OBSERVATORIO ASTRONÓMICO PREMUISCA DE MONQUIRÁ-SAQUENZIPA-VILLA DE LEYVA- COLOMBIA
PREMUISCA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF MONQUIRÁ-SAQUENZIPA-VILLA DE LEYVA- COLOMBIA

Author(s): Julio H. Bonilla Romero, Carlos Rodríguez Rojas
Subject(s): Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Muisca; Chibcha; Altiplano Cundiboyacense; solstice; equinox; zenith
Summary/Abstract: This article describes the first possible solar observatory in America built around 800 BCE, located in the Monquira village of the Saquencipa valley in Villa de Leyva, Boyacá Department, Colombia, and which belongs to the Early Herrera or even pre-Herrera period. Archaeoastronomical investigations in recent years have been supplemented with topographic and geodetic equipment to calculate the geodetic and astronomical azimuth of two parallel rows consisting of 56 column-like slabs each and aligned upon the equinoxes. In addition, further observations were made from the outliers of each row to determine solstitial sunrise alignments. It showed that the extended alignment lines connect the site with the sacred Iguaque lagoon on the June solstice and the Cushions of the Zaque (“Cojines del Zaque”) archaeological site in Tunja on the December solstice. Furthermore, in situ observations suggest that the southern stone row was oriented towards the days the sun crosses the zenith.

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