Constructed around 350 B.C., Chankillo is believed to have been built for seasonal events, rituals, sun festivals and for keeping a seasonal calendar through solar observations (Ghezzi, Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy 59-61). Chankillo is known as the Peruvian ‘Stonehenge’ as stated by the MIT Technology Review. It has 13 towers that are neatly aligned but nobody knows for sure why these towers were constructed this way (Emerging Technology From the arXiv). All information was destroyed and lost when the pre-Incans fought and demolished the once great site of Chankillo. All that remains are the ruins which stand as puzzle pieces for scientists to analyze and resolve to unearth their meaning. Amelia Sparavigna at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy has a theory from a program she developed that calculates the position of the sun from the sky that shows the exact amount of sunlight that cascades on solar panels. Using this program, she was able to determine that the first tower aligns with the sunrise on June 21 which is the summer solstice, while the last tower aligns with the sunrise on December 21 the winter solstice. Coinciding with this observation, Sparavigna distinguished that the shadows of the towers point towards the south from the equinox of March 21 to the equinox of September 21 then during the sun’s zenith there are no shadows left by the towers (Sparavigna 1-2). As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, a Zenith is ‘…the highest point of the celestial sphere as viewed from any particular place; the upper pole of the horizon’ (Oxford University Press). Being located in the tropic zone, Chankillo is in an area where the sun reaches its zenith two times a year. Further solidifying that it would have made a great viewing area for sunrise, sunset and the sun’s zenith (Sparavigna). This could indicate numerous specific events and rituals such as the breaking down of time and days. Giving the pre-Incans a calendar for managing crops, rituals and harvesting. Even though this is an amazing discovery, the answer as to ‘why’ this was done has not yet been resolved, the idea was that these solar observation towers were used as markers for the year, but because there are no written records or concrete evidence, archaeologist can only speculate this theory. If we are to accept that the towers of Chankillo were used as a
Constructed around 350 B.C., Chankillo is believed to have been built for seasonal events, rituals, sun festivals and for keeping a seasonal calendar through solar observations (Ghezzi, Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy 59-61). Chankillo is known as the Peruvian ‘Stonehenge’ as stated by the MIT Technology Review. It has 13 towers that are neatly aligned but nobody knows for sure why these towers were constructed this way (Emerging Technology From the arXiv). All information was destroyed and lost when the pre-Incans fought and demolished the once great site of Chankillo. All that remains are the ruins which stand as puzzle pieces for scientists to analyze and resolve to unearth their meaning. Amelia Sparavigna at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy has a theory from a program she developed that calculates the position of the sun from the sky that shows the exact amount of sunlight that cascades on solar panels. Using this program, she was able to determine that the first tower aligns with the sunrise on June 21 which is the summer solstice, while the last tower aligns with the sunrise on December 21 the winter solstice. Coinciding with this observation, Sparavigna distinguished that the shadows of the towers point towards the south from the equinox of March 21 to the equinox of September 21 then during the sun’s zenith there are no shadows left by the towers (Sparavigna 1-2). As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, a Zenith is ‘…the highest point of the celestial sphere as viewed from any particular place; the upper pole of the horizon’ (Oxford University Press). Being located in the tropic zone, Chankillo is in an area where the sun reaches its zenith two times a year. Further solidifying that it would have made a great viewing area for sunrise, sunset and the sun’s zenith (Sparavigna). This could indicate numerous specific events and rituals such as the breaking down of time and days. Giving the pre-Incans a calendar for managing crops, rituals and harvesting. Even though this is an amazing discovery, the answer as to ‘why’ this was done has not yet been resolved, the idea was that these solar observation towers were used as markers for the year, but because there are no written records or concrete evidence, archaeologist can only speculate this theory. If we are to accept that the towers of Chankillo were used as a