Mayans had many breakthroughs in astronomy and mathematics. Priest studied the sky with observatories. They were able to track the movement of stars and planets with great accuracy. The Mayans used their observations to calculate the solar year. The Mayan figure for their year of 365.2420 days is amazingly precise.These calculations allowed the Mayas to create their solar calendar of 365 days. They also had a sacred 260-day calendar. Every 52 years, the first date in both calendars fell on the same day. This gave the Mayas a longer unit of time that they called a Calendar Round. For the ancient Mayas, this 52-year period was something like what a century is to us.
The Mayas also recognized the need for zero.
One of the Aztecs’ most remarkable technological achievements was the construction of their island city Tenochticlan. the aztecs enlarge the area of the city by creating artificial islands called chinampas. Today many people visit those chinampas and their flowers vendors. The aztecs adapted the Mayan solar and sacred calendars. The calendar was useful for farming , since it tracked the seasons. One of the most famous Aztec artifacts is a calendar called the Sun Stone. Dedicated to the god of the sun, this beautifully carved stone is nearly twelve feet wide and weighs almost twenty-five tons. The center shows the face of the sun god.
