Geometric analysis of a medieval compass
Summary
This article presents the study of a medieval compass, analyzes its geometric composition, demonstrates the implicit content of the universal mathematical constants π and φ, the proportion in √2, and its use in the creation of beauty and harmony used in architecture and art of medieval times.
Keywords: medieval architecture, Gothic architecture, medieval arches, geometry, arches, medieval compass, geometry, mathematical constant, golden number, golden ratio.
PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 16, 2024
Deciphering Mesoamerican art
Summary
The ancient Mesoamerican peoples left an extensive legacy of artistic plastic manifestations that included painting, sculpture, architecture, and an incipient urban planning. These works were largely created in order to express her cosmological vision related to the human being and to his particular mythical-religious conception.
PUBLISHED: MAY 22, 2024
“The number 819”. Her geometric-astronomical study
Summary
In the Mayan texts of Copán, Quiriguá and Palenque, as well as in those of other Mayan cities such as Naranjo, there are records of “Four Young Men” associated with the dates of the 819-day Mayan calendar cycle. This cycle, first studied by Sir Eric S. Thompson in 1943, deals with the parties and activities that took place during those celebrations, as well as the characters associated with them.
PUBLISHED: MAY 22, 2024
Analysis of the house of the Deán of Puebla
Summary
To understand the geometric layout of the façade of the Casa del Deán in Puebla and to find some distinctive indigenous element on its façade, I have studied it using geometry as an element of analysis. In any project, the first thing we have to do when analyzing it is to know what unit of measurement “u” was conceived with.
PUBLISHED: MAY 22, 2024
The value of π and its approximations using numbers of astronomical, planetary, solar and lunar cycles
Summary
Since the value of π is a relationship due to its invariable nature, there can be no other value of that constant; however, in ancient times, two other values were used that, although not correct, were assigned to that constant, which made it easier to calculate with them:
π = 3.111…, and π = 3.142857.
PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 11, 2023
The long count in a Mayan piece
Summary
This Mayan piece currently called the Divine Eye is located in the Museum of Mayan Archaeology, in the Fort of San Miguel, Campeche, inventory number 10-342738. It measures 45.5 cm in diameter and is carved from limestone. It dates from the period 600900 d. D.
In the lower part of the piece you can see an extension of it, which was perhaps part of a construction or other larger sculpture. Some art historians say that the spiral corresponds to the pupil of the divine eye and the vertical divisions to the eyelashes. We will see that this interpretation is wrong.
PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 11, 2023
Mexican snake head
Summary
A sculpture in the shape of a snake’s head was found under the old UNAM School of Jurisprudence. The heads of the Directorate of Archaeological Rescue (DSA) and the Museum of the Main Temple (MTM) of the INAH, reported in the newspaper “El Universal” dated October 27, 2023, the measurements of this sculpture: 1.80 m long, 1.00 m high and 85 cm wide, with an estimated weight of 1.2 tons.
PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 11, 2023
Decoding the Art of Mesoamerican Cultures. A geometric-astronomical vision
Summary
The ancient Mesoamerican peoples left a wide legacy of plastic artistic manifestations that range from painting, sculpture, architecture, to the orientation of the incipient urban settlement distribution (layouts). These works were largely created with the aim of expressing their cosmogonic vision of the human being and his particular mythical-religious view. The underlying principles in the design reveal a well-defined relationship between astronomical cycles, units of proportion and geometry. Here the fundamental elements of said design are briefly discussed and two illustrative examples are presented.
Publicada: 5 DE JULIO DE 2022
The Step Pyramid of Saqqara
Summary
I undertook the comparative study of Egyptian art and Mesoamerican art trying to understand the similarities that their artistic expressions present, despite the great temporal and spatial distance that separates them. Just by looking at its monuments, we can see that Egyptian art and Mesoamerican art are based on geometry. The presence of mathematics and astronomy, which are also present, are less evident.
PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 13, 2020
The Step Pyramid of Saqqara. Preface
Summary
There is a belief among Egyptologists that at the time that this pyramid was built, Egypt did not yet have the necessary technology to build a monument of that size entirely out of stone, and that due to a construction fault it was decentered to the east. This argument is false. The Step Pyramid intentionally has its center of gravity offset from its base. The building architect Imhotep shows us with this supposed error that by the time the pyramid was built, Egyptian mathematicians used trigonometry and knew the value of the universal mathematical constants φ and π, which were used to obtain the slopes of the faces of the pyramid. It also shows that the designers of the pyramid knew the values of the astronomical and calendar cycles of the stars that make up the Solar System, which are the same as those currently assigned to them by modern astronomy. For all of the above, the Saqqara Step Pyramid should be considered one of the wonders of ancient architecture.
PUBLISHED: MAY 3, 2019
Mesoamerican cosmogony. Creation according to sacred geometry
Summary
It explains the systematic use of sacred dynamic geometry and the influence of dual religion in the design of works of art and architecture in Mesoamerica.
The various rectangles used in accordance with sacred dynamic geometry in Mesoamerican design are shown, of which at least one example and their possible meaning are given. We talk about the division of Mesoamerican space into three parts; of astronomical cycles, of the meaning of rectangles and angles, and of the characteristic numbers of astronomical cycles inserted as factors of the area or volume of objects of art and architecture.
Key words: Mesoamerica, astronomy, archeology, archaeo-astronomy, pre-Hispanic art and architecture, codices, archeometry, ancient cultures.
PUBLISHED: MAY 10, 2019
Pre-Hispanic science as an intangible heritage
Summary
We talk about “pure or fundamental” sciences, astronomy, geometry and mathematics in Mesoamerica, whose expression was through a numerological-mathematical language that was “written” in pre-Hispanic art and architecture. The “historical” support is found in Sahagún’s writings, in the Bourbon, Paris, Madrid, Grolier, Borgia, Bodley, Dresden and Mendocino codices. The science of astronomy was born when the North Star was taken as a reference point between the distances of astronomical cycles, and as an astronomical unit the day. In addition to archaeology and archaeo-astronomy, archaeometry has been incorporated to explain the art and architecture of various ancient cultures.
Key words: Mesoamerica, astronomy, archeology, pre-Hispanic art and architecture, codices, archaeometry, ancient cultures.
PUBLISHED: MAY 10, 2019
The first page of the Féjérvary-Mayer Codex
Paper presented in “Mexican art in the American imaginary”,
52nd International Congress of Americanists, Seville; UNAM, Mexico, 2007.
History of Mexican Architecture and Urbanism
De Carlos Chanfón Olmos. Participation with chapters.
Volume II, The Viceregal Period; Volume III, The Consolidation Process of Viceregal Life; and Volume III, The Emergence of an Identity, Fund for Economic Culture, Mexico, 2004.