A giant scorpion-shaped mound built centuries ago in Mexico may coincide with the winter and summer solstices, a new study has found.
Archaeologists documented the 205-foot (62.5-meter) mound in 2014 during a study of prehistoric irrigation systems in the Tehuacán Valley, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City. Several artifacts and offerings were found in the Scorpion Mound, helping the team date it to the Late Classic and Early Postclassic periods (c. 600–1100 AD).
“This feature of the effigy is quite unusual for Mesoamerica,” the researchers wrote in the study, which was published Aug. 29 in the journal. Ancient Mesoamerica.
The discovery also suggests that ordinary Mesoamericans, not just the elite, looked to the skies and monitored astronomical events, the study's first author said. James NeelyProfessor Emeritus of Archeology at the University of Texas at Austin.
“This is the first indication that knowledge and control of astronomical phenomena based on solar observations was not entirely controlled by the elite class,” Neely told Live Science in an email.
Astronomical Observatory
Scorpion is one of 12 mounds that appear to be part of a civil and ceremonial complex covering an area of about 22 acres (9 hectares) and including what may be a looted burial or storage pit. The complex may have been used for astronomical observations, helping agricultural workers know when to perform rituals, plant and harvest crops, the team said.
Some mounds have rooms and walls, but only the scorpion has a special shape, making it this is a scarecrow mound – or a pile of earth, which is purposefully given a certain shape, symbol or figure. While thousands of earthen mounds built by Native Americans are found in North America, mounds with images are “particularly rare” in Mesoamerica, making the scorpion a rare find.
Scorpio, known as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, was a powerful deity in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Many Mesoamerican peoples saw him as a heavenly deity and a prominent figure in Aztec pantheon of gods. For Mesoamericans, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli personified Venusmorning star planet, the researchers write in the study.
While studying the scorpion mound, the team noticed that it was oriented east-northeast, indicating that it coincided with the sunrise on summer solstice– they wrote in the newspaper. For the study, scientists calculated SunThe trajectory of movement both on the days of the summer and winter solstice.
“We estimate that on the morning of the summer solstice, if a person were to see from the 'sting' (the round ceramic cluster at the presumed end of a scorpion's tail), the sun would rise above the tip of the northern (left) claw,” they wrote in the study.
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The researchers noted that the summer solstice was an important ceremonial date in Mesoamerica as it began the rainy and planting season.
“In the days leading up to the solstice, the sun would rise between the two claws and thereby signal the approach of the rainy season so that local farmers could prepare their fields for planting,” the researchers added.
In the same way the sunset winter solstice also associated with a mound depicting a scorpion. The team found that if a person stood on the tip of the left claw, they could see the setting sun behind the sting.
“Based on these estimates, [scorpion] The mound will allow users to determine the dates of both the summer and winter solstice, a feature common to Mesoamerican architecture,” the researchers wrote in the study.
Among the artifacts found on the scorpion mound were bowls, jugs and fragments of plates. The archaeologists also found molcahetes, tripod bowls used for grinding food, as well as an incense burner and a fragment of a hollow figurine that likely participated in the ritual, they write.
The discovery of the mounds and astronomical observatory among the irrigation canals shows the complexity of the Mesoamerican civilization that built them, Neely said, adding that “this points to prehistoric campesinos.” [countryside farmers] living a life of independence and self-determination from elite/state control, just like their modern counterparts do.”
