A short bus ride through the cobblestone streets of Copan we reached the ruins considered the “Athens of the Maya World”. Here we were led by a Maya expert who provided some alternative insights to the Maya compared to traditional archeological interpretations. One of the topics he presented was that many of the ancient structures were used as observatories. What is the point of an observatory when you can see the stars from the ground? In many religions around the world the people would use mountains to get closer to their deities. He suggested that in the May world, they built their mountains to become closer to the deities in the form of pyramids. He also stated that the Maya used astronomy to determine the change of the seasons. In the tropics there is not a lot of seasonal diversity. The winter and summer solstices provided that change point which determined when to plant.
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