﻿The Aztec Calendar Stone. 



181 



Tuesday, December 2, 1884. 

 Vice President Harper in the chair. Twelve members present. 

 The following paper was read and referred to the Publishing Com- 

 mittee : 



THE AZTEC CALENDAR STONE. 



By James W. Abert. 



Many years ago, when just from that most excellent school, the U. S. 

 Academy at West Point, I was looking over an old portfolio, and there 

 found two engravings which attracted my notice especially. The first 

 was marked in Spanish, "Reloj solar meridional que usaban los antiguos 

 Mexicanos," and represented the horizontal projections of the construction 

 proper for a solar dial. The second was marked, " Lamina III.," and was 

 a drawing of the famous Aztec Calendar Stone, a perpetual calendar used 

 by the people of the great Montezuma, whom Cortez conquered, and whose 

 historical and ethnological records the Spaniards so ruthlessly destroyed 

 in the flames, incensed by a wild enthusiasm to obliterate all traces of 

 heathen idolatry and the cruel customs and bloody deeds of human sacri- 

 fices. 



With great care I have always preserved these random drawings, and 

 you can judge of my delight when, a few weeks since (the 10th of Novem- 

 ber), I was rewarded for my care by finding in a rare old Spanish book a 

 complete description and explanation of this identical engraving of the 

 Aztec Calendar Stone. The book is by Don Antonio de Leon y Grama, 

 published in Mexico in 1792. The author proves to be an astronomer of 

 note, and a man familiar with the ancient language of the Aztecs, as well 

 as one deeply skilled and interested in the ancient lore of the Mexicans. 

 It was by the means of excavations, prosecuted at the suggestion of Grama, 

 that many valuable memorials, together with the great stone, were discov- 

 ered on the 13th of August, 1790 — a memorable day, as it was the anni- 

 versary of the very day on which Cortez took possession of the City of 

 Mexico, in the year 1521. 



Grama's works have been quoted by many of the most skilled savans 

 since his day, as Humboldt, Lord Kingsborough, Gallatin, and the latter 

 says : "Since all other systems are proved to be erroneous, and that of Gama 

 is alone consistent with itself and sustained by the proofs which have been 

 stated, it has in its favor the highest degree of probability of which the 

 case is susceptible." 



The Calendar Stone (Plate X) was discovered buried under ground in the 

 great plaza, or square, of the City of Mexico, near the site of the temple 



