Identification and analysis of astronomical orientation in Mayan burials from the Classic Period, in the Copán Archaeological Park

Abstract

Honduras has multiple registered archaeological sites. One of them and of great importance for the Mayan area is the Mayan Site of Copán, this important site is located in the western part of the country in the department of Copán and had its heyday between the 5th and 9th centuries. In the Archaeological Park of Copán, archaeoastronomial studies have already been carried out on different structures such as pyramids, temples, altars, ball courts and steles. These academic exercises have strengthened the protection of the cultural heritage present at the site, in this case the astronomical heritage, resulting in the interest for studying the orientation of the Mayan burials at the site, during the classical period, which is important to understand the cosmogony of this great civilization. From the archaeoastronomical point of view, the identification of the orientation the burials with respect to celestial objects is of main interest. The Mayans were great astronomers, committed to counting the days and observers of the apparent movement of the Sun. They also observed the Moon and the planet Venus with great interest, hence this research identifies and analyzes the possible orientation of burials of the classic period (250 AD – 900 AD) in the Mayan kingdom of Copan. The analysis of the possible astronomical orientations of the Mayan burials in Copán is an academic effort to strengthen the construction of the theoretical corpus of the field of Cultural Astronomy in Honduras. The preliminary results of this study suggest variations in the orientation of the Mayan burials in Copán and their possible astronomical connotation. It is recommended to expand this line of research.