[x]

“If we think of Indigenous cultures and their approaches, especially Mesoamerican cultures and their approaches to astronomy, it wasn't to transform and control nature,” Aldana said. “It was to find ways to open up dialogues with nature so that now your engagement with your environment can be a productive and a healthy one.”

Was it? Astronomy and astrology were a technology for them. You needed to know when the planting season and harvest season began. If the constellations and planets revealed your destiny, that was also useful.

[BenLurkin]

It amazes me that the same rulers who pulled strings of jaguar teeth through their tongues also funded the astronomers for decades on end, over many generations.

Or else the astronomer/mathematician caste monetized their services in some other way.