File:Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Stone of the Sun (20693400581).jpg

Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Stone of the Sun

The National Museum of Anthropology (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Antropología) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the most visited museum in Mexico. Located within Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, the museum contains significant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from the Mexico's pre-Columbian heritage, such as the Stone of the Sun (or the Aztec calendar stone) and the 16th-century Aztec Xochipilli statue.

The Aztec calendar stone, Sun Stone, or Stone of the Five Eras is a late post-classic Mexica sculpture saved in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, and is perhaps the most famous work of Aztec sculpture. The stone is 358 centimetres in diameter and 98 centimetres thick, and it weighs about 24 tons. Shortly after the Spanish Conquest, the monolithic sculpture was buried in the Zócalo, or main square of Mexico City. It was rediscovered on December 17, 1790 during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral. Following its rediscovery, the Calendar Stone was mounted on an exterior wall of the Cathedral, where it remained until 1885.

The sculpted motifs that cover the surface of the stone refer to central components of the Mexica cosmogony.

In the center of the monolith is the face of the solar deity, Tonatiuh, which appears inside the glyph for "movement", the name of the current era. The central figure is shown holding a human heart in each of his clawed hands, and his tongue is represented by a stone sacrificial knife (Tecpatl).

The four squares that surround the central deity represent the four previous suns or eras, which preceded the present era, 4 Movement. Each era ended with the destruction of the world and humanity, which were then recreated in the next era. - The top right square represents 4 Jaguar, the day on which the first era ended, after having lasted 676 years, due to the appearance of monsters that devoured all of humanity. - The top left square shows 4 Wind, the date on which, after 364 years, hurricane winds destroyed the earth, and humans were turned into monkeys. - The bottom left square shows 4 Rain. This era lasted 312 years, before being destroyed by a rain of fire, which transformed humanity into turkeys. - The bottom right square represents 4 Water, an era that lasted 676 years and ended when the world was flooded and all the humans were turned into fish.

The exact purpose and meaning of the Calendar Stone are unclear. Archaeologists and historians have proposed numerous theories, and it seems likely that there are many aspects to the stone.

Although it is known as the "Calendar Stone," modern archaeologists, such as those at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, believe it is more likely to have been used primarily as a ceremonial basin or ritual altar for gladiatorial sacrifices, than as an astrological or astronomical reference.