Four-armed
outlined cross Venus
symbol.
Redrocks, AZ.
Photo Paul
and Joy Foster.
The 4-armed
symbol representing the planet Venus seems to have been ubiquitous
prehistorically among cultures in Mexico and much of Central America. This, to
such an extent that when we find it in contiguous areas like the American
Southwest we also tend to apply that meaning to it. But how did that symbol,
the outlined 4-armed cross or star, get to be associated with the planet Venus.
In order to approach that question I had to look into the background of the
subject.
In 1996,
John B. Carlson wrote a paper titled "Transformations
of the Mesoamerican Turtle Carapace War Shield, A Study in Ethnoastronomy",
that looked at war shields from Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. He
found that a common subject for the decoration of these symbols of conflict was
the crucifix representing the planet Venus.
"It is now well understood
that, at least from Late Formative times in Mesoamerica (around the beginning
of the Common Era and probably much earlier), the planet Venus was viewed as a
powerful male god of warfare and sacrifice. The evidence for this cult of
Venus-regulated warfare and sacrifice comes from various archaeological
sources, including inscriptions and iconography, from Spanish chronicles and
ethnohistorical sources, and from Pre-Columbian codices." (Carlson 1996:100) Additionally,
Carlson noted a frequent portrayal among Mayan (and Aztec) stela and other
carvings, of a turtle carapace used by a god or important person as a shield
(below).
One of the attributes
of the turtle in Native American belief, and I assume Mesoamerican as well, is
protection, because the turtle is protected by his shell. The step from that
observation to the use of a large tortoise carapace as a shield is an obvious
one. And, if Carlson, and others, are right about the connection between Venus
and warfare, then the connection of the turtle to Venus is implied as well. But
where did that symbol of the outlined 4-armed cross come from?
Carved
shell turtle pendant,
Mayan, Tikal,
700-900 C.E.
John B.
Carlson.
Carlson
opened his paper with an illustration of a "Late
Classic Maya carved shell pendant with the image of the eighth Maya day-sign
Lamat, the symbol for the Great Star or Venus, represented on the carapace of a
turtle. It was excavated in a Late Classic Period (ca. 700-900 C.E.; Imix
ceramic phase) burial PNT-009 in structure 5C-49 in the Mundo Perdido group of
Tikal by Juan Pedro Laporte." (Carlson 1996:1) This sign generally
consists of an outlined cross with a circle in each quadrant.
Mayan glyph
of the day sign
for Lamat,
the eighth day.
The symbol
for Venus.
This
certainly establishes that there is a relationship, but not why a turtle is
associated with Venus and warfare. He does go on "In Mesoamerican (and most Native American) iconography, turtles
appear in a diversity of ritual and ceremonial contexts." (Carlson
1996: 106)
Mayan
merchant warrior "Four Dog",
from Templo
Rojo, Cacaxtla.
Turtle
shell shield in lower right of picture.
Carlson
lists a number of these, among the the following statement: "Turtle shells, usually from large
marine turtles but also from those of smaller freshwater species, were used as
shields in Mesoamerica, as demonstrated in iconographic and archaeological
record and in the codices. . . . A beautiful example of such a sea turtle
carapace war shield is the one carried by a historical character, the armed
merchant warrior named "Four Dog," shown in a portrait as an
impersonator of the Maya Merchant God L in the Templo Rojo of Cacaxtla. It is
stowed on the lower back of the "cacaxtli" merchant's packframe
which, in turn, is propped up by his lance. This Epiclassic mural likely dates
from the 8th or perhaps 9th century C.E., placing it in the same general period
as the Tikal shell." (Carlson 1996:107) He goes on to give many more
examples of turtle/Venus/shield combinations but I think that this is satisfactory
for our purposes.
Ecuadorian
snapping turtle plastron.
Internet -
Public Domain.
At this
point I asked myself which turtle has such a symbol naturally on its upper shell (carapace), in
other words what turtle is the actual model for the Venus symbol. That proved a
little more difficult and a few hours of searching the internet failed to
provide me with an actual model. At this point I realized that there are, in
effect, two portions to a turtle's shell, the upper part known as the carapace,
and the lower or under part, the plastron. Searching images of turtle plastrons
fairly quickly provided the image I was looking for. The plastron of the snapping
turtle has the basic shape of the Venus symbol with the four legs representing
the circles in the four quadrants. Matching species of snapping turtles to the
territory of the Maya the two likely candidates are the Common Snapping Turtle
and the Ecuadorian Snapping Turtle, both of which have ranges that include some
or all of the Mayan territory. And, it strikes me, if you want to use a turtle
as a symbol of war, the turtle who can take off your finger or toe is certainly
a good model to go by.
Personified
star with eagle attributes,
Petroglyph
Park, Albuquerque, NM.
Photo Peter
Faris, 1988.
Carlson
continues in his paper showing examples of the outlined cross, with or without the dots
or circles in the four quadrants, as examples of Mesoamerican cultural
influence on the Native peoples of North America. Some of that might indeed be
true although I may not take it quite as far as he has. Where I part company
with him, however, is his attribution of this Venus image to the personified
star image of the Northern Rio Grande pueblo peoples. On August 11, 2012, I
posted a column titled HALLEY'S COMET AND THE ORIGIN OF THE STAR KACHINA in
which I suggested the possibility of Halley's Comet as the inspiration for that
personified star symbol. I see the star with a tail as more probably a comet (a planet with a tail) than as the planet Venus. Ancillary subjects would also include turtle images in
rock art. But,all in all the paper by John B. Carlson is an enjoyably impressive piece of
scholarship, and I highly recommend it.
NOTE:
Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for
public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public
domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner
will contact me with them. For further information on this report you should
read the original report at the site listed below.
REFERENCE:
Carlson,
John B.
1996 Transformations of the Mesoamerican Turtle
Carapace War Shield, A Study in Ethnoastronomy, p. 99-122, Archaeoastronomy, Volumes XII-XIII, Songs From the Sky: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Traditions
of the World, Von Del Chamberlain, John B. Carlson, M. Jane Young, editors,
Center for Archaeoastronomy, College Park, MD, USA.
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