Hi Laura,

I think this question may fall a little bit outside the areas of expertise of the Solar Week scientists. This is probably a better question to ask an archaeologist! I did take a few anthropology courses a long time ago when I was in college, so I will do the best I can to answer your question. As far as I can remember, no connections have been conclusively proven to exist between the pyramids in Egypt and the Mayan pyramids built in Central America. The design and purposes of the Egyptian pyramids and the Mayan pyramids are different. The Egyptian pyramids were built primarily to serve as tombs, not astronomical observatories. There are some theories suggesting that knowledge of astronomy may have been used in the positioning of the Egyptian pyramids and the construction of certain shafts inside the pyramids, but I'm not sure that these connections have ever been conclusively proven.

One site in Egypt that is related to observations of the Sun is the temple at Abu Simbel. This temple was originally built so that the Sun would shine inside on the birthday and coronation date of King Ramses II. You can read more about it here:

http://sunearthday.nasa.g...ations/abusimbel.htm

Kris