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Re: Ariadne's thread
Posted:
Nov 26, 2011 2:22 AM
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John E. Clark found an amazing number of calendar
measurements in the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan,
published in the paper: Aztec dimensions of holiness,
in The Archaeology of Measurement (op.cit.), and
gives a long list of Aztec body measures. I linked
them with numbers of concordance, at the begin
of each line; at the end of some lines, in brackets,
measures from Clark.
30 -- finger (1.74 cm)
240 -- half a foot
310 -- jeme
360 -- palm of the hand
480 -- foot print (27.86 cm)
576 -- bone
660 -- forearm
720 -- elbow
1200 -- step
1240 -- armpit
1335 -- shoulder (77.5 cm)
1440 -- heart / vara (83.59 cm)
2160 -- arrow, dart (1.254 m)
2760 -- stature, height of a man
2880 -- hand, horizontal braza
4320 -- wooden measuring rod
4800 -- ten feet (2.786 m)
16 fingers are one foot, 48 fingers or 3 feet are
one vara. If the diameter of a circle measures
5 shoulders, the circumference measures
6 shoulders 6 arrows, value of pi 1398/445
from the sequence
12/4 (plus 22/7) ... 1398/445 1420/452
The measures * arrow minus shoulder * shoulder *
arrow * arrow plus shoulder * form a golden sequence,
55 89 144 233. John E. Clark postulates the presence
of the golden section at Tenochtitlan.
If the side of a square measures 15 shoulders,
the diagonal measures 6 ten feet minus 1 foot,
and if the diagonal measures 6 ten feet minus 1 foot,
the diagonal measures 30 shoulders, values for the
square root of 2 1888/1335 and 1335/944 respectively.
If a square measures 150 by 150 shoulders, the diagonal
measures 59 ten feet, and the circumfernce 180 shoulders
180 arrows.
The base of the pyramid and Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan
might ideally measure 100 by 105 shoulders (calculated
from the map), diagonal 145 shoulders, basic triple 20-21-29.
The quasi-square 100 by 105 may contain an imaginary
divine square 100 by 100 shoulders and the inscribed
circle of the circumference 120 shoulders 120 arrows.
The Aztecs might have calculated the circle on the basis
of the number 29 and the first triple 20-21-29, second
triple 41-840-841. The second polygon is a quasi-square
of 12 short and 8 long sides. If the arc of the short side
is 41 and the arc of the long side 599, the circumference
of the rounded polygon is 5284. 5284 divided by the
diameter 2642 yields 2642/841 for pi, from the sequence
3/1 (plus 377/120) ... 1888/601 ... 2642/841
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