Antonio de León y Gama (1735–1802) was a Mexican astronomer, anthropologist and writer. When in 1790 the Aztec calendar stone (also called sun stone) was discovered buried under the main square of Mexico City, he published an essay about it, ''Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con ocasión del nuevo empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de México, se hallaron en ella el año de 1790'' (''Historical and chronological description of two Stones that were found in the plaza of Mexico in 1790 upon the occasion of laying the new pavement'') explaining the functioning of

Aztec calendar The Aztec or Mexica calendar is the calendar, calendrical system used by the Aztecs as well as other Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of Mexico, peoples of central Mexico. It is one of the Mesoamerican calendars, sharing the bas ...

Life

Antonio de León y Gama was born in 1735, the son of a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

in the city of Mexico, who was notable due to being the author of a book on

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s; His mother died at his birth. He remained in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

his whole life and died there in 1802. Between 1753 and 1755 he attended to the

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San Ildefonso law school, achieving a degree. In 1758 began work at the

Real Audiencia of Mexico The Real Audiencia of Mexico or Royal Audiencia of Mexico () was the highest tribunal (high court) of the Spanish crown in the Kingdom of New Spain. The Audiencia was created by royal decree on December 13, 1527, and was seated in the viceregal c ...

where he remained all his professional career. He was not wealthy and had many descendants. He was a self-trained mathematician and astronomer, "becoming one of the most capable Mexican astronomers of his day."Warren, J. Benedict, "An Introductory Survey of Secular Writings in the European Tradition on Colonial Middle America, 1503-1818, item 97, "Antonio de León y Gama (1735-1802)" in ''Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 13. Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources'', Howard F. Cline, volume editor. Austin: University of Texas Press 1973, pp. 90-91.

Works

Antonio de León y Gama wrote works in different fields of science, such as astronomy, medicine, or history, although he is most known for his description of the discovery of the Aztec calendar stone. Some of his works are *Astronomy: **''Calendario 1771'' (''Calendary 1770'') **''Calendario 1772'' (''Calendary 1771'') **''Descripción orthográphica universal del eclipse de sol del día 24 de junio de 1778'' (''Universal orthographic description of the sun eclipse of 24 June 1778'') **''Observaciones meteorológicas'' (''Meteorological observations'') in '' Gaceta Mexicana'', February 1787. **''Discurso sobre la luz septentrional que se vio en esta ciudad el día 14 de noviembre de 1789'' (''Discourse on the septentrional light seen in this city on 14 November 1789'') in ''Gaceta Mexicana'', October 1789 **''Disertación física sobre la materia y formación de las auroras boreales'' (''Physical dissertation on matter and the formation of the auroras borealis''), 1790. **''Carta a un amigo'' (''Letter to a friend''), in ''Gaceta Mexicana'', April 1801, where he describes how centuries should be counted. *Medicine: **''Instrucción sobre el remedio de las lagartijas'' (''On the remedy of wall lizards''), 1782, where he debated the use of wall lizards as a cure for

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. **''Respuesta satisfactoria'' (''Satisfactory answer''), 1783. *History:
''Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con ocasión del nuevo empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de México, se hallaron en ella el año de 1790''
(''Historical and chronological description of two Stones that were found in the plaza of Mexico upon the occasion of laying the new pavement''). **''Compendio de la historia antigua de la Nueva España, desde sus primeros pobladores hasta despúes de la conquista; deducido de la pinturas de los indios, de los mejores manuscritos que dejaron estos así en su idioma como en nuestro castellano y de otros documentos originales donde se refutan varias relaciones históricas''. MS in the

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, microfilm in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Historical and chronological description of two Stones that were found in the plaza of Mexico upon the occasion of laying the new pavement

This book was published in 1792. In it León y Gama described the discovery in 1790 of two of the most important pieces of Aztec art in the

Zócalo Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztecs, Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza us ...

, main plaza of the city of Mexico: the sun stone and a statue of Coatlicue, an Aztec goddess. León y Gama also included in it most of his knowledge and theories on how the Aztecs measured time. The work, as opposed to authors of previous centuries, praised Aztec society and their scientific and artistics achievements in line with the growing Mexican nationalism in the late 18th century. It was published by Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, owner of one of the most important printing establishments in America at the time. In addition to print the book had three folded manuscript watercolor drawings. Thanks to the publication of the book León y Gama is considered by many the first Mexican archeologist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon y Gama, Antonio de 1735 births 1802 deaths Mexican astronomers Mexican male writers Writers from Mexico City Scholars of the Aztecs Mexican Mesoamericanists 18th-century Mexican historians Novohispanic Mesoamericanists 18th-century Mesoamericanists Mesoamerican archaeologists 18th-century male writers