Archaeoastronomy at Tiwanaku

Recent archaeological research at the enigmatic ruins of Tiwanaku has revealed a revolutionary method of keeping time. Using the latest technology, archaeologists have reconstructed in virtual form the Kalasasaya temple, the "Stonehenge of the New World," and recreated the Andean sky as it would appear a thousand years ago. The result was the discovery of an incredibly precise and self correcting solar calendar only recently surpassed in accuracy by modern technology. This achievement, accomplished without written language or computing devices, is all the more remarkable when we realize that at the same time, European scholars and ecclesiasts were struggling to invent a viable calendar. The 2005 excavation season, funded by the National Science Foundation, will investigate the Kalasasaya temple, in particular the location where the computer simulations indicate where the ancient skywatcher would have stood to view the calendar. An underground radar test indicates the presence of a deep shaft in that very spot.