Society for American Archaeology

Did the Maya Build Architectural Cosmograms?

Author(s): Michael E. Smith
Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Jun., 2005), pp. 217-224
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
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 DID THE MAYABUILD ARCHITECTURAL COSMOGRAMS?

Michael E. Smith

I criticize recentapplications of the "cosmogram"concept to ancient Maya architectureand cities. Althoughcosmograms-

graphic representationsof aspects of the cosmos-are knownfrom Late Postclassic and early colonial Aztec and Maya
sources, there is no textual suggestion that buildings or cities were viewed as cosmograms. Numerousauthors,
however,
assert confidentlythat architecturalcosmogramsabounded in Classic Maya cities. I examine knowncosmograms,describe
recent studies of architecturalcosmograms, and discuss problems that occur when highly speculative interpretationsare
phrased as confident empiricalfindings.

Hago una critica del modelo de "cosmograma"aplicado a la arquitecturay las ciudades mayas. Hay cosmogramas(mode-
los grdficosde aspectos de la cosmovisi6n)en lasfuentes aztecas y mayas de los periodos Postcldsico Tardioy colonial tem-
prano,pero no hay evidenciaen textosde que la gente antigua consideraronedificioso ciudades como cosmogramas.Muchos
autores, sin embargo, afirmancon seguridad que habia cosmogramasarquitect6nicasen las ciudades mayas. Discuto cos-
mogramas conocidas, describo estudios recientes de cosmogramas arquitectonicas,y discuto los problemas que ocurren
cuando se expresaninterpretacionesmuy especulativascomo resultadosempiricosfuertes.

n 2003I published
acomment(Smith2003)on conceptof the"cosmogram."
Althoughthistermhas
areportby WendyAshmoreandJeremySabloff been used in Mesoamericanstudiesfor some time
I (2002) in which I criticizetheirinterpretations now (Freidel and Schele 1988b; M61uzin
of possible cosmologicalinfluenceson Mayacity 1987-1988), I couldfindno explicitdefinitionof it
planning. At the time of writing (2002), I was until2004.1Ina glossaryto a textbook,Hendonand
unawareof an impendingexplosion of publica- Joyceofferthe followingdefinition:"Cosmogram.
tionson Mayacosmologyandcityplanningthefol- A representationof theentireuniversethroughsym-
lowing year. In comparison with the work of bolic shorthandor artisticmetaphor"(2004:326).
Ashmore and Sabloff, most of these studies are This definitionseems to departslightlyfrom cus-
more speculativeand less groundedin empirical tomary usage within the field of Mesoamerican
data.Yet, unlike the cautious and judicious lan- studies, where cosmogram typically refers to a
guage of Ashmoreand Sabloff's articleand prior graphicalrepresentation of particular
aspectsof cos-
publicationsbyAshmore(e.g., 1989, 1991, 1992), mology (ratherthan "the entire universe").The
these recentworks arephrasedin the languageof dominantmeaningof cosmogrampriorto theflurry
confident, well-supportedresearch conclusions. of the "newcosmogramstudies"in 2003 focused
My purposehereis notto continueto criticizecos- on depictionsof directionalcosmology.Most or all
mological interpretations of Maya city plans (my ancient Mesoamerican cultures had a four-
views shouldbe clear in the 2003 comment)but, directionalsymbolic-spatialcosmology.Thecardi-
rather,to pointout the degreeto whichpoorlysup- nal directions-each associated with particular
ported speculationsare being treatedlike estab- deities,colors,birds,trees,andothersymbolicele-
lishedempiricalfindings.I findthistrendtroubling ments-were importantcomponentsof Mesoamer-
and worthyof public discussionwithinthe schol- ican mythology, cosmology, and ritual practice
arly community. (Boone 2000; Brotherston1976; Carrasco1999;
The studiesI am concernedwith focus on the Le6n-Portilla1963;L6pezAustin2001).

Michael E. Smith 0 Departmentof Anthropology,ArizonaState University,Tempe,AZ 85287-2402 (mesmith@albany.edu)

Latin AmericanAntiquity,16(2), 2005, pp. 217-224

Copyright@2005 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology

217

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218 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
A numberof Late Postclassicand early colo-
nial sourcesdepict four-partcosmologicalscenes
thathavebeen called cosmograms.A cleardiscus-
sion of these canbe foundinAveni'sworkin a sec-
tion labeled "The Union of Time and Space in
MesoamericanCosmology"(2001:148-152).Four
of thesecosmogramsareillustratedin Figure1.The
firsttwo images arecomplexcosmologicalscenes
fromthe MayaCodex Madrid(FigurelA) andthe
centralMexican(BorgiaGroup)CodexFejrvairy-
Mayer (Figure IB) that incorporatemultiplelev-
els of symbolismaboutthe 260-dayritualcalendar
and the iconography of the cardinal directions.
These scenes have been much analyzed by
Mesoamerican iconographers and others (e.g.,
Aveni 2001:148-152; Boone 2000; Brotherston
1976). The thirdimage (FigureIC) is a depiction
of theAztec 52-yearcalendarroundin the formof
a circle and cross, with the cardinal directions
labeledon thefoursides.Thefourthimage,theface
of the "Azteccalendarstone,"is less often called a
cosmogram,butin Townsend's(1979:63-70) inter-
pretationthis monumentfuses imperialideology,
the calendar,and the four cardinaldirections.His
descriptionof thecentralmessageof themonument
is labeled "Time, Space, and the Ascendancyof
Tenochtitlan"(1979:63).
Most scholarsagreethatthefourimagesin Fig-
ure 1 are pictorial symbols of Maya and Aztec
directionalcosmology.Eachone incorporatestime
(in the form of one or more calendricalsystems),
space (the four directions),and a numberof addi-
tional symbolic and mythological elements. In
short,thesearecosmograms.Depictionsof thever-
tical elementsof Aztec cosmology as shownin the
Codex VaticanusA (Codex Vaticanus1979: Fig-
ures 1-7), analyzed by QuifionesKeber (1995),
might also be called cosmograms,as might other
spatial-temporal imagesinAztec codicesandmon-
umentalsculptures(Boone 2000; Townsend1979;
Umberger1998).A quartered circlefigurecommon
at Teotihuacanand otherClassic periodsites may
also be a cosmogram(Coggins 1980).
FreidelandSchele (1988b)publishedthe earli-
est explicitapplicationof the cosmogramconcept
to Classic Maya society. They identify recurring
sets oficonographicelementsin sculpturesandste-
lae as representations of the ancientMayacosmos.
Although my lack of iconographictrainingpre-
vents me from following all of the detailsof their
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[Vol. 16, No. 2, 2005]
richexposition,theiruse of numerousexamplesin
diverse media from many sites, coupled with an
explicitandclearlogic of argument,suggeststo me
thatthis is a rigorousandconvincinganalysis(see
also FreidelandSchele 1988a;Freidelet al. 1993;
Schele andFreidel1990). The "newcosmogram"
studies, in contrast, are based on the untested
assumptionthatMayadirectionalcosmology was
expressedin manyormostbuildingsandcities.But
what is the evidencefor this?
The most common interpretationsof Maya
architecturalcosmogramsfocus on the layoutsof
key architecturalcompoundsand whole cities. In
some cases individualbuildingsor compoundsare
interpretedas cosmograms, including the Mur-
cielagos group at Dos Pilas (Demarest et al.
2003:142) and the east court of the Acropolis at
Copain,which has been labeled "a giant cosmo-
gram"(Fash1998:250).In othercases, the layouts
of entire cities are interpreted as cosmograms
(althoughthatphraseis notalwaysused).Forexam-
ple, atUxmal,"thequadrilateral layoutandapprox-
imatecorrespondenceof the principalbuildingsto
the cardinalpointsrepresentsan effortto replicate
the well-documentedquadripartite organizationof
the Maya cosmos" (Kowalski and Dunning
1999:280);the samephraseis repeatedby Kowal-
ski (2003:215).2
ReputedMaya cosmogramsare not limitedto
buildings.At Tikal, for example, four reservoirs
"locatedapproximatelyin the cardinaldirections"
formed"awatercosmogramof the site"(Scarbor-
ough 1998:154-155). Tate labels certain monu-
ments at Yaxchilan as "cosmogram stelae"
(1992:101, see also 119, 131-132). Sacbes(raised
causeways)arealso called cosmograms:"Serving
as axis mundi,sacbeob may have representedthe
MilkyWay.... [Sacbeob]servedas cosmograms,
ormodels,of theMayauniverse"(Shaw2001:266).
Even the bodies of Maya kings could be cosmo-
grams! "Thusnot only the temple centers from
which they ruledbut also the rulers'bodies them-
selves constitutedliving terrestrialcosmograms"
(Gossen 1996:295).The word cosmogramis evi-
dentlyso appealingtodaythatsome scholarshave
decided to use it to replace the term cosmology:
"Thesun rising in the east, climbingto the zenith
at noon, setting in the west, and passing through
the nadirat night,unitedthe tripartiteverticaland
four-parthorizontaldivisions of the world into a
 COMMENTS 219

A
B

C D

Figure 1. Conquest-era Mesoamerican cosmograms from Maya (A) and Aztec sources (B-D). A: Cosmological scene
from the Codex Madrid (Anders 1967:75-76); the image is from Bricker and Vail 1997:41, after Villacorta C. and
Villacorta 1976:374, 376. B: Cosmological scene from the Codex Fejervary-Mayer,p. 1 (Burland 1971:1); drawing by
John M. D. Pohl. C: Calendar wheel from Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar,by Fray Diego Durain
(1971: plate 35), copyright 1971 by the University of Oklahoma Press. D: The so-called Aztec calendar stone; drawing by
Emily Umberger.All images used with permission.

holisticcosmogram"(Christie2003:292).Wasthe bead in a Copin ballcourt"providesa microcos-

cosmos itself viewed as a model of the cosmos, or
does the authorjust mean"cosmology,"not "cos-
mogram"?
A newly discoveredcache at the site of Cival
hasbeeninterpretedas a cosmogram(Estrada-Belli
et al. 2003). JohnG. Fox (1996) makessimilarcos-
mological interpretationsof caches, althoughhe
does not use the termcosmogram.Forexample,a
cache with nine obsidianbladesdemonstratesthat
ballcourtfeaturessymbolizedtheMayaunderworld
(Fox 1996:485),anda cachewithone shellandone
mic model of the universe,with the bead repre-
sentingthe earthand the shell the cosmic ocean"
(Fox 1996:486).
Closely related concepts include the "axis
mundi"and the world tree: "TheCastilloand the
CenoteCh'enMul formedthe axis mundi(thepri-
mordial mountain-cave) of Mayapain,virtually
standingbetweencosmic planes at the beginning
of time" (Pugh 2003:943); also, "the five serpent
templesatMayapanforma quincunxlayout,which
representthe quadripartitedivision of the Maya

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220 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
universe"(Pugh 2001:255). And at Xunantunich,
the buildingsandplazasareinterpretedas a world
tree (Yaeger2003:132).
By 2003, usage of the architecturalcosmogram
conceptwas rampantin theMayaregion,andit had
spread to Oaxaca (Joyce 2004; M6luzin
1987-1988), CentralAmerica(Graham2003:291),
and even the Andes (Swenson 2003:274). The
uncriticalacceptanceof this conceptnow appears
in popularizedaccounts:"Theceremonialcenter
was not just the political heartof the kingdom,it
was also the sacred center of the polity and was
designed as a cosmogram,re-creatingthe Maya
world order"(Foster2002:229).
Tourtellotet al. take the notion of the cosmo-
gram to a higher spatiallevel by interpretingthe
distributionof settlementsas a cosmogram:"We
arguethatthe middle-levelsites aroundLa Milpa
areorganizedin a concentricandcardinallyaligned
cosmogram"(2003:95). I find the use of the pre-
senttenseheresignificant.Inmostmodels,thecos-
mogramis assertedto be an ancientphenomenon
thatarchaeologiststryto identifytodayin theruins
of ancientMaya cities. By phrasingtheircosmo-
gram interpretationin the present, not the past,
however, these authors unwittingly suggest the
mostreasonableinterpretation of thephenomenon:
Maya architecturalcosmogramsare modem phe-
nomena,inventedby scholarsto satisfytheirdesire
to reconstructancientcosmologyfromfragmentary
evidence.I am flabbergastedat some of the quotes
abovefor presentinghighly speculativeinterpreta-
tions as if they were reasonedand unproblematic
conclusionsbased on empiricalevidence.
I find this trendtroublingfrom a methodologi-
cal viewpoint. These studies contrastwith Ash-
more's methods. She starts with empirical
distributionsof buildings and architecturalcom-
pounds within Maya cities, identifiesspatialpat-
terns(e.g., north-southorientations,theplacement
of ballcourts), and then provides cosmological
interpretationsfor those patterns.My criticismof
her work focuses on the subjectiveand impres-
sionisticnatureof hermethods,whichhaveproved
difficultto replicateor validate. Sprajc(this vol-
ume) provides another example of a rigorous
approachto the topic of cosmology andcity plan-
ning.
Thenew cosmogramstudies,on the otherhand,
startwith the assumptionthatdirectionalcosmol-
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[Vol. 16, No. 2, 2005]
ogy musthavebeen expressedin architecturalset-
tings. They identify a case in which buildingsor
featuresseem to have some kind of cardinalori-
entationorarrangement andthenassertconfidently
thatthebuilding/compound/city/reservoir/stelae in
question formed a cosmogram. Authorsof most of
these studiesofferlittle or no iconographicor epi-
graphicevidencefor the presenceof a cosmogram
or cosmological symbolism in the settings they
analyze.Theyrarelystepbackto considerthelarger
issue of whetherMesoamericancosmogramswere
everexpressedin architectureandurbanplanning.3
Contributorsto a recent special section of the
CambridgeArchaeologicalJournalconsideredthe
question,"Werecitiesbuiltas images?"(Carlet al.
2000). The answeris that in some ancienturban
traditions,citiesandbuildingswereclearlyplanned
and constructedas cosmograms.Evidenceis par-
ticularlystrongfor ancientChina,India,andThai-
land (see Smith 2003:222). In other urban
traditions,suchas in Mesoamerica,thereis littleor
no explicit evidence for this practice. The
archaeoastronomical researchreviewedby Sprajc
(thisvolume)providesstrongempiricalsupportfor
theastronomicalalignmentsof buildings.Theques-
tion of whetherbuildingsand cities were viewed
as models of the cosmos requiresinferencescon-
siderablymorespeculativein scope. I amunaware
of any explicit statementsin the ethnohistoricor
epigraphicsourcesfor direct cosmological influ-
ences on Mesoamericanarchitectureor urbanism.
Giventhe importanceof directionalcosmology
in ancientMesoamerica,it seems likely that cos-
mology may have played a role in architectural
symbolismandperhapseven in the designandlay-
out of buildingsand cities. But in the absence of
the kind of clearand directevidence availablefor
areas like China and India, scholars need to
approachthis question cautiously with rigorous
and explicit methods.My major criticismof the
new cosmogramstudiesis thatfew of the authors
describe their hypotheticalarchitecturalcosmo-
gramsusing the languageof cautionandhypothe-
sis; instead, they use the language of confident
conclusions. Ratherthan simply assert that the
Maya had architecturalcosmograms, however,
scholars should undertake empirical research
designedto test this notion. Promisingdirections
include the work of Ashmore(1986, 1989, 1991,
1992, 2002; Ashmore and Sabloff 2002) and the
 COMMENTS
numericaldataon buildingalignmentsassembled
byAveniandHartung(1987), Sprajc(2000,2001),
andothers.
Discussionsof ancientMayanarchitectural cos-
mogramsappeared at a rateof approximatelyone
publicationper year between 1996 and 2002. In
of
2003, a plethora such studies appeared(mycount
of nine works in 2003 does not include unpub-
lished conference papers,Internetpostings, and
theses).Inmy view,theseconfidentlyphrasedspec-
ulationsareharmfulto thedisciplineof Mesoamer-
ican studies.They set a badexampleby suggesting
to studentsand the public that poorly grounded
speculationcan pass for acceptablescholarshipin
our field.
Epilogue: Reply to Sprajc
Theunderlyingmotivationforbothof my works--
the critiqueof AshmoreandSabloff(Smith2003)
andthepresentopinionpiece-is to encouragerig-
orous and explicit methodsin the analysis of the
relationshipbetween cosmology and urbanplan-
ning in ancient Mesoamerica.I do not deny the
influence of cosmology on ancient architectural
practice,but this relationshipneeds to be demon-
stratedempirically,not simply assumed. Sprajc
(thisvolume)suggeststhatarchaeoastronomy pro-
videsjust the sortof empiricaldemonstrationI am
calling for.
I agreewith Sprajc,up to a point.I suspectthat
we may differ in our views of just how far
archaeoastronomical dataallow us to go in recon-
structingpatterns of ancientcosmology.Archaeoas-
does have the
tronomy ability to identify
cosmological influences on ancientbuildingand
settlementalignments.Sprajcprovidesa clearand
succinctoverviewof thekindof rigorousresearch
on thisissueconductedby scholarssuchasAnthony
Aveni,StanislawIwaniszewski,CliveRuggles,and
himself. I thank Sprajcfor his discussion of the
complexities of the topic of astronomicalalign-
mentsatTenochtitlan.AlthoughI was awareof his
2001 monographon centralMexicanastronomical
orientations,I did not consult it in preparingmy
articles.This was a scholarlylapse on my part,and
I apologize.
I tentativelyacceptSprajc's interpretation
of the
astronomicalsignificanceof thelayoutof Tenochti-
tlan.I use the wordtentativelybecausefranklyI do
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221
not understandthe astronomicaldetails, but the
argumentseemsrigorousandplausible.Neverthe-
less, it seemsto me thatthesedataprovideonlyten-
uous supportfor inferences that go beyond the
notion thatthe buildingsand streetsof the Aztec
capitalwerealignedwithastronomical phenomena.
They certainly do not permit the inference that
Tenochtitlanwas viewedas a modelof thecosmos.
Yes, therewas astronomicalinfluenceon the city's
layout, and yes, astronomicalphenomena were
relatedto variousAztec cosmologicalbeliefs and
landscapepractices.But in the absenceof textual
confirmation,the conclusionthatTenochtitlanwas
a cosmogramrequiresa leap of faiththatexceeds
cautiousempiricalinference.
I second Sprajc'scall for greater interaction
between archaeologistsand archaeoastronomers.
Although the situation has improved since dis-
cussed over a decade ago by Kintigh(1992) and
Aveni (1992), thereis still muchthatcan be done.
I am certainlyamong those archaeologistsguilty
of not paying sufficient attentionto archaeoas-
tronomy.The topic of the political uses of astro-
nomical data by elites, touched on in Sprajc's
comment,is a promisingavenueforjointresearch,
and there are many others.Archaeoastronomical
researchalone,however,will not permitthe iden-
tificationof architecturalcosmogramsin ancient
Mesoamerica.
Acknowledgments.I thank Cynthia Heath-Smith, Robert
Rosenswig, andAnthonyE Aveni for helpful suggestionson
earlierdraftsof this article. The comments of three referees
were very helpful in clarifying my argument,andI benefited
from the opportunity to read Ivan Sprajc's contribution
before making final revisions.
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Notes
1. Before I found the definition in Hendon and Joyce's
(2004) glossary,all I could find was the definitionof cosmo-
gram in astrology:"Cosmogramis the cosmobiologicalterm
for horoscope.The foundationfor casting the cosmogramis
the zodiac, through which the Sun moves in one year"
(Rauchhaus1994:147).
2. Kowalskiand Dunning(1999) do not use the termcos-
mogram,andtwo reviewersof this manuscriptrightlypointed
out that their argumentis considerablymore rigorous and
convincing than many of the other studies I consider in this
article. Because this is a brief opinion piece, I do not have
space to providea full discussion of the views of each of the
authorsI criticize.For a more extensivetreatmentof the topic
of ancientcity planning,see Smith2004.
3. There is a traditionof cosmological interpretationsof
Mesoamericanurbanlayouts (see Benson 1981), but the lack
of concreteevidence to supportthose interpretationsis strik-
ing. To take just one example, Carrasco (1999:43-46)
includes a section titled "Architectural Parallelism of
Macrocosmos and Microcosmos" in his book on
224 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.16, No. 2, 2005]

Tenochtitlan,but it includes no evidence for such parallelism
apart from his own interpretations.Many accounts (e.g.,
Carlson 1981) rely on the universalisticmodels of scholars
like Rykwert(1976) and Wheatley(1971) who assertthat all
ancient cultures had sacred, cosmologically groundedcities
andtowns.Apartfrom the anthropologicalnafvet6andempir-
ical inadequacy of such universalistic notions, empirical
doubts have recently been cast on Wheatley's analysis of
ancient China, his main case study of the cosmological
importanceof cities (Wiesheu 1997, 1999).
Received February16, 2004; Accepted February9, 2005;
RevisedMarch3, 2005.

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