Constructing a building involves many geometrical shapes and patterns. In the absence of a proper mathematical calculation it is near impossible for anyone to build an architectural complex.
However, the latest discovery may question the above statement. While studying the mysterious Sun Temple, researchers came across a few constructions that create equilateral triangles, 45-degree right triangles.
The Golden rectangle which also happened to be quite popular with architects in ancient Greece and Egypt are often utilized in Western art because of its impressive proportions. These were pretty precisely constructed.
The Sun Temple archaeological site of Mesa Verde National park in Colorado, U.S. was built around 1200 AD by the Southwestern Pueblo people.
Dr. Sherry Towers of the Arizona State University’s Simon A. Levin Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center discovered these remarkable structures. Apparently, she has spent many years studying the various facets linked to the archaeological site.
Dr. Towers also noted that this particular site used to be an important place of ceremony for the Pueblo people which include solstice observations. Dr. Towers reveals that her main interest, however, is to determine whether the Pueblo people used this site to observe stars or not.
The Research Work And Findings
The researchers after a close look noticed some patterns in the layout and subsequently in the architecture of the constructions.
After further research, they observed that the geometrical measurements which were used in the construction were known to anyone who has been to high school.
Equilateral triangle, square, 45-degree right triangle, Pythagorean triangle, Golden rectangle are the shapes that researchers came across many times during the study of the architectures.
However the Egyptians and the Greeks were familiar with the Golden rectangle and it was used for the purpose of the Western Art as well.
The mystery though lies in the fact that Egyptians and Greeks knew the usage of written language and numerics while the Pueblo people had no such advantage. Despite those minuses, the Pueblo people were still able to accomplish architectural endeavors bearing measurement errors less than 1 percent.
This is something which surprised the researchers including Dr. Towers who praised the architects and recognized their skill and capability.
“If you asked someone today to try to reconstruct this site and achieve the same precision that they had using just a stick and a piece of cord, it’s highly unlikely they’d be able to do it, especially if they couldn’t write anything down as they were working,” says Dr. Towers.
The researchers observed that the site basically relies on a common measurement unit which, is equal to just over 30cms in length. This comes to almost 1 foot according to the modern day measurements.
A similar pattern is observed in various other recognizable Pueblo sites like the one in New Mexico.
However, Dr. Towers added that more studies were required to establish if a common unit of measurement was in place.
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