Open Letter to Mayanists and
Astronomers
Excerpt from Chapter 3 of Galactic
Alignment by John Major Jenkins.
Copyright 2001.
By mid-1999 I had received a statement from an
astronomer at Johns Hopkins University to the effect that ‘it is not
possible that the Maya could see the Galactic Center.’ My general response
to this opinion is that the region of the Galactic Center should be more
generally identified as the “nuclear bulge” which can be noticed with naked eye
observation because the Milky Way is wider in that region and there are more
bright stars there. In other words, any ancient culture intimate with the night
sky would notice that part of the Milky Way as interesting. But this argument
was not well received, so I decided to resort to evidence. I wanted to show
that the Maya thought of the region of the Galactic Center as a center and a
source, designations true to the Galactic Center’s nature. I wrote a short
piece, “An Open Letter to Astronomers and Mayanists,” that presented some facts
of Maya star lore and posted it to the Aztlan email list in June of 1999:
Did the Maya know where the Galactic Center is
located? Yes. Now, brace yourself, because I’m going to show you how and why
without resorting to speculation or guesswork. The question to ask is this: Did
the Maya understand the region of the sky occupied by the Galactic Center in a
way that is metaphorically and conceptually equivalent to what the Galactic
Center is? In this way we can answer the related question of "did the Maya
know where the Galactic Center is located?
First, what is the Galactic Center? In most basic
terms, the Galactic Center is:
·
A
source-point, or “creation place.”
·
A
center
The first thing to recognize is that the region of
the Galactic Center contains several features—all visible to the naked eye—that
call attention to it as a unique place along the Milky Way. These are:
·
The
Milky Way is filled with brighter stars and is wider in the region of the
Galactic Center
·
The
dark-rift, or Great Cleft, of the Milky Way extends to the north of the
Galactic Center
·
The
cross formed by the Milky Way and the ecliptic is near the Galactic Center
Now we can assess
established, academic identifications in Mayan ethnoastronomy and starlore. Two
factual indicators:
1. Among the modern-day
Quiché Maya, the dark-rift is called the xibalba
be. This means “road to the underworld.” In the ancient Maya Creation text,
the Popol Vuh, this same feature serves as a road to the underworld and is also
called the Black Road. Associated iconography with the “underworld portal”
concept includes caves, monster mouths, and birthing portals. In general, the
Milky Way was conceived as a Great Goddess and the dark-rift was her birth
canal. This demonstrates that the Maya understood the region of the Galactic
Center as a source-point or birth place.
2. The cross formed by the
Milky Way with the ecliptic near Sagittarius has been identified at Palenque,
among the Quiché and Chorti Maya, and elsewhere as the Mayan Sacred Tree. In
the Popol Vuh, it is the Crossroads. The cross symbol, according to accepted
epigraphic and iconographic interpretation (e.g., on thrones), denotes the
concept of “center” and usually contextually implies a “cosmic” or “celestial”
center. The concept of “cosmic center” and the principle of world-centering was important to
Mesoamerican astronomers, city planners, and Maya kings — kings who
symbolically occupied and ruled from the “cosmic center.” Thus, the Maya, via
the Sacred Tree/Cosmic Cross symbology, understood the region of the Galactic
Center to be a center.
Center and birthplace — understandings that are true
to the Galactic Center’s nature. This is not speculation, but an assemblage of academic evidence. I repeat
here the evidence available in my book Maya
Cosmogenesis 2012, which contains 24 pages of bibliography and 20 pages of
academic documentation in end notes.
I speak of “region” in referring to the Galactic
Center because the visible “nuclear bulge” of the Galactic Center is not an
abstract, invisible point, is not limited to the high frequency radio spectrum,
but rather covers a large area or “region” in the visible night sky. Now, my
book argues, as its primary thesis, that the Maya intended 2012 to mark the
rare alignment of the solstice sun with the band of the Milky Way. In
astronomical terms, this is the alignment of the solstice meridian with the
Galactic equator—an astronomical fact. Notice that my thesis, in this sense,
does not even require knowledge of the Galactic Center in order for it
to be valid. Nevertheless, knowledge among the ancient Maya of the Galactic
Center as a “creation place” and “cosmic center” is strongly implied, indeed
demonstrated, by established Maya concepts, as outlined above.
Ancient Maya knowledge of the precession of the
equinoxes is the hitch that most skeptical scholars invoke to discredit my
work. The evidence for precessional knowledge is found in the academic data, in
archaeoastronomical realignments of temples, in the Creation monuments and
texts, in the structure of the Long Count calendar, and in the work of
respected Mayanists like Gordon Brotherston and Eva Hunt. Appendix 2 of my book
surveys the evidence in the literature. Citations to the work of Brotherston,
Tedlock, Schele, Smiley, Hunt, Aveni, and others are available upon request
(electronically) and are also contained in my book. Important points that are
demonstrated here, which will help us understand how and why the Maya knew
where the Galactic Center is located:
·
We
need to recognize that naked eye observation alone can identify the uniqueness
of the Galactic Center region.
·
We
need to compare ancient Mayan terms and metaphors with modern scientific terms and
metaphors to determine if the ancient Maya had an accurate understanding and
conception of the Galactic Center region. Clearly, without even using
speculation but rather by assessing the available and accepted academic data,
they did.
I am trying to establish here a foundation for
astronomers to approach my material without judgment before the evidence I’ve
assembled is assessed. I anxiously await further dialog, comments, and
feedback. [end]