[Aztlan] Xochicalco Calendar Corellation

[David Hixson]

Fellow listero Sid Hollender raised an excellent question (off-list) regarding the image that I recently posted on Aztlan.  He wondered what were the two calendar dates that were "tied" together on the temple of the feathered serpent at Xochicalco.  I do not have a firm answer to his question, and I have wondered this myself.  Could any listeros help in this endeavor?  See link below.

-Dave



----- Original Message ----
From: David Hixson <aztlandave at yahoo.com>
To: "Reinaldo Morales, Jr." <ditomorales at msn.com>; AZTLAN <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 4:08:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] AD or CE?

 "Reinaldo Morales, Jr." <ditomorales at msn.com> wrote-

I wonder how (or if) calendar adoption has been used in empire building, and if that has implications for our current global condition.

Dito Morales
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Dear Sr. Morales, 

I would posit that the implications of calendar adoption / adaptation extend beyond our "current global condition", and well into our past.

I submit this link, from the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Xochicalco, showing two dates - one in the Zapotec calendar, the other in the Maya calendar, linked by a hand holding a rope that binds the two together.  Considering that the iconography on this remarkable structure has been described as an Epiclassic international blend of styles (Maya, Central Mexican, Zapotec), it is very possible that the adoption of a standard calendar was as much of a political and economic issue in the past as it is today, especially during times of heightened inter-regional communication (read "globalization") like the Mesoamerican Epiclassic.

http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~dhixson/xochicalco/quetzal7.html

-Dave
________________________________
David R. Hixson
Aztlan Co-Moderator