Want to be part of an interesting research project? This fall and summer, I discovered that light beams, from precisely set windows in the domes of five 16th and 17th century churches in Chiapas, Mexico, were calibrated to mark the equinox and summer solstice.

The fall equinox is also marked (L. Furbee, personal communication) but would not have the ritual importance of announcing the onset of Easter that the spring equinox does. In the morning, light beams trace the central aisle of churches at the equinox and center on the south door on the solstice. In the afternoon, saints and the Virgin on the retablo are illuminated consecutively in the weeks before Easter. Abandoned rural churches also showed astronomical alignments not typical of Spanish designs. Today, knowledge of the meaning of these beautiful light shows (images; video) has been lost; it seems possible that Dominican astronomer priests brought this knowledge to Mexico. The precise setting of lights in domes for that purpose may be restricted to the Americas. Light casting, but not Meridian lines, is known for later Spanish missions in California and Arizona. I know of one observation from a church on Lake Titikaka.

If you want to contribute to the project, write me (benferr@missouri.edu). You would need to be available to visit a 16th to 18th century domed Spanish church, that has a south entryway this December 21, 2009, or a church with or without a south entryway on March 21, 2009. I would advise you how to take some pictures and/or observations that could help to define the extent of this phenomenon. Simple digital cameras work really well. All assistance will be fully acknowledged in publications that flow from your cooperation.

My other research project does not lend it self to volunteers, unfortunately. Between 2003 and 2007, I have been excavating at the prehistoric site of Buena Vista, in central, coastal Perú. We have discovered four different temples, each with astronomical alignments for the solstices (see image), fall equinox, and major lunar standstills. They date to between 2,200 and 1,750 BC. Associated three-dimensional sculptures are the oldest in the Americas. Thus astronomer priests in the very short Chillón Valley, at this site, and a sister site in the lower valley, El Paraíso, where we also found reference points for astronomical alignments, controlled rituals associated with a calendar that predicted the rise and fall of the flooding of the river. They incorporated public art in statuary and incised and painted murals for the first time in the Americas. This time, the end of third millennium BC, was when the first step pyramids were being built in Egypt on the longest river in the world. A PowerPoint presentation summarizes some of the findings as of September, 2008.

Hope this sheds some light on my current research. Because these two projects keep me very busy, I have had to abandon work in Neolithic China. However, Kate Pechenkena continues the work we began together and has expanded its scope.

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"Bioarchaeología at Taller de Archaeometríe y Bioarchaeología," San Marcos University, Lima
(Powerpoint ~7MB)

Early Villages (all in pdf):

• manuscript
• figures (6.9 MB)

Buena Vista Final Report: 2004-2005 Field Seasons (Word - 10 MB)

Proyecto Buena Vista 2002-2005: El Templo Mas Antiguo del Mundo y Las Primeras Esculturas Preceramicas (Powerpoint - 13MB)
Buena Vista Informe (in pdf)
Planos y Perfilos (in pdf)
Buena Vista Methods (in pdf)

Summer solstice sunrise over a rock retouched to resemble
a human face, from the Temple of the Fox.