At the risk of sounding like Colman Domingo’s character in a recent SNL sketch: did you know that ancient societies had observatories of their own? While their technology was not quite at the level of producing high-powered telescopes, they also didn’t have to worry about light pollution nearly as much as we do. Ancient people were — presumably — looking to the skies for the same reasons we do today: to better understand the larger world, and perhaps to get a glimpse of the sublime.
As Maria Luisa del Río reports for The Art Newspaper, Peru’s Ministry of Culture recently revealed details of an archaeological site dating back to the ancient Caral society. This culture occupied what is now northern Peru for approximately 1,700 years beginning roughly 5,500 years ago. The observatory, del Río writes, was used by the Caral to monitor “changes in weather, tides and the availability of marine resources” — all of which were vital to keeping this civilization thriving.
According to an announcement from the Ministry of Culture, the observatory was located in a settlement known as Áspero. Leading this latest initiative was archaeologist Dr. Ruth Shady Solís; she and her colleagues have been exploring this site for the last 21 years.
The archaeologists determined that this observatory went through four distinct phases over the centuries that it was in use, beginning its existence as a building used for certain ceremonies and gradually shifting its structure and becoming the site of a series of rituals.
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A literal blend of old and newThis observatory is not the first major discovery Shady Solís has been involved in; far from it. She has also led expeditions that have discovered mummified remains dating back to 4,500 years ago, as well as a 3,800-year-old mural. The work that she and her colleagues are engaged in right now is helping all of us better understand what the ancient world was like — and giving us a sense of what ancient people were thinking when they looked to the night sky thousands of years ago.
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