Solar Stelae and a Venus Window: Science and Royal Personality in Late Classic Copán

William Fash , Scribes, warriors & kings (New York, 1993), 111–12; or Linda Schele Peter Mathews , The Code of Kings: The language of seven sacred Maya temples and tombs (New York, 1998), 134–5. Specifically, see the texts of Pusilha St. D Quirigua Altar L .

Other readings of Quirigua Altar L put the arrival of Copán Ruler 12 on the period end. The reason for the ambiguity is that the primary text is split into two columns: One records the “arrival”, the other records the “witnessing” on the 12 Ajaw date. Because the period end was so important to Ruler 12, however, and since he also had a monument erected for this date, I find it more reasonable to believe that Ruler 12 was at Copán on the period end, and at Quirigua at some point before that. Perhaps the witnessing event refers to a visit by the Quirigua ruler to view the period-end ceremony performed by Copàn Ruler 12 at Copán.

Fash , op. cit. (ref. 1), 101–4; Schele Mathews , op. cit. (ref. 1), 135; Herbert Spinden , A study of Maya art: Its subject matter and historical development (Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, vi; Cambridge, Mass., 1913).

For a complete explanation of Maya calendrics, see Floyd Lounsbury , “Maya numeration, computation, and calendrical astronomy”, Dictionary of scientific biography, xv (New York, 1980), 759–818.

Fash , op. cit. (ref. 1), 101.

Sylvanus Morley , The inscriptions at Copán (Carnegie Publication 219; Washington, D.C., 1920), has these dates as 12 April and 6 September. The latter must be a typographical error since he explains that the numbers come from Robert Wheeler Wilson (of the Harvard Astronomy Department) and reflect differences of 20.3 and 20.6 days from the equinoxes. According to an ephemeris produced by JPL, the autumnal equinox of 1916 (the year of the calculations) occurred on 21 September. Thus the revised number given in the text.

Morley , op. cit. (ref. 6), 134.

Even the commonly accepted GMT correlation is only a ‘best-fit’ solution. Why it has been so widely accepted despite severe criticisms and its unproven status is a good subject for a social study of science. More on this matter below.

Emphasis addEd. Morley , op. cit. (ref. 6), 135.

That which we now know is the ma phoneme.

Morley , op. cit. (ref. 6), 140.

Specifically, Spinden claimed that St. 2 should have been regarded as the earliest stylistically, and St. 3 the latest, with the others somewhere in between. Only in passing did he mention that St. 12 was of the lowest relief, not as an argument for its placement temporally. Morley , op. cit. (ref. 6), 130–2.

In both cases, the lunar series is equally in error.

From his work in 1916, Morley published his own dates of 9 April and 10 September, but also those of Gordon, which corresponded to 23 days after the Spring Equinox and before the Fall Equinox. Aveni cited Morley's 1925 study for the dates of 12 April and 1 September, and these are the nominal numbers I use in the text.

Aveni noted that the GMT correlation puts the date of St. 10 on 3 July — Almost half-way between the two dates it might have commemorated. He did note that the Spinden correlation puts this date near the 1 September date, but by the time he wrote this, Spinden's correlation had largely fallen out of favour, and has even more by today. Anthony F. Aveni , Skywatchers of ancient Mexico (Austin, Texas, 1980), 240–4.

To use Morley's phrase. For my argument, see chap. 3 of Gerardo Aldana , “Oracular science: Uncertainty in the history of Maya astronomy”, Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 2001.

I use ‘Creation’ as a convenient term popularized by Schele David Freidel Schele Linda Joy Parker , Maya cosmos: Three thousand years on the shaman's path (New York, 1993)), although the process of Maya creation occurred over a long time span involving many protagonists and antagonists. (See, e.g. Popol Vuh.).

For the hearthstones passage, see, e.g. Freidel , op. cit. (ref. 17). For an updating of the reading of the event glyph, see chap. 0, Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16).

This may simply be the result of a non-coincidence between the two counts, but it may also designate a ritual break in the normal progress of time. At this point we cannot definitively say.

The ramifications of the Chich'en data are discussed in Aldana , “K'in in the hieroglyphic record: Implication of a pattern of dates at Copán, Honduras”, Mesoweb, http://www.mesoweb.com/features/aldana/implication.html.

Also the opinion of David Stuart (personal communication, September 2000).

The straight computation 3,764 × 365.2308 = 1,374,728.7 which rounds up to 1,374,729 days. The Maya did not use fractions, however, so they would have had a set algorithm determining when to intercalate extra days, and when not. For example, 1,374,728 = 289 × 4,748 + 7 × 365 + 1; hence during the first seven years there would have been one intercalated day, with the next two coming over the next six years.

Following Miguel León-Portilla , “Appendix B: Recent contributions on the theme of this book”, Time and reality in the thought of the Maya (Norman, Oklahoma, 1988), 161–205, p. 183.

Also, it would have been convenient computationally since 13 ja'ab are 13.3.5 and 13 tropical years are 13.3.8.

I.e. the scattering of incense — A ritual generally associated with period endings.

The name of this being is undeciphered, but begins with the glyph YAX..

The Hieroglyphic Stairway being the notable exception.

Or with any gross approximation to the tropical year, for example 365.25. The point is that the tropical year is being commemorated, not the ja 'ab..

The head variant of the number 4 is the k'in head.

Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 15), 277–80. Also, see chap. 1, Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16).

7 k'atun = 50,400 days = 137 years 362 days.

Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 15), 280.

Using the above approximation of 4,748 days = 13 tropical years, 7 k'atun would have been the closest integral number of k'atun one could get to an integral number of tropical years (7 × 7,200 = 50,400; 138 × 365.2308 = 50,401.85). If they were referencing the Waxaktun Group-E complex, 9.3.0.0.0 + 7.0.0.0 = 9.10.0.0.0 would have been the next commemoration of that solar station. 9.10.19.5.0 is 6,940 days after the end of the tenth k'atun, and 19 × 365.2308 = 6,939.4. Thus 9.10.19.5.0 could have been computed as the closest day to commemorating the same solar station.

If one were really nitpicking, one could say that this can happen only once every four years, but the Maya likely did not possess this level of accuracy.

David Kelley , “The Maya calendar correlation problem”, Civilization in the ancient Americas: Essays in the honor of Gordon R. Willey , ed. by Richard Leventhal Alan Kolata (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1983), 157–208; Bryan Wells Andreas Fuls , Correlating the modern Western and ancient Maya calendars (Berlin, 2000); for an expansion of the solar ramifications, see Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 20).

Arlen Chase , “Time depth or vacuum: The 11.3.0.0.0 correlation and the lowland Maya Postclassic”, Late lowland Maya civilization: Classic to Postclassic, ed. by Jeremy A. Sabloff Andrews Wyllys E. V (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1985), 99–140.

Were these, then, part of a ritual circuit? If so, the period of the ceremony would not have been annual. The stelae, that is, were quite explicitly commemorating Ajaw dates. A given day in the solar year only falls on an Ajaw day every four years. This correlation, however, is even further constrained to a window in time since the tropical year deviates from 365 days. The extra 2422/10000 of a day each year eventually moves the Ajaw day too far from hosting a sunset very near St. 10. In fact, by its fourth use (16 years), the sun would no longer touch the stela as it set, and would not again until the solar year drifted another 16 days through the day signs of the chol k'ij (64 years). Then it would be valid again for another 24 years (6 uses). Six uses every 88 years hardly seems worthy of implication in a ritual circuit. The valley stelae, therefore, were probably erected to act as symbols for the sacred geography of the polity and then used only as rest stops for travellers to and from the city for the rest of the Classic period.

Vicariously, through Aveni, op. cit. (ref. 15), 245.

Using the GMT, the temple's use occurred during the eighth century. Michael Closs Aveni Anthony Bruce Crowley , “The planet Venus and Temple 22 at Copán”, Indiana, ix (1984), 221–45.

“These masks are conventionally called Chac masks because their long noses closely resemble the pendulous snout of Chac as he is shown in the codices.” Closs , op. cit. (ref. 39), 227.

The nose is present in iconographic representations of mountains, but the conventional frontal view of these heads prevents their ready identification as long and curled.

See, e.g. Fash , op. cit. (ref. 1), 123.

Following vogue at the time. See chap. 3 of Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16) for a complete review of this issue.

See chap. 0, Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16).

Fash , personal communication, 2000.

Closs , op. cit. (ref. 39), 228–33.

Fash , notes that the earliest structure here was likely constructed by the seventh ruler in the dynasty. William Fash , “Dynastic architectural programs: Intention and design in Classic Maya buildings at Copán and other Sites”, Function and meaning in Classic Maya architecture, (Washington, D.C., 1998), 223–70, p. 237.

Jennifer Ahlfeldt , personal communication, July 2000, on the iconography of 10L-22's predecessors.

The reference is to Ajaw Chak Ek' and can be found in Structure 10L-11. The date of the record precedes the inscription of the reference by some forty years, indicating a concerted effort to keep track of the planet's activity.

Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 15), 244–5; and Ivan Šprajc , “Venus and Temple 22 at Copan revisited”, Archaeoastronomy (U.S.A.), x (1987–88), 88–89.

Ibid, 90–91.

As near as their attainable accuracy would have permitted.

Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 15), 245.

See chap. 3 of Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16) for the arithmetic.

Although this they possessed since the end of the ninth bak'tun, as demonstrated by the Group-E complex at Waxaktun.

By the number 73; again, see chap. 3 of Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16).

Were this the only example of an interest in the movement of Venus along the horizon, this hypothesis might be considered lightly. Given the architectural alignments at Uxmal, Mayapán, and Chichén Itzá, I believe it must be taken seriously. For Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, see Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 15); for Mayapán, see chap. 6 of Aldana, op. cit. (ref. 16). For more on this concept, see below.

Fash , op. cit. (ref. 47), 248; ‘Hijole’ is an example of a field name given to an excavated structure before its place in a sequence of structures is secure.

See Schele Mathews , op. cit. (ref. 1), for more on the artistic patronage of Ruler 13.

Three examples combining these elements can be found in: The poison oracle of the Azande; the consultations of the modern K'iche daykeepers; and the practicioners of the I Ching. In each case, there exists a repeatable method (albeit with unrepeatable outcomes), a bounded outcome that is a priori unpredictable. For the Azande, see Evans-Pritchard E. , Witchcraft, oracles and magic among the Azande (New York, 1976); for the K'iche Barbara Tedlock , Time and the Highland Maya (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1982).

For an extended discussion of oracular science, see the Conclusion of Aldana , op. cit. (ref. 16).

Barbara Fash , “Investigations of a Classic Maya council house at Copán, Honduras”, Journal of field archaeology, xix (1992), 419–42.

Fash , op. cit. (ref. 62), 437.

Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 15).

The trial of the Italian, Galileo Galilei, and the Islamic astronomer al-Battānī's critique of Ptolemy's Planetary hypotheses serve as two of a vast number of examples.