Skywatching in the Ancient World: New Perspectives in Cultural Astronomy Studies in Honor of Anthony F. Aveni (Mesoamerican Worlds Series)

417 Pages·2007·5.74 MB·English

by  Clive Ruggles

Skywatching
in the ancient world
MeSoaMerican worldS
From the olmecs to the danzantes
General editors: Davíd Carrasco and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
editorial Board: Michio Araki, Alfredo López Austin, Anthony Aveni, Elizabeth Boone, and Charles H. Long
After Monte Albán: Transformation and Negotiation in Oaxaca, Mexico, Jeffrey P. Blomster, editor
The Apotheosis of Janaab’ Pakal: Science, History, and Religion at Classic Maya Palenque, Gerardo aldana
Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica, nancy Gonlin and Jon c. lohse, editors
Eating Landscape: Aztec and European Occupation of Tlalocan, PhiliP P. arnold
Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Cultures, Revised Edition, anthony aveni
Encounter with the Plumed Serpent: Drama and Power in the Heart of Mesoamerica,
maarten Jansen and GaBina aurora Pérez Jiménez
In the Realm of Nachan Kan: Postclassic Maya Archaeology at Laguna de On, Belize, marilyn a. masson
Invasion and Transformation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico,
reBecca P. Brienen and marGaret a. Jackson, editors
Life and Death in the Templo Mayor, eduardo matos moctezuma
The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript,
GaBrielle vail and anthony aveni, editors
Mesoamerican Ritual Economy: Archaeological and Ethnological Perspectives,
e. christian Wells and karla l. davis-salazar, editors
Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: Teotihuacan to the Aztecs,
davíd carrasco, lindsay Jones, and scott sessions, editors
Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God: Tezcatlipoca, “Lord of the Smoking Mirror,”
Guilhem olivier, translated By michel Besson
Rabinal Achi: A Fifteenth-Century Maya Dynastic Drama,
alain Breton, editor; translated By teresa lavender faGan and roBert schneider
Representing Aztec Ritual: Performance, Text, and Image in the Work of Sahagún,
eloise Quiñones keBer, editor
Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands,
travis W. stanton and aline maGnoni, editors
Skywatching in the Ancient World: New Perspectives in Cultural Astronomy—Studies in Honor
of Anthony F. Aveni, clive ruGGles and Gary urton, editors
The Social Experience of Childhood in Mesoamerica, traci ardren and scott r. hutson, editors
Stone Houses and Earth Lords: Maya Religion in the Cave Context,
keith m. Prufer and James e. Brady, editors
Tamoanchan, Tlalocan: Places of Mist, alfredo lóPez austin
Thunder Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: Self-Deprecation and the Theory of Otherness Among the
Teenek Indians of Mexico, anath ariel de vidas; translated By teresa lavender faGan
Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: The Once and Future Lord of the Toltecs, h. B. nicholson
The World Below: Body and Cosmos in Otomi Indian Ritual, JacQues Galinier
Skywatching
in the ancient world
new Perspectives in
cultural astronomy
Studies in honor of
anthony F. aveni
EDitED By
clive ruggles and gary Urton
UnivErsity PrEss of CoLorADo
© 2007 by the University Press of Colorado
Published by the University Press of Colorado
5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C
Boulder, Colorado 80303
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of
the Association of American University Presses.
The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams
State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College, Metropolitan State
College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, and Western State
College of Colorado.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI
Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skywatching in the ancient world : new perspectives in cultural astronomy studies in honor of
Anthony F. Aveni / edited by Clive Ruggles and Gary Urton.
p. cm. — (Mesoamerican worlds)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87081-887-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Archaeoastronomy. 2. Astronomy, Ancient. I.
Aveni, Anthony F. II. Ruggles, C. L. N. (Clive L. N.) III. Urton, Gary, 1946–
GN799.A8S59 2007
520—dc22
2007029308
Design by Daniel Pratt
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This volume is the product of a symposium held in the fall of 2003
at Colgate University, New York, to celebrate and honor Anthony
Aveni’s contributions to a variety of fields of study, and particularly to
what has become known as “cultural astronomy,” during a
forty-year-long academic career.
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contents
Foreword—Davíd Carrasco
ix
Preface—Clive Ruggles and Gary Urton
xiii
A Partner’s Perspective—Lorraine Aveni
xvii
Acknowledgments
xxi
Editors’ Note
xxiii
Introduction—Clive Ruggles and Gary Urton
1
1. The Correlation between the Colonial Northern Zapotec and
Gregorian Calendars—John Justeson and David Tavárez
17
vii
Pcroenftacenets
2. Kirchhoff’s Correlations and the Third Part of the
Codex Borbonicus—Edward E. Calnek
83
3. When Was the Dresden Codex Venus Table
Efficacious?—Harvey M. Bricker and Victoria R. Bricker
95
4. Moon Woman Meets the Stars: A New Reading of the Lunar Almanacs in
the Dresden Codex—Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock
121
5. Astronomical Cycles in the Imagery of
Codex Borgia 29–46—Susan Milbrath
157
6. The Measure of Man—Clemency Coggins
209
7. A Multi-Year Tukapu Calendar—Gary Urton
245
8. Solar and Lunar Observations in the Inca Calendar—R. Tom Zuidema
269
9. Cosmology, Calendar, and Temple Orientations in
Ancient Hawai‘i—Clive Ruggles
287
10. Calendrical Cycles, the Eighth Day of the World, and the
Orientation of English Churches—Stephen C. McCluskey
331
11. High Fashion—Edwin C. Krupp
355
Contributors
375
Index
377
viii
Foreword
AntHony AvEni: A Pivot of MAny QUArtErs
I met Anthony Aveni in 1982 when he was visiting the University of Colorado to
lecture on his recent book Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. This book fascinated me
because of its significance for my academic discipline, the History of Religions.
At the time, scholars of religion and anthropology had been showing increased
interest in the religious significance of the sky, sun, moon, stars, and celestial
phenomena, spurred in part by the publication of Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in
Comparative Religion. Paul Wheatley’s magisterial The Pivot of the Four Quarters:
A Preliminary Enquiry into the Origins and Character of the Ancient Chinese City had
posited that urban genesis in the seven areas of primary urban generation was
undergirded by cosmo-magical thinking that integrated the mathematically
expressible regimes of the heavens and the biological rhythms on earth. Aveni’s
work on the sky, stars, calendar rituals, alignments, and the close-knit relation-
ship between ceremonial centers and celestial patterns seemed to advance the
ix