Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1996 - 121

may be relevant. Known as the Osario, or High Priest's
equinox sunset and the southernmost and northernmost
Grave, the structure was excavated between 1992 and
points on the horizon where Venus rises. At the site of
1994 by Peter J. Schmidt of the Museo Regional de
Uaxactún in northern Guatemala, an observer atop one
of the site's temples can look out past a row of three
Antropología y Historia in Mérida. In a line stretching
east from the Osario stand three stone platforms, of
other shrines to the points on the horizon where the
which the westernmost resembles the Venus platform
sun rises on the equinoxes and solstices. Two structures
north of the Castillo. Beyond these a sacheleads past a
at Yaxchilán, in Mexico's Usumacinta Valley, face the
natural rock outcropping to a temple on the edge of a
summer solstice sunrise, and at nearby Palenque a persecond cenote, the Xtoloc. This sequence of structures is
son standing atop a four-story tower (part of a complex
similar to that joining the Castillo and the Sacred
of buildings known as the Palace) on the winter solstice
sees the sun set into the temple-tomb of the great king
Cenote, but it leads east instead of north, so a serpent
could not have slithered down the Osario's balustrade to
Pacai. Writings on stone stelae, ceramic vessels, and
the Xtoloc Cenote - or not, at any rate, on the
codices indicate widespread interest in many other
astronomical phenomena, including eclipses
equinoxes. Whether any shadows are cast on
its balustrades, and if so when, remain
and the cycles of Venus.
Various features of the Castillo
unanswered, but as Krupp points
occur in numbers that mirror the
out, a date of June 20, A.D. 842,
k
inscribed on a stela found atop
ancient Maya fascination with ,
the Osario suggests that "someone
calendrical cycles. Landa reW ought to take a look at this miniported that each of the four stair- V
f Castillo at the summer solstice."
cases had 91 steps; together with ^
Absorbed by visions of Maya costhe step around the top they
totaled 365, one for each day in the
mology, we reboarded the Stella Solaris
for our return to Galveston,
Maya year. Similarly 52
recessed panels on each
experiencing
during the
side of the Castillo may
voyage a heavenly spectacle
refer to the 52 years in the
| of a different kind. As the
I Big Dipper rose above the
Maya calendrical
cycle
§
dark horizon we saw, off
known as the calendar
the
end of its handle, a
round; the pyramid's nine
o
stories may have to do with
fuzzy
light the size of the
Í
moon trailing a diffuse tail.
the nine Lords of Xibalba,
the
Comet Hyakutake,
the Maya underworld.
jj
the specific
brightest since Comet West
Though
in 1976, was nearing its
myths on which Kukulcán's
!
j closest approach to earth on
appearance is based are
its first visit to the inner
long lost, much of what the
feathered serpent stood for
solar system in 8,000 years.
CornetHyakutakegraced the night skyduring the author's return On its
previous fly-by the
appears to relate to Maya
to Galveston.ChichénItzs Osario (above),a "miniforebears of the Maya had
solar and calendrical cycles. voyage
Castillo," mayprovide insightinto the meaningof Kukulcán's
not yet settled down or
Because they shed and
equinoctialappearance on the balustrade of the larger temple.
begun to record their
regrow their skins, snakes
are symbols of renewal. The life cycle of the diamondthoughts on bark paper or stone, but they cannot have
back rattlesnake, which Chichén Itzá's serpent of light
missed, the great light in the sky. Their descendants
would have called it by one of several names, according
seems to resemble, is also related to the changing seato Tulane University graduate student Weldon Lamb,
sons. In the dry spring of northern Yucatán the ratdesnake sleeps all day and comes out only at dusk, but
including budz ek, "smoking star," and ikomne, "windy
tail." Lamb recounts one Postconquest legend about a
once the summer rains begin it becomes active during
comet sent by an angry god that struck the earth and
the day. Kukulcán's appearance on the Castillo may
have heralded the coming of summer and the period of
made a giant crater, the cenote at the site of Dzibilchaltún north of Mérida. This year on the vernal
renewed activity for the snake.
Did the Castillo's architects have Kukulcán's annual
equinox the feathered serpent appeared at Chichén Itzá,
and a smoking star blazed across the night sky. What
appearance in mind when they built it? "We really can't
would the Maya have made of that?
know," says Anthony Aveni, "but the more I watch it
the more I think the Maya must have seen what was
Andrew L. Slayman is an AssociateEditor of Archaeolgoing on." Edwin Krupp believes the recent restoration
ogy. The author would like to thank Sun Line (800-872of a temple southwest of Chichén Itzá's Main Plaza,
which appears to be a smaller version of the Castillo,
6400) for arrangingthis cruise.

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Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1996

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