The Relationship Between Architectural Orientations and Worldview in Mesoamerica

The Case of Tehuacalco, Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

In Mesoamerica there was an ideal cycle of 364 days linked to the agricultural ritual cycle, anchored in strong worldview conceptions. The evidence is found in documents from the pre-Hispanic and colonial period. J. Eric S. Thompson called it a computing year, mostly because it runs parallel to the year of 365 days. It is a conceptualization of time that consists of a quadripartite division. Space was also part of it, as it´s proven by the presence of the cycle in the configuration of the layout of the settlements and the arrangement of their architectural structures. That is: in the construction of their landscape. It is the building´s orientations that particularly show this cultural phenomenon.

Based on our field work, we propose that the calendrical model of the computing year of 364 days is fundamentally based on the numbers seven and thirteen, as part of its intrinsic division into four quarters of 91 days each (91×4=364). The base is constituted by 7×13=91. The practicality of this association is that the series of seven (séptimas) and thirteen (trecenas) coincide on the solstices and on the quarter days of the year (days used to adjust). We will use solar orientations from Tehuacalco, a site with an occupation between 650 and 1100/1200 AD. Specifically, we will focus on the orientation axes of the stairways of two architectural structures. In other words, Tehuacalco is an emblematic case since, in addition to the series of significant intervals, the fundamental days are present; that is, the quarter days of the year and the solstice. The main temple is specifically dedicated to the seven-day intervals. This was the number that represented the abundance of food and especially maize. Worship must have been conducive to successful agriculture. The Palace has a combination of the numbers seven and nine. The latter was associated with the underworld and the ancestors. With this, a relationship between the ruling and priestly class is deduced. As far as the landscape is concerned, the positions of the Sun to the east take place on the main hill of the site. Cerro la Compuerta is classified as a sacred mountain, especially for its many ritual deposits archaeologically detected. In addition,through graphic colonial documents, we identify this with the god Xipe Tótec, a deity related to maize and the transformation of vegetation cover between March and April, the period in which the quarter days of the year occur (c. March 22-23)