Today in Latin American History

The carved basalt monolith commonly known as the Aztec Sun Stone was excavated from the zócalo, the main square of Mexico City, on December 17, 1790. Weighing 24 tons and measuring 12 feet in diameter, it is currently housed in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology. The stone, often erroneously referred to as the “Mayan Calendar”, features the visage of the sun god Tonatiuh at its center, and was initially displayed on the side of Mexico’s Metropolitan Cathedral for about a hundred years following its discovery. The monolith itself is said to have been carved during the late 15th century, and was first described in print by Antonio de León y Gama in 1792.