The Starry Deer Crocodile

Image Credit: NPS/Chris Wonderly.

Seen in the Classic Period as well as the Postclassic Period, the Starry Deer Crocodile (or Starry Deer Alligator) is one of the wealth of "composite" beings that the ancient Maya included in their art and writings. Identified by Spinden in 1913 and given its current name by David Stuart, there are now various theories out there on it, including that it was a symbol or an aspect of another being, the Cosmic Monster.

Appearance                                                                    

The Starry Deer Crocodile has deer hooves for feet, eyes that have crossed bands (a sign for Venus) in them, a deer's ear, and eye-lids that have lines on them -- there are also times the Maya added an antler coming out of its forehead. It has water scrolls on its joints and has a shell under its ear. As for its body and head, they're like a crocodile or caiman's. You might see it drawn with a head on each end, though the ancient Maya didn't do that much.

A notable feature about the being's middle section is that one way the Maya liked to draw it was as a “sky-band” – in both ways, they put symbols connected to the sky on it.

The ancient Maya also liked to put one of several things on the Starry Deer Crocodile’s back. One of these things was the Principal Bird Deity (or PBD), which they would put on top of the Starry Deer Crocodile’s tail or make it part of the Starry Deer Crocodile’s back.

The other of these things was a symbol called the “Quadripartite Badge”. The Maya put it on the top of other end of the Starry Deer Crocodile. (This takes us back to the times the ancient Maya drew it with two heads. The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous's description of this symbol includes a skull as part of it. A description in a dissertation by Penny Janice Steinbach says the skull was something put under the Quadripartite Badge.)

Relation to the Sky

It may be that this being is an aspect of the being that archaeologists call the Cosmic Serpent or the Celestial Crocodile -- or was a different version of that other being. 

Within the view of the Starry Deer Crocodile being an aspect, it might be that it was the Milky Way at night, the Milky Way with clouds, or the Underworld's sky at night. You might also see it suggested that it was a symbol of the Underworld's night sky, and this also made it a symbol of the earth...this is because the Underworld's sky would be our ground, in the ancient Maya view. (One caveat though: it must be said, I've had difficulty separating when an author was talking about the Starry Deer Crocodile as an aspect and talking about it as a symbol.)

This being might also be part of a theory about a possible creation myth. In this myth, the Starry Deer Crocodile was not only connected with destruction (via flood) but also with creation. This possible myth might not have just been a myth among the Maya either – it could have, with some differences, been a myth throughout Mesoamerica. 

This being was also a symbol. It is understood that when it was drawn with sky-related symbols for its body, the Starry Deer Crocodile was a way the ancient Maya drew the sky.

Calendar Functions
The Starry Deer Crocodile had two calendar functions, one in the Tzolk'in or sacred calendar and one in the Haab or solar calendar. With the Tzolk'in, the Maya used its head as another way of writing "Lamat", the eighth day of the Tzolk'in. With the Haab', it was the patron of Yaxk'in, the tenth month of the Haab.

Function for Royalty
Rulers seemed to like to use images of the Starry Deer Crocodile in connection to taking the throne. To them, the image of the Starry Deer Crocodile was a symbol of power and of taking the throne.

Consideration: Zoomorph P at Quirigua

Some examples of where you can find the Starry Deer Crocodile -- either in writing or drawn -- include Stela 9 at Lamanai, Temple 22 at Copan, a codex-syle plate called the "Cosmic Plate", and Stela 1 at Yaxchilan.

One side of zoomorph P at Quirigua -- the photo was 
taken by Alfred Maudslay. From the NYPL Digital Commons.

You can also spot this being at Quirigua. As for where exactly, I've come across a bit of snag. Several works I've come across don't say that a carving at the site -- zoomorph P (the Great Turtle or Monument 16) -- has the Starry Deer Crocodile on it. In fact, The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous says another zoomorph at the site -- zoomorph O -- is the only thing you can find the Starry Deer Crocodile on there. However, Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya says zoomorph P does show the being.

References

PLOS One: "Jaguar and Puma Captivity and Trade Among the Maya: Stable Isotope Data from Copan, Honduras"; Nawa Sugiyama , William L. Fash, Christine A. M. France; September 12, 2018

Google Books: "Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya"; Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos; 2017

Mesoweb: "The PARI Journal" Volume 15, No. 3; "In the Realm of the Witz': Animate Rivers and Rulership among the Classic Maya";Jeremy D. Coltman; Winter 2015

Google Books: "Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica"; Anne S. Dowd, Susan Milbrath; 2015

The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Scholar Works: University of Texas Libraries: "Sacrificing the Jaguar Baby : understanding a classic Maya myth on codex-style pottery"; Penny Steinbach; May 2015 (Click on the PDF icon for it to download.)

Google Books: "Maya Imagery, Architectuer, and Activity: Space and Spatial Analysis in Art History"; Maline D. Werness-Rude, Kaylee R. Spencer (editors); 2015

Google Books: "The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous"; Asa Simon Mittman, Peter J. Dendle; 2013

Google Books: "Re-Creating Primordial Time: Foundation Rituals and Mythology in the Postclassic Maya Codices"; Gabrielle Vail, Christine Hernandez; 2013

Maya Exploration Center: "Astronomy in the Tortuguero Inscriptions"; John Major Jenkins; 2010

Google Books: "Palenque: Recent Investigations at the Classic Maya Center"; Damien B. Marken (editor); 2007

Google Books: "The Ancient Maya" sixth edition; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

Mesoweb: "A Cosmological Throne at Palenque"; David Stuart; 2003

Google Books: "Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities" revised edition; William M. Ferguson, Richard E.W. Adams; 2001

The Free Dictionary: Striation

Image Credit:
Flickr: Arches National Park: "Milky Way from Garden of Eden Viewpoint"; Chris Wonderly; 10 September 2015

NYPL Digital Commons: The Great Turtle. Quiriguá, Guatemala

The Milky Way

A composite of an image from the CIA World Factbook
and an image by Lian Law from the Joshua Tree National Park's Flickr.

The Milky Way Galaxy or the Milky Way for short, is our galaxy -- a "barred spiral" galaxy to be specific. When the night sky is dark enough, you see part of the Milky Way as a band of light, which people also call the Milky Way. To the ancient Maya, what was this band of light? So far it looks like it was a variety of things, from a supernatural road, symbol of the World Tree, and a crocodile-deer creature, to an aspect of the god Itzamná. Let's learn more.

The Starry Deer Crocodile
One of the "composite" beings that the ancient Maya would carve and draw was a being that you may see called the Starry Deer Crocodile. Among its notable features, this being was a crocodile except for its feet, which were deer hooves, and its ear, which was a deer ear. (Another one of its notable features was that its eyes had Venus/star signs.)

This being has connections to different things, including the Milky Way. There are a few ideas out there on the Starry Deer Crocodile -- one is that it was an aspect of another being called (among other names) the Cosmic Monster and was the Milky Way at night. 

Connection to the World Tree

There was a belief among the ancient Maya that the "World Tree" -- the tree that was the center of everything -- was a ceiba. (It went through all three levels of reality. It grew out of the underworld, Xibalbá, and up into the upperworld.) But in the ancient Maya's minds, they connected the World Tree with the Milky Way and used it as a symbol of the tree. 

Supernatural Road

It's possible that the ancient Maya thought that the Milky Way was a path on which people who had died traveled. This same theory thinks that the ancient Maya may have even had a travel-related term for death: och bih, which means "entering the road." However, it's still not clear.

There's a theory that the south and north sky-eagles represent the sky at night -- maybe the Milky Way too or some kind of path at night. A tomb that might be evidence that this theory is right is Tomb 12 at the site of Rio Azul. The tomb has four walls, and on every wall there is one of the four direction glyphs (north, west, south, and east.) The "south" sky-eagle has a star sign (ek') as part of it. The "north" sky-eagle has the sign for moon as part of it. The two of them might be referencing a path in the sky at night.

On a related note, the Popol Vuh, a religious text of the Quiché (also spelled K'iche',) one of the various groups of Maya today, says that a dark part of the Milky Way is the road to the underworld, Xibalbá. 

As an Aspect of Itzamná (God D)
To the ancient Maya, Itzamná (God D) was a god of different things, including foretelling the future and scribes, and was also a creator god. One of his aspects of the Milky Way.

References:
Google Books: "Philosophy of the Ancient Maya: Lords of Time"; Alexus McLeod; 2018

Google Books: "Astronomy in the Ancient World: Early and Modern Views on Celestial Events"; Alexus McLeod, Butler Burton (series editor); 2016

Google Books: "Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

Google Books: "Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica"; Anne S. Dowd, Susan Milbrath (editor); 2015

Google Books: "Astrology in Time and Place: Cross-Cultural Questions in the History of Astrology"; Nicholas Campion, Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum (editors); 2015

The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Scholar Works: University of Texas Libraries: "Sacrificing the Jaguar Baby : understanding a classic Maya myth on codex-style pottery"; Penny Steinbach; May 2015 (Click on the PDF icon for it to download.)

Google Books: "The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous"; Asa Simon Mittman, Peter J. Dendle (editors); 2013

Google Books: "Re-Creating Primordial Time; Foundation Rituals and Mythology in the Postclassic Maya Codices"; Gabrielle Vail, Christine Hernandez"; 2013

The Free Dictionary: Bicephalic

The Free Dictionary: Milky Way

NASA: Imagine The Universe!: The Milky Way Galaxy

Image Credits:
CIA World Factbook: Mexico (image 12)

Flickr: Joshua Tree National Park: Night Sky InstaMeet 5.23.15; Lian Law

Ancient Maya Astronomy

Maya glyph thought to mean 'solar eclipse.'

Without any special tools to bring things into closer view, the ancient Maya watched the skies, studying the stars, various planets, the moon and the sun. They may have been trying to find ways that the cycles of the objects they observed were connected.

Evidence of these studies can be found in monument inscriptions, the Postclassic codices -- and even in their buildings, which they would orient towards various celestial objects. Let's learn more about what's currently understood about ancient Maya astronomy.

Constellations
It looks like the ancient Maya had constellations (and a zodiac), though there's a lot of uncertainty about what they were. One constellation that the ancient Maya may have had was the Pleiades, whose shape may have been viewed as a rattlesnake's rattle. 

Another constellation they may have had was made up of part of Orion: his belt.The three stars may have been seen as three hearthstones connected to creation -- but there may have been another idea among them that the stars were seen as a turtle.

Earth
It doesn't look like the ancient Maya ever figured out that Earth is ball-shaped or that it orbits the sun. Instead, the ancient Maya thought that our planet was the middle of all layers of reality. They thought that it was a crocodile/crocodile-like creature or caiman or a turtle, and they thought that they lived on the back -- another theory says these were just metaphors. (There's also art that shows Earth as a creature with two heads called kawak.)

They thought that they lived above their underworld and below a place that we call the upperworld. (And it's possible they believed the underworld had 9 layers and the upper world had 13 layers.) The upperworld is where the ancient Maya thought the celestial objects that were gods lived.

They thought that the world was made of four parts or quarters. Each of the four had certain things connected to them -- one of these was colors: east was red, west was black, south was yellow and north was white. The center of their world had a color too, but which color depends on the source: examples from sources include blue, green or blue-green.

Eclipses
The ancient Maya knew about lunar and solar eclipses, and sort of knew how to predict them. They used two groups of moon-based months, 148 days (five months) and 177/178 days (six months) as a way of figuring out when eclipses would occur. One artifact that shows they studied eclipses is the Dresden Codex; pages 51 through 58 look like they were for eclipses. (Whether they were lunar or solar is debated). 

Solar eclipses seem to have been an event that the ancient Maya thought was dangerous. Though perhaps they were dangerous if they happened in certain "bad" astrological times. 

Jupiter
An 819-day count may have been used by the Maya in the Classic Period to track Jupiter. The tun (a period of 360 days) and the katun (20 tuns or 7,200 days) may have been connected to Jupiter. The ancient Maya tracked Jupiter in order to time their wars to happen in connection certain positions of that planet. (This count is thought to have been used with Saturn as well, perhaps along with other cycles.) 

A god that archaeologists call K'awiil or god K might be connected to Jupiter. This god is also connected to the sky, lightning, snakes, and storms as well as ancestors and rulers. 


Mars
The ancient Maya had a cycle of 780 days that tracked Mars. And it seems they thought there was a supernatural creature that was linked with the planet. Archaeologists call this creature the Mars Beast. (The creature might be linked with the rainy season too.)

Mercury
The Maya tracked Mercury, using the number 117. (Mercury's orbit is more precisely 115.8 days). You can see evidence for this in the Dresden Codex. 

The Milky Way
The Milky Way may have been thought to be a path/road that the spirits of the dead traveled on. Another idea among them was that it was a river -- another idea it seems they had was that it was a river with a crocodile-like creature in it. The ancient Maya also associated the Milky Way with three things: rain, wind and lightning.

Moon
The ancient Maya followed the moon's path, but it doesn't so far seem that they had an official, separate moon calendar. What they did have was what we call today the "lunar series," which was part of inscriptions. The lunar series describes information about the moon on a particular date, including how far along in the month it was. Moon months to the Maya could be 29 days or 30 days, depending on the month.

The moon itself was connected with eclipses. There was an idea among the ancient Maya, among other ideas they had, that eclipses were fights between the sun and the moon. 

As for supernatural connections, the goddess Ix Chel may or may not have been a 'young' moon goddess (as well as a goddess of other things.) But there are those who don't think she was connected to the moon at all -- instead they think there's a different goddess, which can be seen in the Dresden Codex, on page 49a.


Saturn
The ancient Maya followed Saturn's orbit with a cycle of 378 days. They also, as you probably read above, used an 819-day cycle for Saturn (as well as Jupiter), perhaps along with other cycles. It seems that, like Venus, the ancient Maya used certain positions of Saturn and Jupiter to time wars. 

An aspect of the god Pawaaj (or god N) named Pawaaj Sahb'iin could have been the god Saturn. Or he may have been Saturn's messenger. 

Sun
The ancient Maya tracked the sun's path across the sky (called the ecliptic), which in their art they showed as a double-headed snake. They would build their buildings according to the various points of the sun's path, such as the equinoxes. 

One example is this: in the Preclassic Period, it was popular to orient your structure to both the solstices' sunsets and the solstices' sunrises. There was even a type of building group they would construct as a kind of sundial -- these are called E groups by archaeologists.

To the ancient Maya, the sun was also a god. They thought he had different aspects -- one was the 'jaguar sun,' which he became at night and went through the underworld. This god was also connected to kings. Names archaeologists use for the Maya sun god is K'inich Ahaw and god G.

Venus 
This brightest planet in the solar system was to the ancient Maya a very important "star." One name for Venus that the ancient Maya used for the planet was Chak Ek' or Great Star.  From what has been found, Venus was a celestial object that represented violence. How?

It seems rulers used parts of its orbit to figure out times for wars to get captives to kill as sacrifices. (However, nowadays, it looks like the ancient Maya more often used Jupiter and Saturn to time their wars more often than Venus.)

But there are also many theories about Venus's aspects and functions.  One theory says that there was a belief among the ancient Maya that it made eclipses happen.

Consideration: 63 Day Cycle
Unless further evidence shows otherwise, in the Classic Period at least, there was a 63-day cycle that was used to sync different celestial objects' cycles.  In the examples found, the 63-day cycle looks like it was for fire rituals for the god Pawaaj Sahb'iin. 

References:

"Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R. T. Witschey; 2016

"The Role of Archaeoastronomy in the Maya World: the Case Study of the Island of Cozumel"; UNESCO Office Mexico; 2016

Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 1999

"Unearthing the Heavens: Classic Maya Murals and Astronomical Tables at Xultun,Guatemala"; Marc Zender, Joel Skidmore; 2012

PubMed: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: "Ancient Maya documents concerning the movements of Mars"; Harvey M. Bricker, Anthony F. Aveni, and Victoria R. Bricker; 2001 Feb 13

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 1999

Exploration Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 2: "Mayan Meltdown UF Geologists' Analysis Of Ancient Lakebeds Leads To A Theory About The Decline Of Mayan Civilization"

"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene McKillop; 2004

"Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities"; Karen Bassie-Sweet; 2008

"Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia"; Susan Toby Evans, David L. Webster (editors); 2001

The PARI Journal: 14(1), 2013, 6-12; "Patterns in the Dresden Codex"; Cara G. Tremain

"Archaeoastronomy and the Maya"; Gerardo Aldana y Villalobos, Edwin L. Barnhart (editors); 2014

"Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica"; Anne S. Dowd, Susan Milbrath (editors); 2015

The PARI Journal 15 (1), 11-24, 2014: "Alternative Functions of Distance Numbers in Maya Calendrical Texts: Codices vs. Monuments"; Victoria Bricker, Anthony Aveni

"Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of the Body and Soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

"The Ancient Maya" sixth edition; Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

"Millenary Maya Societies: Past Crises and Resilience"; "Time, Memory, and Resilience among the Maya"; Prudence M. Rice; 2013