Research Paper on:
Aztec Calendar or 'Sun Stone'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
ancient people from the artifacts they left behind. One such artifact has fascinated "modern" humans for literally centuries (even millennia!). The Aztec or Mexica calendar stone is just  such an enigma in terms of how it was used and how it was developed. The questions usually revolve around how "primitive" people could have developed such a complex and  accurate system for measuring and recording time, as well as determining the progression of the sacred through the daily lives and events of the people. There are several important  and fundamental aspects of the Aztec system that must be kept in mind in any study of the calendar. First is the fact that there are actually two Aztec  calendars that are essentially independent of one another. However, both are on the "Sun Stone." They reflect two different aspects of time which, in turn, represent the two  most important aspects of Aztec life -- agriculture and spirituality. One of the calendars marks 365 days and is called the xiuhpohualli. It describes the days and rituals that  are connected with the different seasons, and is generally thought of as the agricultural or solar year calendar. The other calendar consists of only 260 days. In the language  of the Aztecs (Nahuatl), it is called the tonalpohualli simply meaning the "day-count." The tonalpohualli and the xiuhpohualli calendars would fall into alignment every 52 years. That event was  the point at which a Mesoamerican "century" was marked. According to Townsend (1992), "Every one of these centuries was marked by xiuhmolpilli "the binding of the years." This was  a festival that lasted 12 days and included fasting as a symbol of penitence. At the beginning of this festival all the lights in the city were extinguished. Then on