Aztec Calendar Stone Carved

Aztec sculptors carved a 24,590-kilogram basalt disk measuring 3.58 meters in diameter during the reign of Motecuhzoma II. The stone depicts five cosmological eras, or suns, surrounded by calendrical glyphs referencing the 260-day tonalpohualli and 365-day xiuhpohualli cycles. Central imagery shows the face of the sun god Tonatiuh framed by symbols of previous world destructions. Discovered buried beneath Mexico City's central plaza in December 1790, the monolith now resides in the National Museum of Anthropology.