the Aztec Sunstone is a large Stone calendar from the Aztec empire this Relic carries many names some call it the stone of the sun stone of the five eras Stone of the fifth Sun Aztec calendar stone or most commonly the Aztec Sunstone the stone was carved in the year 1479 Common Era during the reign of Aztec Monarch aiado though historians are not quite sure where it origin ated the stone was discovered in the soo the main square of Mexico City on December 17th 1790 it was when repairs were ordered to the Mexico City Cathedral by Don W de monserat that work men stumbled upon the artifact the stone is a solid piece of gray black BOS salt measuring 12 ft across and 3 ft thick weighing about 24 tons after its discovery the stone was embedded in the wall of the western Tower of the Metropolitan cathedral in the cathedral it remained until 1885 when the president of the Republic General poerio Diaz had it moved to the National anthropology Museum the museum in chipot Tek Park just outside of Mexico City is where the stone is housed today the Aztec Empire was initiated in the 14th century Common Era want an alliance between the city states Teo chopan and chanakan was established in order to defeat the state of ASAP Paso the Aztecs also known as the mexic were prosperous in mesoamerica centering their empire into noxin once established the Aztec continued to emphasize Warfare thus feeding their conquest and their empire they depended on their Conquest not for power but in in order to gain such tribute from the lands as gold Jade textiles precious feathers and agricultural products for the Aztecs were noted to be very prosperous in MA cultivation Society was hierarchical authoritarian and militaristic they were a people divided by two classes yet the Nobles and the commoners did manage to unite on one front together they held a set of complex religious beliefs in the Gods often making human sacrifices of their own people to appease them these complex beliefs were organized in a beautiful artifact that was their kendric system known as the Aztec Sunstone the stone consists of four rings each representing a different aspect of the calendars at the center of the stone is a face the face is a representation of the Aztec god of the sun tonawa for which the stone has been coined the Aztec Sun Sunstone tona's tongue is in the form of a sacrificial Flint knife obsidian while claw-like figures on either side of his face represent those of an eagle clutching human hearts it was believed that tonatia required human blood to sustain him as he battled the moon and the stars each night to rise again each day the knife and Tona he was mouth and the hearts filling these claws represent the importance of human sacrifice to the sun god while the gods were very important the Aztecs also play significance on the importance of the present times along with the past on this calendar Stone the Aztecs believe that there was periodic destruction and Recreation of the world and so there is a legend called Delino Soul the legend of the fifth son the legend is that there were four solar IRAs called suns in which Earth had already been destroyed and recreated as the next Sun the people of the first Sun were devoured by Jaguars those of the following Sun suffered destruction by great winds the next by a violent rain of fire and the fourth devastated by Massive floods in acknowledging the four Sons the Aztecs recognized the world they were living in as the fifth Sun all five sons are represented on the Aztec Stone surrounding the face of tonatia are four squares the four squares depict images of a Jaguar of wind of rain of fire and of water these squares represent the cataclysms of the first four Sons The X shape surrounding tona's face in the four dots above and below the claws make the hieroglyph for na Olin or earthquake these represented the Aztec then present time of the fifth Sun as they belied they would be destroyed by earthquakes after after these figures we begin to see evidence of the practicality of this large and magnificent Stone in atte culture there were two cindric cycles which together make up the cindric system one is called chiali a term meaning year count which refers to a 365-day calendar cycle chiwa PO is composed of 18 months with 20 days each that is divided into four 5D weeks together these make a 360-day period called zuo the final five days of the shiu Pali were added later on and were considered to be unlucky the nameless days called NE Oni were a time for festivals the 365 days cycle sh p is the Aztec calendar that interprets the days and rituals related to the seasons it is a calendar for agriculture then there is tonal Pali a term meaning day count it refers to a 260-day rich ual cycle that is broken up into 20 periods each containing 13 numbered days called trenas each tra in this cycle was associated with a particular deity tonal P was considered to be a sacred calendar together these Cycles make up one system a 52-year century they call this the calendar round the calendar round is portrayed on the Aztec Sunstone the innermost Circle surr in the face of tonawa is the first ring of the calendar this ring is made up of 20 glyphs meant to represent the 20 days of the month beginning directly above the center face with a Theo Le or crocodile and proceeding counterclockwise until reaching the last day so keto or flower the next ring is made up of quite a few layers the first is one of many small boxes each containing five dots the boxes are meant to represent turquoise a stone that was associated with preciousness and fire surrounding these boxes is a ring of upside down u-shaped forms these are symbols of feathers above these are many triangular pointed forms which have been interpreted as splashes of blood presumably giving insight to the sacrifices of the sun god adjacent to the Triangular forms are square like forms adorned with small arches these pictures signify the precious kweed ornaments that were made of Jade plates red leather feather tips and a pearl these magnificent ornaments symbolize light strength and beauty the last feature of this ring is a series of large v-shaped points that symbolize the Rays of the sun again drawing attention to the importance of the god of the sun tonawa the outermost ring of the calendar Stone presents two great fire serpents called Squad the serpents are adorned with flames on their backs called slin nooli they fiercely meet nose to nose at the center of the Bottom Stone representing the Gods on the left is shiti quatle the god of turquoise he is presented here as the god of night his face half covered by a veil symbolizing Darkness on the right is another depiction of tonawa here representing himself and the struggle with the god of night The Carving depicts the battle of the Sun God against the moon and the stars it is a representation of the sun God's fight to rise each day and reminds us of the importance of human sacrifice necessary to fuel him it shows the importance of people in fueling the Earth's Cycles the monolithic Aztec Sunstone is a beautiful portrayal of religious beliefs and an organized calendric system the Aztec calendar is not only comparable to but often confused with the Mayan calendar the two kric systems have many similarities but are certainly not the same the Mayan calendar consists of three separate calendars The Long Count the chulen known as the Divine calendar and the hob known as the Civil calendar the three calendars are cyclical in a way that a set number of days must occur before a new cycle can begin the hob is a 365 day solar calendar organized just as the Shew of of the Aztec Sunstone with 18 months of 20 days and five nameless days as well it is used to explain the seasons and Aid in the understanding of agricultural events just as a sheep Wali the five nameless days in Mayan culture were called wab and just as in the Aztec culture these days were thought to be unlucky the choken meaning the distribution of the days is a Divine calendar organized just as the sacred calendar of the Aztec t the token consisted of 20 periods of 13 days and aided the mins in determining a time for religious and ceremonial events lastly in Mayan culture there is the Long Count this third piece to the Mayan kendric puzzle is an astronomical calendar purposed to track longer periods of time the Mayans use the Long Count to track what is called Universal cycle a Time measuring approximately 7,885 solar years as the Aztecs and most other Mesoamerican cultures did the mines believed in periodic destruction and Recreation of the world the difference here is that the Aztec believe this occurred every Century which for them was 52 years while the mays believe this occurred every Universal cycle making the lapse of time between new worlds around 8,000 years the Aztec calendar was prominent during its time but the M calendar is still counting today it ends on December 21st 202 12 Scholars have faced many difficulties in trying to understand Mesoamerican civilizations much of the written record from this time has been destroyed with archaeological findings such as the Aztec Sunstone and the Mayan calendar some of the only evidence to be studied from these cultures and so there are many myths and legends surrounding this monolithic artifact from the Aztec empire we cannot be sure what exactly it was used for considering its size some say the stone may have been placed horizontally and used as a ceremonial Altar for ritual sacrifices while this may be true the most common and well supported notion is that this Stone was used as an astrological reference as we have examined the Sunstone we clearly see that it is merely an ancient calendar a graphic representation of Aztec astronomy symbolizing the strong relationship between the gods and Mankind in a beautiful piece of artwork