Read the passage given below and then answer the questions given below the passage. The archaeological site of El Tajin, located in the present-day Mexican State of Veracruz, is remarkable for many reasons. The site boasts many buildings, temples, palaces and ball courts, but the most impressive of
Read the passage given below and then answer the questions given below the passage.
The archaeological site of El Tajin, located in the present-day Mexican State of Veracruz, is remarkable for many reasons. The site boasts many buildings, temples, palaces and ball courts, but the most impressive of all is the stunning Pyramid of the Niches. This temple was obviously of great symbolic importance to the people of El Tajin: it once contained exactly 365 niches, marking its connection to the solar year. Even after the fall of El Tajin, sometime around 1200 A.D., locals kept the temple clear and it was the first part of the city discovered by Europeans.
Unlike many other great Mesoamerican temples, which were completed in stages, the Pyramid of the Niches in El Tajin seems to have been built all at once. Archaeologists speculate that the temple was built sometime between 1100 and 1150 A.D., when El Tajin was at the height of its power. It is made of a locally available sandstone. The stone for the building was quarried from a site along the Cazones River some thirty-five or forty kilometers from El Tajín and then floated there on barges.
The Pyramid of the Niches is rich in symbolism. The 365 niches clearly represent the solar year. In addition, there were once seven levels. Seven times fifty-two is three hundred and sixty four. Fifty-two was an important number for Mesoamerican civilizations: the two Maya calendars would align every fifty-two years, and there are fifty-two visible panels on each face of the Temple of Kukulcan in Chichen Itza. On the monumental stairway, there were once six platform-altars (now there are five), each of which featured three small niches: this reaches a total of eighteen special niches, representing the eighteen months of the Mesoamerican solar calendar.
Consider the following statements. Which of these are correct?
A. The two Mayan calendars would align every 365 years.
B. The temple of El Tajin was built before 1200 AD.
1). Only A
2). Only B
3). Both A and B
4). Neither A nor B
1 answers
The statement A is incorrect, as the passage states that the two Mayan calendars would align every 52 years.
The statement B, however is correct, as the passage mentions that the temple was built between 1100-1150 AD, which is before 1200 AD.
Therefore, the correct answer is option 2.