[Aztlan] MORE ON CHANKILLO FROM THE SMITHSONIAN

[michael ruggeri]

Return of the Sun Cult
In Peru, scientists discover the oldest solar observatory in the  
Americas
By Eric Jaffe


As archaeologists evaluate whether an ancient temple in Buena Vista,  
Peru, functioned as a calendar, a different research team is  
preserving the remains of an unusually elaborate astronomical complex  
just north, in Chankillo. This solar observatory is considered the  
oldest in the Americas, dating back to the 4th century B.C., and it  
offers unique physical evidence that a sun cult inhabited Peru at  
least 1,500 years before the Incas.

"We have references that Incas practiced solar observation, but none  
of those sites have been preserved," says the site's lead  
archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi of Yale University and the Pontifical  
Catholic University of Peru. "We don't have a single one of this  
complexity."

Though Spanish chroniclers described "sun pillars" used by the Incas  
to mark specific solar events, the physical remains of these pillars— 
likely destroyed during 16th-century anti-idolatry campaigns—have not  
been found. Archaeologists have uncovered the base of two pillars on  
an island in nearby Lake Titicaca, but the observatories in Chankillo  
appear more sophisticated than any of these Incan structures, says  
Ghezzi, who published his findings along with coauthor Clive Ruggles  
of the University of Leicester, in Science last month.

The Chankillo observatory consists of a row of 13 towers that  
precisely tracked solar movement throughout the year. When viewed  
from two main observation points, the sun would have reached one end  
of the tower line at the winter solstice and the other end at the  
summer solstice. The regularly spaced gaps between each tower could  
have been used to divide the year into even shorter intervals of 10  
to 12 days.

Ghezzi and his colleagues found one of the main observation points  
near a pair of courtyards about 220 yards west of the towers. A long  
white corridor, accessible from one of the courtyards, opened onto a  
view of the towers. This opening lacked proper structure for affixing  
a door, which led the researchers to identify it as a clear,  
unobstructed vantage point. Additionally, pottery and artifacts that  
could have served as ritualistic offerings surrounded this opening  
but no others.

The second observation point rests in almost the exact same position  
due east of the towers. A cluster of patios and buildings, facilities  
for storing corn beer, a large plaza and ceramic offerings near this  
spot suggest a festive atmosphere. This observation point likely  
functioned as the setting for large ceremonies during the solstices,  
and perhaps other times during the year such as the solar equinox,  
says Ghezzi. The western point probably served a more technical,  
calendrical purpose.

Restricted entryways guarded each observation point: to the west, it  
blocked the passage from the courtyard to the corridor; to the east,  
the room leading to the vantage spot. Ghezzi describes these  
restrictions as evidence that only a few key members of this society  
could access these ideal viewing points. Large crowds could see the  
towers from other areas, but only these observation points offered  
complete and precise solar information.

In the days leading up to major ceremonies, a ruling group might have  
used this information to predict the solstices, says anthropologist  
Brian S. Bauer of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who was not  
part of Ghezzi's research team. Because such societies considered the  
sun a god—as the giver of warmth and provider of light—a special  
relationship between these leaders and the solar event could  
legitimize their authority.

"You get this linkage between the solar event and the person who's  
orchestrating the ritual," says Bauer. "You get this relationship,  
publicly declared."

The Chankillo sun society seemed to disappear in a couple hundred  
years—damage to a nearby fort suggests that it fell to an enemy—and  
exactly how these sun cults functioned remains a mystery. But the  
experience of seeing the solar events just as the Chankillo people  
did might soon be possible for anyone. Ghezzi is working to turn the  
site into a location for visitors, and he says people can see the sun  
slide along the towers almost exactly as it was seen 2,300 years ago  
because the sun's movement hasn't shifted much since that time.

Says Ghezzi: "You can really experience something that people  
experienced in the past."




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