Prof. Dr. Ivan Šprajc: Origins of Mesoamerican Astronomy and Calendar

A lecture

Cankarjev dom Literature and Humanities Prof. Dr. Ivan Šprajc: Origins of Mesoamerican Astronomy and Calendar

Prof. Dr. Ivan Šprajc’s recent archaeoastronomical studies haves shown that some important civic and ceremonial buildings in Mesoamerica were largely oriented to the extremes of the Moon's and Venus's range of risings and settings, and the vast majority to the sunrises and sunsets on specific dates. The distribution of these dates and the intervals between them reveal an unequivocal relation to the Mesoamerican calendar, especially the 260-day cycle.

About the speaker:
Prof. Dr. Ivan Šprajc graduated in archaeology and ethnology from the University of Ljubljana (1982), obtained his MA degree in history and ethnohistory at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico (1989), and received his PhD in anthropology from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (1997). Between 1992 and 2000, he worked as a researcher at the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.