The Sun Stone

Worksheet Description

The Aztec Sun Stone is the most famous and most recognizable piece of art to come from the Aztec empire. It is also sometimes known as the Aztec Sun Calendar. The stone is 12 feet across, and it weighs over 54 tons. The Sun Stone shows the five worlds of the sun according to Aztec mythology. Each of the “worlds” represents a different eras of the Earth. At the stone’s center is a carving of the Aztec sun deity, Tonatiuh. Tonatiuh was known as “The Fifth Sun” or the final world/era.

After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1512, the Sun Stone was buried because it was too large to destroy and too heavy to move. It was found 200 years later under the zócalo (central plaza) in Mexico City. Today, you can see the Sun Stone on display at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City.

The primary goal of this worksheet is to impart knowledge about the Aztec Sun Stone, elucidating its historical, cultural, and religious significance within the Aztec civilization. Through this focused study, students are introduced to the intricate art and beliefs of the Aztecs, understanding the broader context in which such artifacts existed. The worksheet also aims to cultivate critical reading and information extraction skills, encouraging students to discern and retrieve relevant details from a given text. By the end of the activity, students should have a comprehensive grasp of the Sun Stone’s legacy and its place in Mesoamerican history.