|
Notes on the Shaw
Butte Hilltop
Archaeological
Site
On a barren hilltop in the
Phoenix Mountains of Arizona, ancient Hohokam built a
monument to their gods, the seasons and their own
intelligence. The stone walled oval with its mysterious
petroglyphs and purposeful architecture is but a hint of the
of the intelligence of these people. Hidden within the
nearby rocks is a shelter built of stone. These stones, the
sun and probably the moon, act as a calendar marking the
seasons as beams of light move to and fro across the stone
and dirt floor.
The construction of the
shelter allows light to shine into it from various holes
left in the roof. The light patterns undergo changes
throughout the year. Light spots appear and disappear, wax
and wane, as the year progresses from summer through winter
solstice and back again to summer. The cycles of appearance,
and change, seem to occur in multiples of 28 days with some
full cycles lasting 56 days.
Click on the opening
notebook picture to your right to start your discovery
process. In the notebook, the left hand column is an index
of the seasons. Clicking on a season will take you to an
explanation of how the season was marked. Links within the
text will show videos and pictures in the
center.
This study is run on a
volunteer basis along with City of Phoenix Archaeologist,
Todd Bostwick.
CLICK HERE for more information about the site. This was
published in The Practical Observer Magazine in 1997 and was
written by Todd and myself.
|