Aztec Calendar

The Aztec calendar stone is a Mexican sculpture that is housed in the national anthropology museum. The Stone was created in 1511 and was buried in 1521. The Stone was found again in 1790. This essay will discuss the history of the the aztec calendar stone, the description of the stone, how the stone was when found and the location of the stone.

The Mayan calendar was used in the Valley of Mexico before the destruction of the Aztec empire. Like the Mayan calendar, the Aztec calendar, which is also called the Sun stone, consisted of a ritual cycle of 260 days and a 365-day civil cycle. The ritual cycle which is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to

As in the Mayan calendar, the Aztec ritual and civil cycles returned to the same positions relative to each other every 52 years, an event that was celebrated as the Binding Up of the Years, or the New Fire Ceremony. “The 13-day cycle was particularly important for religious observance, and each of the 20 numbered cycles within the ritual year was associated with a different deity. Similarly, each named day was associated with a unique deity, and scholars believe that the combinations of ruling deities were used for divination.”(Britannica School. Mexican Ministry of Tourism) The Aztec Calendar Stone which is also called the Sun Stone was sculpted by anonymous Aztec artisans during the reign of King Axayácalt born in 1469 and died in 1481. Only forty years prior to the Spanish Conquest, it embodies a rich cultural tradition that extends back another two thousand years through the Toltec, and the May.” The stone was buried during the Spanish defeat of Tenochtitlán which would be present-day Mexico City in 1521, but it was recovered in 1790 during the repaving of the Plaza Mayor.”(Gale World

Circumscribing these are signs that represent the 20 days of the Aztec month. In the stone is a massive, 24.5-ton, round basaltic monolith, three feet thick and nearly twelve feet in diameter, intricately carved on one face and originally replete with bright colors. It was apparently meant to be mounted horizontally to serve as a sacred repository for the ritualistic feeding of the hearts and blood of captured warriors to the sun god. The Sun God is pictured emerging from the underworld at the beginning of the present era of time, gripping human hearts in his clawed hands. Around him, a butterfly-like shape plus four large "dots" flanking his hands from the date "4 Movement," which represents both the day he emerged and his name. Similar in dates naming 1 the suns of four in previous eras are inside the four sections of the Movement sign. Depicted in the first band are the symbols of the 20 days in the Aztec calendar, including Movement, but without the numerals that were necessary to make them dates. The next band has stylized representations of jade and feathers. The final band is a stream of blood, the fluid that gave life. The triangles emanating from these bands are the sun’s rays, and surrounding the entire design are the two fire serpents that carried the sun