Structural Evidence of a Luni-Solar Calendar in Ancient Mesoamerica

Resumen

The Mesoamerican calendar, as we know it from ethnohistoric sources, the codices and archaeological manifestations, is an intricate system of intermeshing time cycles. Despite much scholarship on the subject, the origin of this extremely sophisticated system remains an intriguing and controversial problem. While most scholars view it as completely indigenous, some, most notably, Kelley have argued for significant Old World influences. Kelley also has argued, on the basis of astronomical implications of the system, that the calendar was purposefully invented, thus agreeing in general terms with the inventionist view of Spiden and departing from the developmental or evolutionary view. But, regardless of viewpoint on the origins of the calendar system, probably everyone writing about its origins has believed that some simpler form of calendar must once have existed in Mesoamerica. They sometimes, nevertheless, express a degree of pessimism as to our ever being able to produce evidence of it. This doubt seems particularly associated with the belief that the Mesoamerican calendar system envolved in tandem with evolution of writing. For example, Hanns Frem, emphasizing archaeological evidence in the form of objects bearing calendrical glyphs states: In the archaeologically investigated past a calendar becomes tangible only be being fixed in writing. But since the development of a calendar in the form of the solar year or even the Tonalpohualli did not require a fixing in writing (as demonstrated by ethnographic findings) , early phases of the calendar may remain forever unknown to uso In spite of this, it may be assumed that the mere existence of a calendar facilitated the formation of a writing system and through the latter, the calendar received new stimulation to further develop in complexity.