The Pecked Cross Symbol in Ancient Mesoamerica

Abstract

Attention is directed to a design, possibly of Teotihuacan origin, carved both in rock and in the floors of ceremonial buildings throughout ancient Mesoamerica. Consisting generally of a double circular pattern centered on a set of orthogonal axes, the so-called pecked cross or quartered circle figure is shown to exhibit a remarkable consistency in appearance throughout its 29 reported locations, thus suggesting that it was not perfunctory. The metric properties of the symbols gleaned from field surveys are delineated, and several interpretations of their possible functions are discussed. These symbols may have been intended as astronomical orientational devices, surveyor's bench marks, calendars, or ritual games. Evidence is presented which implies that more than one and perhaps all of these functions were employed simultaneously, a view which is shown to be consistent with the cosmological attitude of the pre-Columbian people.

Alta Vista (Chalchihuites), Astronomical Implications of a Mesoamerican Ceremonial Outpost at the Tropic of Cancer

“…ing the same horizon, with the ruins of Alta Vista in the distant foreground. These petroglyphs resemble some found at Teotihuacan and elsewhere (Aveni et al 1978). As we shall demonstrate, their placement exhibits a precise relationship with respect to the sunrise at summer solstice.…”

The Shape of Time: Some Political Implications of a Four-Part Figure

“…In plan this substructure corresponds to the Maya sign for cyclic completion (Figures 2d, 6). Structure E-VII Sub was a model of the quadripartite symbol for completion, and it was the western point in Group E from which sunrise was observed on the east, marked by three small temples (Ricketson and Ricketson 1937:105 ff;Aveni 1978). These temples were aligned on an eastern platform in a north-south line; their northern and southern locations were determined by sunrise at the summer and winter solstices, whereas the location of the central temple was set by sunrise at the equinoxes ( Figure 5).…”

Emergence and Change in Early Urban Societies

“…The existence of streets and axes, as part of an orthogonal grid oriented to 15 degrees east of north (see Figure 1). This was perhaps traced by the use of circular markers in the nearby hills and in the city itself (Aveni, Hartung, and Buckingham 1978). Millon proposes the existence of two axes: the Street of the Dead and the East-West Avenue that divide the city in four quadrants.…”