How the Mayans Observed their Stars

It is commonly believed that accurate astronomical observations were close to impossible before the advent of the telescope. Certainly, Western societies struggled to accurately measure or predict astronomical events before that invention (barring some ingenious work in observing our own solar system), and its advancement to today’s standards has allowed discoveries hitherto impossible. Regardless of our own approach to astronomy, pre-Columbian Mayan civilisation developed a remarkable array of astronomical measurement devices, utterly without the use of a single traditional lens for magnification.

El Caracol, at Chichen Itza, for instance, is a Mayan observatory; built on a raised platform, it is a circular structure with a spiral staircase within, leading to the observatory chamber. This chamber was built with small windows designed for astronomical observation. These windows were so placed as to catch the passage of the Sun, Moon and Venus at various stages in their passage across the sky. By placing pools of water beneath each window, they could then be used to accurately observe which stars were in the same relative locations in the sky on specific dates. At school, you may have made a similar device using a hole in a piece of paper to observe a solar eclipse or the transit of Mercury across the sun.

Through extended observation of the positions of stars, the relative positions of the Sun and the Moon, and so on, the Mayans were able to accurately predict such events as solar and lunar eclipses, as well as auspicious dates within their religious framework that relied upon the constellations themselves.

In addition to such advanced structures, even their simple pyramids were designed to cast shadows or to illuminate brilliantly at certain times of year, in accordance with their religious observances. El Castillo, for example, is primarily noted for the fact that the total number of steps is 365, but, during the equinoxes, the setting Sun casts a serpentine shadows that climbs the northern steps of the pyramid, matching tales from their rich and fascinating cosmogony.