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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Photo: Pre-Inca Observatory Is Oldest in Americas, Study Says


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Thirteen stone towers arranged along a ridge at a site in Peru could represent the oldest known astronomical observatory in the Americas, scientists recently announced.

The 2,300-year-old Chankillo site includes a walled temple with a building that includes a 131-foot-long (40-meter-long) corridor. The mouth of the corridor is the ideal vantage point, the scientists say, for viewing the way the towers mark the points where the sun rises and sets at various times of the year.

Photograph courtesy Ivan Ghezzi