The Lunar Series and eclipse cycles at Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico

A great number of Maya hieroglyphic texts consisted of a series of dated events connected by counts of days between them. These counts of days were represented by so-called Distance Numbers (hereafter DNs), which added or subtracted specific numbers of days to link important dates and associated events. On certain occasions, the intervals represented by the DNs conformed to numerical-calendric or astronomical cycles. The Maya timekeepers of Palenque used DNs representing the multiples of 11960 days, which identified with the Dresden Codex Eclipse Table seem to evoke eclipse cycles. In this paper, I will argue that they should be treated as intervals to compute the Lunar Series rather than eclipse cycles.

Elucidating the Visual Language of the Venus Table in the Dresden Codex: A Visual Semiotics Approach

The visual language of the paintings has undergone a theoretical and pragmatic process, which is different than that of textual linguistics. In this paper we propose a method of analysis based on semiotics to elucidate and compare the visual response of six paintings of the pre-Columbian Maya Dresden Codex. The Venus table was chosen because it presents a calendrical-astronomical message through a visual language that makes its interpretation complex. We consider that the visual semiotics of the Quebec School represented by Saint-Martin and Shannon´s entropic comparison of the Venus table paintings may be applied to both classical and contemporary pictorial works to support the work of art historians.

THE “ECLIPSE GLYPH” IN MAYA TEXT AND ICONOGRAPHY: A CENTURY OF MISINTERPRETATION

The “eclipse glyph,” as it is called by most people in our field, is not referring to eclipses, but rather to the darkened sun and moon associated with heavy rainfall or darkened skies. This glyph is composed of the sun sign or moon sign (occasionally others) between two flanking fields, usually one light and one dark, and is found principally in the Postclassic divinatory almanacs of the Maya codices. Evidence for this proposal comes from iconography as well as texts. Rain pours from “eclipse glyphs” in pictures accompanied by hieroglyphic captions explicitly dealing with rain; they also appear in calendrical sequences that could not possibly be referring to eclipses. Even in the lunar or eclipse pages in theDresden Codexthat deal with solar eclipses, the texts that accompany the “eclipse glyphs” are about rain. A search of Classic-period antecedents suggests a linguistic valueyihk'in, meaning “darkened” or “darkening.”

ZNACZENIE ALMANACHU 1C Z KODEKSU DREZDEŃSKIEGO DLA ROZWOJU EPIGRAFIKI MAJAŃSKIEJ

This papers seeks to demonstrate the tremendous importance of the usually omitted first page of the Dresden Codex for the ongoing process of deciphering Mayan script. As an example, one could quote the recently identified Mayan term denoting a loincloth (Span. braguero, taparrabo) in the almanac 1c, which may be found on the page in question. Furthermore, the author critically discusses all possible forms in which the word can have been written, as it still defies being deciphered completely.

A CYCLIC-TIME MODEL FOR ECLIPSE PREDICTION IN MESOAMERICA AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE ECLIPSE TABLE IN THE DRESDEN CODEX

This study describes, illustrates, and applies an “eclipse family” representation for the cyclic timing of eclipses in Mesoamerica. This theoretical construct is based on daykeepers’ approach to divination, anchored in the divinatory calendar (DC); empirically, it emerges from data on the timing of eclipses in Lowland Mayan1territory between 100b.c.e.and 1500c.e.drawn from Espenak and Meuss's (2007, 2009) eclipse canons.An eclipse family consists of a sequence of stations on which an eclipse might be visible in Mesoamerica – one every 88 new or full moons for 170 to 200 years, restricted to one of three DC zones. Cyclic and linear time relationships among dates of eclipses follow from this representation: intervals between successive stations in concurrent families in the same zone, and between successive stations across zones; between successive families in a zone; and among the first or last stations of families, within and across zones.One and only one eclipse-family representation fits the lunar stations of the Dresden Codex; its properties show that it is a solar eclipse table. In real time, the table pertains to a 405-month interval sometime between 1076 and 1148c.e., most likely from April 19, 1083c.e.to January 16, 1116c.e.

Regional Expressions of the Postclassic Effigy Censer System in the Chetumal Bay Area

This chapter describes the remains of Late Postclassic to Contact period pottery censers from Cerro Maya, Belize. Trace element studies reveal that these vessels were made nearby at the Late Postclassic political capital of Santa Rita Corozal and deposited at the site during pilgrimage ritual. The Cerro Maya material is compared to the Chen Mul Modeled effigy censers from Mayapán in northern Yucatan and elsewhere. Various deities were depicted on these censers, and these are compared to documentary evidence, such as in the Madrid Codex and the Dresden Codex, for their use in calendared public events linked to specific celebrations in the annual cycle. Iconographic detail on the Cerro Maya materials documents a distinct set of deities not present at Mayapán, especially the bee deity and the god of deer hunting.