  Summer 2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the excavation by J.W. Fewkes of
the Sun Temple in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, an ancient complex
prominently located atop a mesa, constructed by the ancestral Pueblo peoples
approximately 800 years ago. While the D-shaped structure is generally
recognized by modern Pueblo peoples as a ceremonial complex, the exact uses of
the site are unknown, although the site has been shown to have key solar and
lunar alignments. In this study, we examined the potential that the site was
laid out using advanced knowledge of geometrical constructs. Using aerial
imagery in conjunction with ground measurements, we performed a survey of key
features of the site. We found apparent evidence that the ancestral Pueblo
peoples laid out the site using the Golden rectangle, Pythagorean 3:4:5
triangles, equilateral triangles, and 45 degree right triangles. The survey
also revealed that a single unit of measurement, L = 30.5+/-0.5 cm, or one
third of that, appeared to be associated with many key features of the site.
Further study is needed to determine if this unit of measurement is common to
other ancestral Pueblo sites, and also if geometric constructs are apparent at
other sites. These findings represent the first potential quantitative evidence
of knowledge of advanced geometrical constructs in a prehistoric North American
society, which is particularly remarkable given that the ancestral Pueblo
peoples had no written language or number system.
