Dear Wendy,

I do not know how many there are, but most if not all cultures on earth consider the sun very special, recognizing our nearest star as the giver of life and energy on earth, the sutainer of all living ecosystems. If you want to know more comprehensively about ancient observatories, you might want to get a book by Ed Krupp (through Amazon or some place like that) who has been to many thousands of sites around the world. Ed is the director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

I can tell you about my own personal experiences at solar observatories - Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Hovenweep National Monument, (both in the southwestern US, and on land that was and continues to be inhabited by ancestral Pueblo people for several thousand years); Also solar observatories in the Yucatan, like Chichen Itza, Oxkintok, and Dzibilchaltun. These latter sites are located in the land of the Maya. There are more than 6 million Maya living in mesoamerica and other parts of the world today, and more than 30 variants of Mayan languages are spoken today. Many solar practices continue by Pueblo people, Hopi sunwatchers for example, and the Mayan farmers still use their observations of the Sun to plan their corn plots, or milpas. So, ancient solar observatories is sort of a misnomer, since descendants of the same indigenous groups are still sunwatching in their lands today. Witnessing these amazing events, light and shadow shafts, and other effects on buildings, on petroglyphs and rock carvings, etc. is amazing and inspirational. It also gave me an appreciation of the keen power of observation and prediction in relationshiop wtih the land and their buildings, and of course the Sun. The Sun, as giver of life, as deity, as caretaker of our crops. For more information, images and videos of these wonderful observatories, you can go to our website: http://traditionsofthesun.org

Isabel Hawkins