[Aztlan] Maya "E-Groups" Question

[David Hixson]

Here are the first few responses to my query...

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>From Miguel Covarrubias:

Most of the sites I have surveyed in Yucatan (more or
less 400) are oriented towards cardinal points with
less than 10º in deviation, a few others have a
deviation about 25-30º in a northeast-southwest axis.
I have noticed than most of this deviated sites date
from Terminal Classic through Late Postclassic, while
the others are much older, with a wider occupation
span.
Magnetic declination here is arround 1º east, so I
don't think it can affect your readings; if you used a
compass with an induction damped needle they should be
accurate. The group you mention seems to be oriented
in order to allow observations of the astronomical
movement of the sun, as the majority of sites I
mention.
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>From Michael Carrasco:

Marvin Cohodas quite awhile ago wrote an article about
E-Groups. At the moment I can't recall the title but I
can find it easily once I am at the office. Basically,
if I remember it correctly the "accuracy" of the
alignments decreased over time presumably because the
architectural form came to have meaning beyond its use
to mark astronomical phenomena. If this is true then
accuracy should be higher with earlier E-Groups. I
have not redone his research on this to verify whether
this is true or not but the this pattern of
meaning-in-functionality to meaning-in-form occurs
frequently in the history of architecture world wide.
So you might have an E-Group even if it is off. In any
event I would be interested in hearing about what you
find.

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>From a fellow listero:

My only insight into the delima is that sundogs occur
at approx 22 degrees on either side of the sun when
they are spotted. To see 4 in one sighting ( that is
one on either side and one above, one below ) would
require an elevated spot at a certain time of day,
maybe sunrise since 98 degrees is almost due
east??????

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Response from David Hixson:

I find all of these responses elightening, as I hope
other listeros will as well.  Please continue to
forward any and all comments to the list.

While I will focus upon the core concept of E-Groups
(with their relation to direct solar phenomena), I
find the idea of "sun dogs" new and intriguing and
something I have not heard much about in Maya
archaeoastronomy.

Here is the wikipedia reference for "sun dogs" (see
the image on the upper-right of this web page to view
the "sun dogs" as they appear from a rising sun, at 22
degrees off center)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

But, please, I am still interested in more traditional
views of E-Groups.  Therefore such comments will be
greatly appreciated regarding my (limited) data.

-Dave


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