ASTRONOMY

---

RELATED LINKS:

MAYA CALENDAR, MATH AND ASTRONOMY

Use our provided information to learn about the Maya.

• Math
• Astronomy
• Calendar
• Calculations
• Activity

---

MAYAN LANGUAGE

Learn about Mayan language and writing.

---

MAYA ARCHITECTURE

Learn why the Maya built their temples.

---

MAYA BALLGAME

Learn about the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame.

---

MAYA MUSIC

Learn about ancient Maya music.

---

ANCIENT FOODS

Learn some of the foods the ancient Maya and other groups ate.

---

• Frequently asked questions
• Vocabulary
• Book List
• Web Resources

 

The ancient Maya were very interested in the movement of the sun, planets, and stars in the sky. Maya astronomer-priests looked to the heavens for guidance. They used observatories, shadow-casting devices, and observations of the horizon to trace the complex motions of the sun, the stars and planets in order to observe, calculate and record the information. Many of their buildings were constructed so that doorways or windows frame the rising of the sun, of planets such as Venus, or of constellations on certain days of the year. In this way, the building could be used as a kind of calendar. The events in the sky identifying important days in the year.

They incorporated this scientific knowledge into their daily lives and the planning and building of their cities.

WHY DID THEY WATCH THE STARS?
Many of these astronomical patterns were important for religious reasons. The ancient Maya believed that these movements were worldly reflections of divine events, such as the creation of the universe or actions of the gods and mythic heroes. The use of celestial bodies as the visual embodiment of spiritual and moral beliefs is similar to that of the ancient Greeks, whose gods and mythic heroes gave their names to modern-day constellations. Modern astrological beliefs also come from the deeds of these heroes and gods.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO CELESTIAL PLANNING
The use of Mesoamerican buildings as calendars or People continue to gather at some sites (Tikal, Palenque, Chichén Itzá, Monte Albán, and Teotihuacán, for example) to see the sun’s effects on the pyramids and temples on the equinox and solstice. Shadows on some of the buildings create beautiful patterns or animal shapes, and the sun shines directly into temples illuminating specific features such as altars or thrones. At Palenque, Mexico, on winter solstice (December 21) the sun sets directly into the center of the Temple of the Inscriptions, the location of Palenque’s famous sun king K’inich’ Pakal. At Chichén Itzá on the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun casts a shadow on the Castillo pyramid, creating a diamond rattlesnake pattern on the pyramid’s main stairway.

---

WHAT WOULD YOU BE IF YOU STUDIED THE PLANETS AND THE STARS?
An Astronomer is a person who studies planets and stars.

WHAT WOULD YOU BE IF YOU STUDIED THE ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA?
An Archaeo-Astronomer is a person who studies ancient cultures’ knowledge of the sun, moon, planets and stars.