4 ms·

Well, many ancient structures align with sunrise on Equinox: the day where the earth is perfectly aligned with the sun and not tilted (that is: neither hemisphe

Well, many ancient structures align with sunrise on Equinox: the day where the earth is perfectly aligned with the sun and not tilted (that is: neither hemisphere is closer to the sun than the other). This is the exact middle day between the longest day of the year and the shortest day of the year. Others have a similar alignment on summer Solstice or winter solstice (the longest and shortest day of the year respectively) It _may_ be a coincidence, but I don't think any modern building has a window on both sides of the building where the sun rises on summer solstice and shines straight through both windows. If we do have any such buildings, I'm fairly certain it's by design. OTOH, there's some ruins where it aligns with sunrise on _some_ random day, and that just feels like a coincidence. Like dropping a pencil on the floor and claiming the direction in which it points has some special meaning -- if you look hard enough, you'll find a meaning to give to it.

icambron 5y ago
I'm not saying it isn't by design; I'm saying it may not be an essential feature of the building, just one that's easy to see for modern archeologists. > If we do have any such buildings, I'm fairly certain it's by design. Right, so imagine you found a contemporary building with this feature. Would you conclude that the building's purpose likely involved cosmological rituals, or that the architect thought the alignment was neat? It's possible for something to be a custom but still be superficial. The sun can be very important to the Mayan people and cause them to design their buildings around its schedule, without the building being specifically meant for sun-related rituals. Imagine being an archeologist in the year 2650 and discovering all those decorative lions on large buildings built in the 1900s. What lion-oriented purpose did these buildings serve?

icambron 5y ago

I'm not saying it isn't by design; I'm saying it may not be an essential feature of the building, just one that's easy to see for modern archeologists. > If we do have any such buildings, I'm fairly certain it's by design. Right, so imagine you found a contemporary building with this feature. Would you conclude that the building's purpose likely involved cosmological rituals, or that the architect thought the alignment was neat? It's possible for something to be a custom but still be superficial. The sun can be very important to the Mayan people and cause them to design their buildings around its schedule, without the building being specifically meant for sun-related rituals. Imagine being an archeologist in the year 2650 and discovering all those decorative lions on large buildings built in the 1900s. What lion-oriented purpose did these buildings serve?