The 364 Count

Another design alternative for the Aztec Calendar involves a similar configuration of the seven remaining segments, as we mentioned earlier. In this case, one simply inactivates the uppermost segment, thus remaining with the original seven segments left over.

This 7-segment configuration may be used to divide the calendar round into 364 days, since, as we stated earlier, 7 times 52 equals 364, and thereby forms a natural division for the 364c. In this manner, the 7-segment configuration would divided into cycles of days as follows:

Again, this 7-segment configuration may be further divided in 13-day subdivisions or cycles (trecenas).

As we did in the case of the 5-segment configuration, we shall now compare the two distinct sets of lines in order to observe a possible correspondence between the 7-segment configuration and the lines of the Aztec Calendar.

In the case of the 7-segment configuration, we now see that there is a slight coincidence between the abstracted lines and the ring of towers. Note however, that the abstracted lines do not fall exactly on the middle of each tower, but slightly off center.

In summary, although the Aztec Calendar is presented as a single entity on a 360-degree circle, its concentric circles (or rings) seem to be divided in such a way as to be relationally distint to at least two different reckoning systems. The ring of serpents appears to relate to the 260c (the lunar count), while the other rings seem to relate to the 360c (the solar count). We shall examine this possibility in later essays.

For now, let us continue with the analysis of spatial divisions. Another significant point is to note the fact that in both the 260c and the 364c as delineated herein, the mid-point of each falls precisely on the same line coordinate between the two heads of the serpents: 130 and 182 days respectively.

260c	364c

With the spatial divisions following these lines, possibly calculations could have been made in isolation with the 260c alone (the lunar calendar), while the 364c could have provided the solar calculations alone, or in coordination with the lunar estimates. This might possibly mean that the solar count of 18 months of 20 days (the tonalpohualli) and, the lunar count of 13 months of 20 days (the metztapohualli), may have been physically represented on the calendar's design, as many authors have purported. Such a spatial division would appear to have incorporated both calendar reckonings, and might thereby have provided a translation from one calendar to another.

The specific 7-segment configuration and division of the Aztec Calendar as discussed above may have been the basis for the design of the calendar, if we consider the 8 holes that are perforated on the calendar's border area.

Although we have not been able to obtain an exact drawing or sketch of the position of these holes, it would appear that these 8 holes align themselves with the 7-segment configuration created in this essay. The 8 holes are slightly off center of the eight towers. It has been suggested that these 8 perforations were used for measuring the sun's rays as one would with a sundial. That is difficult to say. But, it is intriguing to note that the alignment of the 8 perforated holes would appear to resemble the spatial division based on the 7-segment configuration.

Observations

Much remains to be analyzed in search of a possible understanding of the Aztec Calendar on its own terms. We have examined a possible manner in which to conceive of a spatial division within the Aztec Calendar that would appear to follow its own logic. We have not sought to impose lines upon the calendar's design, but rather extract the lines reflected within its own design. The spatial divisions put forward in this essay appear to reflect part of the calendar's logic and design.

The creative artistic expression of ancient artwork, the infinite number of designs, expressed with so much beauty and dedication, all seem to be grounded upon a meaningful analysis of space and time. The signs and symbols of ancient artwork did not simply fall out of the sky, but appear to have been the synthesis of a conceptual abstraction about reality, coming from a reasoned learning experience about existence itself. In a word, they are science-based; they are knowledge. For the Aztec Calendar reflects thousands of years of experience of a people who studied their environment and worked with it in their everyday lives.

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