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have any of the scientists visited any of these sites around the world?

Dear friend,

Yes, I have been to several of these sites, which are amazing, and inspiring. I have been to several sites in the southwest: Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico (If you want to access a wonderful site that we developed with help from Native American scholars with ancestry in that area, and with the National Park Service and NASA, please visit the URL: http://traditionsofthesun.org - Traditions of the Sun).  I have also been to Hovenweep National Monument in Utah.  These two sites are the home of the ancestors of the Pueblo people, currently living in the southwest. The Pueblo indians still have strong solar practices, they follow the movement of the Sun, track and predict seasons, and hold sacred ceremonies tied to the Sun. At Chaco and Hovenweep, you can find evidence of similar solar traditions, since the indians there, about 1000 years ago, constructed buildings and used markings on the landscape along the horizon to predict and celebrate seasons. These practices are very much integrated with the culture's ideology and worldview, and had both practical and ceremonial significance.

I have also spent quite a bit of time in the Yucatan, Mexico. I have visited and work with archeo-astronomers in the sites of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Dzibilchaltun. These sites are magnificent, like Chaco and Hovenweep.  They were built also more than 1000 years ago by the Maya. The Maya, like the Pueblo people, are a living culture today, with their language and practices still alive and thriving.  There will be a live webcast from Chichen Itza showing a solar alignment with the pyramid of El Castillo, on March 20th, Sunday, the date of the Equinox, at 5 pm Eastern time. You can access this show at http://www.exploratorium.edu

Best wishes, and thank you for your question and interest,

Isabel Hawkins

Hello,

Yes, like Isabel, I have been to several ancient observatory sites including Stonehenge in England, Chichen Itza, and Machu Picchu in Peru.  All of these sites were deliberately built to mark special times of the year.  Stonehenge "observes" the summer solstice, but at Machu Picchu the Inca were interested in the winter solstice, which they called Inti Raymi (Inti means "Sun").  As you might expect, the Sun was very important to these people, and they worshipped the Sun as a god.  The people who knew when the "special" times of the year would happen (solstices and equinoxes) were in many ways, the scientists of their culture and had power over the common people and even the rulers relied on them.  Actually visiting these sites is a wonderful experience and I am proud to have had the opportunity to do so.  I first visited Machu Picchu in 1982, with astronomers Raymond White, Sr. and David Dearborn.  I have been back to Machu Picchu three times since then, one time hiking there from Ollyantaytambo along the Inca Trail.  Along the way, we saw many Inca ruins, some of which might have been used for astronomical purposes.  If you would like to see an online slide show (lots of pretty pictures!) about some of Dr. Dearbon's work, go to this website: http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/archeo/

Mitzi Adams

I have been to Chichen Itza at the fall equinox one year, and saw the snake - very cool! (It's the same in the fall as in the spring, and the fall is a lot less crowded). There is another site near there that has a sunrise alignment at the equinoxes. I've also been to Stonehenge a few times, and a number of other archaeological sites.