Time Accounts in the Pecked Cross. Significance and relevance for northwestern Mesoamerica

Abstract

 The present work consists of the analysis of a glyphic representation usually called “dotted cross”. This Mesoamerican expression, it should be said, has received a variety of explanations without delving into a particular case study, arguing that it is about astronomical markers, stations to trace urban axes, orientation mechanisms, calendars, day counts, divinatory boards or play. The intention of this research is to analyze one of these manifestations through a methodology that starts from an ethnohistorical framework. The result of the analysis reveals that it is a Venusian calendar, which effectively contains in itself other measures of time that are relevant to the indigenous people of the Altiplano in the 16th century. The usefulness of the work, for its part, allows the development of new interpretations around this type of petroglyphs in other regions such as the Northwest.