Wider Worldc. 500 BC · Teteles de Ávila Castillo, Puebla, Mexico
2,500-year-old solar observatory identified in Puebla, Mexico, INAH says
Researchers from Mexico's INAH say the structure at Teteles de Ávila Castillo was designed to track the Mesoamerican calendar, the first such find in northern Puebla.
In brief 3 key points
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- Archaeologists identify a 2,500-year-old structure as a solar observatory.
- The project director says it is the first of its kind found in northern Puebla.
- The observatory reading is the team's interpretation, with few details released.
Archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have identified a structure that they think was a solar observatory. It stands at Teteles de Ávila Castillo, a pre-Hispanic site in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The structure is about 2,500 years old. According to an INAH statement, it was designed to track the Mesoamerican calendar.
Alberto Diez Barroso Repizo directs the archaeological project. He told The Art Newspaper that the observatory "is the first of its kind identified in northern Puebla, though La Venta's Olmec complex may be older." La Venta is the Olmec centre near the Gulf Coast.
Teteles de Ávila Castillo has been under excavation for eleven years. Besides the observatory, the team has found ceramics and a variety of obsidian objects. They have also found infant remains. In one case the remains were placed inside a ceramic vessel.
A town on a trade route
Diez also described the site's history to The Art Newspaper. He said Teteles flourished during the Middle Preclassic period, which he dated to 900–600 BC. The town declined around AD 100. He said this was possibly because the nearby city of Cantona expanded.
The Preclassic, also called the Formative, is the long phase in which the first villages, towns and ceremonial centres grew up in Mesoamerica. It came before the Classic period.
The dates in the report do not line up exactly. An age of 2,500 years puts the observatory around 500 BC. That is somewhat later than the 900–600 BC heyday Diez gave. The reports do not explain how the structure was dated or how it fits into the site's sequence.
Diez also pointed to links with distant places. He said green obsidian beads in offerings with infant remains suggest connections with Teotihuacan, the great city of central Mexico.
“Green obsidian beads found in offerings containing infant remains suggest connections with Teotihuacan.”
Alberto Diez Barroso Repizo, director of the Teteles de Ávila Castillo archaeological project
“Teteles lay along an active trade route, facilitating cultural exchange.”
Alberto Diez Barroso Repizo, director of the Teteles de Ávila Castillo archaeological project
Few details on the observatory so far
The report on the find says the people who built and lived at Teteles had a sophisticated understanding of astronomy. Mexico's Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, tied that knowledge to the layout of the site.
“The architecture of Teteles de Ávila Castillo tells us about societies that developed astronomical knowledge and incorporated it into the organization of their ceremonial spaces.”
Claudia Curiel de Icaza, Mexico's Secretary of Culture
Mesoamerican peoples kept a 365-day solar year alongside a 260-day ritual count. The reports do not say which cycle, or which solar events, the structure was meant to follow. They also do not describe its layout or how the team tested its alignment. A rendering released by INAH shows how the observatory may have looked.
INAH plans to open Teteles de Ávila Castillo to the public. The exact timeline has not yet been set.
Sources (1)
Official announcementfrom INAH
- 2,500-Year-Old Solar Observatory Discovered in Mexico (Bluesky buzz)
Edited by Guiseppe Weijermars
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