Muisca astronomy
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This article describes the astronomy of the Muisca. The
Various astronomical sites have been constructed on the
Important
Background
The Muisca were an advanced civilisation, who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and as southeastern part of that the Bogotá savanna before the Spanish conquest of the Muisca, of what became known as Colombia today. The onset of the Muisca Period is commonly set at 800 AD, following the Herrera Period, and the reign of the Muisca lasted until the arrival of the Spanish in 1537.
On the fertile plains of the Andean high plateau the Muisca developed a rich economy consisting of agricultural technologies of drainage and irrigation, fine crafts of gold, tumbaga and ceramics and textiles and a religious and mythological society. The political organisation was rather loose; a set of different rulers who traded with each other in small communities. Trading and pilgrimage routes (calzadas) were built across the plains and through the hills of the Altiplano.
Muisca astronomy
The most important and still remaining archaeological site of the Muisca, dates to the pre-Muisca Herrera Period; called by the Spanish conquerors
Astronomy was an important factor in the organisation of the Muisca, both in terms of cycles of harvest and sowing and in the construction of their architecture. The temples and houses were built with an east–west orientation; aligning with the rise and set of the Sun, Moon and Venus.[6] Also in the textiles of the people, the symbols for the Sun and Moon are visible. It is probable that the deities in the religion of the Muisca represented weavers of the Earth and the terrain.[7]
The Muisca used gold for their art and rituals and the gold was considered "Semen of the Sun". At the ritual of the installation of the new zipa in Lake Guatavita, depicted in the famous Muisca raft, the new zipa would cover his naked body with gold dust and jump in the lake. Music was played and he was surrounded by four priests, representing two children of the Sun and two children of the Moon.[8]
Relation with religion and geography
The religion of the Muisca contained various deities who were based on cosmological and environmental factors (
One of the most important religious figures in the Muisca religion was Bochica, the bearded messenger god. According to the myths, Bochica walked from Pasca to Iza. The line connecting those two places in the southeastern part of the Altiplano with the northwestern part has an azimuth of exactly 45 degrees.[7]
Also the line between the city of Bacatá with the constructed Temple of the Sun in Sugamuxi has an azimuth of 45 degrees. The length between the two places is 110 kilometres (68 mi) which equals to one degree of the circumference of the Earth. Continuing this trajectory to the northeast, it lines up with the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy.[7]
Muisca astronomical sites
White sites destroyed
yellow sites existing
Throughout the territories of the Muisca Confederation there have existed numerous temples and other sites of the Muisca. Today very few of those remain. A reconstruction of the Sun Temple of Sugamuxi has been built in the Archaeology Museum, Sogamoso, the Moon Temple of Chía has been destroyed, El Infiernito exists still from pre-Muisca times and the Cojines del Zaque are two stones located in Tunja. The Cojines were built aligned to former temples of the Muisca, like the Goranchacha Temple. On the sites of the temples, the Spanish colonisers built their churches. The Cojines are aligned with an azimuth of 106 degrees to the cross quarter of the Sun, passing over the present-day San Francisco church to the sacred hill of Romiquira.[4]
Seen from
Luni-solar calendar
Greg. year 12 months |
Month 30 days |
Rural year 12/13 mths |
Common year 20 months |
Holy year 37 months |
Symbols; "meanings" - activities |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Ata | Ata | Ata | Jumping toad; "start of the year" |
2 | Bosa | Nose and nostrils | |||
3 | Mica | Open eyes and nose; "to look for", "to find" | |||
4 | Muyhica | Two closed eyes; "black thing", "to grow" | |||
5 | Hisca | Two fingers together; "green thing", "to enjoy" | |||
6 | Ta | Stick and cord; "sowing" - harvest | |||
7 | Cuhupqua | Two ears covered; "deaf person" | |||
8 | Suhuza | Tail; "to spread" | |||
9 | Aca | Toad with tail connected to other toad; "the goods" | |||
10 | Ubchihica | Ear; "shining Moon", "to paint" | |||
11 | Ata | ||||
12 | Bosa |
Chía and Sué formed the basis of the complex Muisca calendar, where synodic and sidereal months were taken into account in three types of years; rural years of 12 or 13 months, common years of 20 months and holy years of 37 months. Weeks with weekly markets were 4 days, making every month 7 weeks.[15]
According to Duquesne, the Muisca used their 'perfect' number gueta; a century consisted of 20 holy years (20 times 37 months; 740) which equals almost 60 Gregorian years.[16][17] The same scholar referred to a "common century" (siglo vulgar) comprising 20 times 20 months.[18] Pedro Simón, as described by Izquierdo Peña, found two different centuries; in the northern part of the Muisca Confederation (capital Hunza) and in the south, capital Bacatá. It is hypothesized by Izquierdo Peña that this apparent difference was due to a typo in the chronicles of Simón.[19] Combining the different analyses by the scholars over time, Izquierdo Peña found the arrival of Bochica, described by Pedro Simón to have occurred 14800 months and the dream of Bochica to supposedly have happened 20 Bxogonoa or 2000 holy years (consisting of 37 months) before the time of description.[20] In the Gregorian calendar this equates to 6166.7 years.
See also
References
- ^ Ocampo López, 2007, Ch.V, p.226
- ^ Schrimpff, 1985, p.121
- ^ Langebaek, 2005, p.290
- ^ a b Morales, 2009, p.274
- ^ (in Spanish) El Infiernito - Pueblos Originarios
- ^ Henderson & Ostler, 2005, p.159
- ^ a b c Morales, 2009, p.275
- ^ Gaitán, 2015, p.25
- ^ Ocampo López, 2013, Ch.4-5, pp.33-42
- ^ Duquesne, 1795
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2014
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2009
- ^ Bonilla Romero, 2011, p.14
- ^ Bonilla Romero et al., 2017, p.153
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2009, p.30
- ^ Duquesne, 1795, p.3
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2014, 20:35
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2014, 22:05
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2014, 40:45
- ^ Izquierdo Peña, 2014, 50:25
Bibliography
- Bonilla Romero, Julio H.; Edier H. Bustos Velazco, and Jaime Duvan Reyes. 2017. Arqueoastronomía, alineaciones solares de solsticios y equinoccios en Bogotá-Bacatá - Archaeoastronomy, alignment solar from solstices and equinoxes in Bogota-Bacatá. Revista Científica, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas27. 146-155. Accessed 2017-01-18.
- Bonilla Romero, Julio H. 2011. Aproximaciones al observatorio solar de Bacatá-Bogotá-Colombia - Approaches to solar observatory Bacatá-Bogotá-Colombia. Azimut, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas3. 9-15. Accessed 2017-01-18.
- Cardale de Schrimpff, Marianne. 1985. En busca de los primeros agricultores del Altiplano Cundiboyacense - Searching for the first farmers of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 99–125. Banco de la República. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Duquesne, José Domingo. 1795. Disertación sobre el calendario de los muyscas, indios naturales de este Nuevo Reino de Granada - Dissertation about the Muisca calendar, indigenous people of this New Kingdom of Granada, 1-17. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Gaitán Martínez, Liliana. 2015. Vamos tras la huella mhuysqa - We follow the Muisca footsteps, 1–69.
- Henderson, Hope, and Nicholas Ostler. 2005. Muisca settlement organization and chiefly authority at Suta, Valle de Leyva, Colombia: A critical appraisal of native concepts of house for studies of complex societies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24. 148–178. .
- Izquierdo Peña, Manuel Arturo. 2014. Calendario Muisca - Muisca calendar. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Izquierdo Peña, Manuel Arturo. 2009. The Muisca Calendar: An approximation to the timekeeping system of the ancient native people of the northeastern Andes of Colombia (PhD), 1-170. Université de Montréal. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Langebaek Rueda, Carl Henrik. 2005. Fiestas y caciques muiscas en el Infiernito, Colombia: un análisis de la relación entre festejos y organización política - Festivities and Muisca caciques in El Infiernito, Colombia: an analysis of the relation between celebrations and political organisation. Boletín de Arqueología 9. 281–295. .
- Minniti Morgan, Edgardo Ronald. 2005. Astronomía Colombiana - Colombian astronomy. Astronomía en Latinoamérica _. 1–36. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Morales, Juan David. 2009. Archaeoastronomy in the Muisca Territory, 272–276. 409; Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Ocampo López, Javier. 2013. Mitos y leyendas indígenas de Colombia - Indigenous myths and legends of Colombia, 1-219. Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A..
- Ocampo López, Javier. 2007. Grandes culturas indígenas de América - Great indigenous cultures of the Americas, 1–238. Plaza & Janes Editores Colombia S.A..