a Near Encounter with a Stone Calendar

It was some time in the late ’60’s that I read in the Washington Post that the Smithsonian had acquired a large stone Aztec calendar. The story showed a picture of the artifact and said it was going to be on display. That weekend, I persuaded mom to drive me into the City to see it. A large glass case stood against the wall in the Mesoamerican culture exhibit area. At one side of the case on the wall was a small sign: “Aztec Stone Calendar”. And directly below that was yet another sign: “This article has been removed for research purposes.”

A couple of weeks later, I found the same situation and asked a guard about it. He said it would be returned in a week or so after they were finished with it. So a couple of weeks later, I returned and found the same situation.

A month later, the sign was gone and so was the case. A year later, we moved away from the DC area.

I never learned what became of it.

Tags: Aztec, calendar, Smithsonian