplest form of the principle involved.
At Chaco Canyon, there was one place where the sun shone through slits in several tall rocks, and fell on a wall opposite. This wall had some drawings that were fairly simple, just a couple of spirals, but the pattern of the sun on the equinoxes and the solstices was quite striking. You can look here to see the patterns. They were discovered in 1977, just in time, because just twelve years later, the rocks shifted so that the display no longer works.
But other things work. My sister visited the canyon for this (2010) fall equinox and took a picture of the sunrise coming through two window openings that are aligned just for the equinox. Here is the very simple photo.
And so, Mr Mary, what does it mean? I know what it means to a european, but what does it mean to an amerind? If one considers that europeans are linear thinkers and the amerind circular (iterative) it is highly unlikely that the meanings are the same. The spirals, as are all I’ve seen, seem an after the fact thing. not a prediction but a history, which can be used as a prediction. (since what came around, will again) It’s like they were tracking two somethings and relating them to each other and to the equinoxes and soltices. but what?
In the mayan calandar (wheels within wheels) two of the measurements were 260 days and 365 days. the gestation period is also 260 days, so this system made calculation to figure out the date of birth unnecessary. the spiral patterns appear to just be another visualization of this thought process, but the question remains “what were they tracking?” what is the unknown dimension to this happening?
People like to sprinkle pixie dust on something and claim they own it. Any time an anthropologist digs some structure up and they don’t know what it is they call it a temple. A thousand years from now they will dig up a McDonalds and proclaim it a temple devoted to ronald McDonald, with french fries and onion rings as symbolic gifts and the coke dispensers for ablutions. It doesn’t matter what we think of it, the question is what did the amerind think of it.
If a myth, i would like to point out that a myth develops to supprot an observation, not the other way around.
The human mind is wired to make sense of things, even if there’s no sense to be made out of the situation. the platonic solids come to mind. A lot of “sense” there, but so what? they don’t appear to have a relationship to anything except each other.
Our minds are wired differently.
walt
[...] Chaco And so, what does it mean? I know what it means to a European, but what does it mean to an Amerind? If one considers that Europeans are linear thinkers and the Amerind circular (iterative) it is highly unlikely that the meanings are the same. The spirals, as are all I’ve seen, seem an after the fact thing. not a prediction but a history, which can be used as a prediction. (since what came around, will again) It’s like they were tracking two somethings and relating them to each other and to the equinoxes and solstices. but what? [...]