Aylesworth, Grant R. (Author)
Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture
Volume: 18
Pages: 34--66
Group E at Uaxactún has been considered an emblematic Maya observatory since its discovery in the 1920s. This group, consisting of a large radial pyramid and three temples on a raised platform, has become an archetypal architectural testimony to Maya observational astronomy in which a skywatcher situated at the pyramid will see the sunrise over the three temples on the summer and winter solstices and on the equinoxes. The widespread occurrence of architectural complexes resembling Uaxactún's E-Group in the Maya lands has led a number of scholars to speculate they served as calendrical devices. In this article the different ways of interpreting E-Groups are reconsidered. After a short description of the history of E-Group investigations, various interpretations are presented and discussed. According to those proposals the Group E complex may be viewed as (1) functioning solar (solstice and/or solar zenith passage) observatory. (2) seasonal orientation calendar device applied to large-scale trade movements. (3) functioning specialized observatory for marking the positions of the Sun and Venus, (4) a Commemorative Astronomical Complex, and (5) nonfunctioning symbolic or allegoric architectural complex. The E-Group potentials of Venus, lunar, and stellar alignments are proposed and their archaeological contexts are briefly discussed. Since Group E complexes seem to challenge simplistic interpretations based on the study of solstitial and equinoctial alignments, new directions in archaeoastronomical research are needed.
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