For which I earn a great, big "Duh!"
Thanks very much for all the info. The global relief map is incredible. But I'm still waiting for it to download (28.8 ISP)...
“And they began to wait for it: the direction of the thatch grass, the direction of the sea. The deluge of water, a storm of water, then reached the hearts of the Four Cangel, who radiated in (the) heaven(s), and also radiated on the land. Said the Four who are Gods, the Four who are Fathers of the Land: “This water shows them to their faces. Then let us finish the flattening of the lands.””
(The “Can”in Cangels has commonly been interpreted as “four”, but perhaps given this passage reading “Can” in its sense of “heavens” might make sense: the four heaven changers, the planets or something else?. The Bacabs now intercede.)
“The South Priest Xib Yuy then bore the North Alligator (Milky Way) Tree in the north. And then he bore the Entrance to (the) Heaven(s), the sign of the flattening of the lands. That is the North Alligator (Milky Way) Tree, said to be carried.
“And then he bore the West Alligator (Mikly Way) Tree to the seat of the black-breasted weaver bird.
“And then he bore the South Alligator (Milky Way) Tree to the sign of the flattening of the lands to seat the yellow-breasted weaver bird.
“And was seated the South Priest Xib Yuy, and the South Priest Oyal Mut. And then he bore the Center Alligator (Milky Way) Tree to the middle, signifying the flattening of the land.
“It is seated. Its being raised established the town. And the same when the return of the katun is fulfilled.”
MEGA-TSUNAMI WITH STAR SIGN FROM THE CODEX DRESDEN
For a picture of the mega-tsunami flood, see the Codex Dresden, page 74, availble also in Schele, 1993, p 106. This page is now believed to have been page 1 of the Codex.
http://www.tu-dresden.de/slub/proj/maya/maya.html#74folio
A DESCRIPTION OF SEVEN MACAW (ITZAM YE) FROM THE POPOL VUH
A very late and highly modified version of the Mayan mega-tsunami account survived as part of the Quiche collection of translations known as the Popol Vuh, and it includes a description actor, Seven Macaw (Izam Ye), the tale of whose defeat is included along side those two other hazards to these early people, Volcano (Zipacna) and Earhquake.
The translation of the Popol Vuh used here is that of Dennis Tedlock, with a few modifications to tense and punctuation. To give some idea of the stages of transmission the tale had undergone by that time, see the Quiche’s own migration lists on pages 149 and 184-185 of Tedlock’s translation. While from the account itself, it is clear that Seven Macaw was originally a combined comet/asteroid, Tedlock and Schele argue that Seven Macaw was the Big Dipper, and it seems likely that such a metamorphesis was underway as memory of the impact faded.
“This was when there was just a trace of early dawn on the face of the Earth: there was no Sun. But there was one who magnified himself: Seven Macaw is his name.
“The Sky-Earth was already there, but the face of the Sun-Moon was clouded over.
Even so, it is said that his (Seven Macaw’s) light provided a sign for the people who were flooded. He was like a person of genius(?) in his being.
(In the Popol Vuh version, Seven Macaw appears after the impact. Seven Macaw now speaks)
“I am great. My place is now higher than that of the human work, the human design.(The “wooden” people had just been created.)
“I am their Sun, I am their light, and I am also their months. So be it: My light is great. I am the walkway and I am the foothold of the people, because my eyes are of metal. My teeth just glitter with jewels, and turquoise as well: they stand out blue(?) with stones like the face of the sky. And this nose of mine shines white into the distance like the Moon.
“Since my nest is of metal, it lights up the face of the Earth. When I come forth before my nest, I am like the Sun and (the) Moon for those who are born in the light, begotten in the light. It must be so, because my face reaches into the distance,” says Seven Macaw.
“It is not true that he is the Sun, this Seven Macaw, yet he magnifies himself, his wings, his metal. But the scope of his face (his light) lies right around his own perch: his face does not reach everywhere beneath the sky. The faces of the Sun, Moon, and Stars are not yet visible, it has not dawned. (This last is probably a reconciliation.)
“And so Seven Macaw puffs himself up as the days and the months, though the light of the Sun and Moon has not yet clarified. He only wished for surpassing greatness.
“This was when the flood was worked upon the mannequins, the wood carvings (the wooden people).”
In the Popol Vuh, the description of Seven Macaw is preceded by accounts of the Rio Cuarto impact and the 1150 BCE mega-tsunami, and these will be given later on. It is followed by a long astronomical allegory, in which hero twins defeat Seven Macaw. Again, this is a very late version, and isolating the underlying components and modifications will be a very complex task.
ITZAM YE AS A “TZUK”, A PARTITIONER
Before continuing to the records of the Rio Cuarto Impact, it is very important that the Mayan concept of “tzuk” be clearly understood. “Tzuk” was a “partition”, a separation of the Earth from the Heavens or Sky. Each of these “tzuk”’s was a creation, and the way in which these partitions-creations was ended and a new partition-creation established by the divine power was by impact event.
One sign for “tzuk” was a mirror affixed to the head. This makes sense in that the Maya considered both asteroids and comets as being the same, with meteoritic iron being a source for their mirrors. For some examples of early use of the tzuk sign, see Schele’s Maya Cosmos, p 140-141, and 418-419, though sadly Schele was unaware that impact events actually could and did occur in historic times.
THE RIO CUARTO IMPACT EVENT FROM THE B’AAKAL (PALENQUE) INSCRIPTIONS:
HUN NAL YE, THE PARTITIONER
Part of the Maya story of these multiple creations, multiple impacts, has been preserved in a series of hieroglphic panels set up around 692 CE at B’aakal (Palenque) by the Mayan Lord Kan Balam II. These are part of a general florescence of inscriptions which were written at that time, which probably reflect a crisis in dynastic legitimacy. The triggering event for this particular series of inscriptions occurred on 23 July, 690, and is thought to have been a planetary conjunction.
What the texts describe is Hun Nal Ye Tzuk, First Maize Revealed the Partitioner, his wife Na Sak (White), and their children. In Mayan thought, the destruction of the wooden people (the 1150 BCE mega-tsunami event) led to the creation of the maize people, and accounts for his name First Maize Revealed the Partitioner. But the events described here refer to the destruction of the mud people, in other words the Rio Cuarto event, and Hun Nal Ye Tzuk apparently was associated with that as well.
Perhaps this may be indicative of a fragmenting comet in an Earth intercepting orbit... but perhaps not. One must remember that this is an adoption of a Zoque cycle by the Maya, and that it is written in a language that is only half understood.
The translations given here adapted from those Understanding Maya Inscriptions, A Hieroglyphic Handbook, John F. Harris and Stephen K. Stearns, Philadelphia, 1997, with adaptations focusing of the titles of GIII, which are actually read pretty well, though not believed by the translators themselves. This book is an excellent introduction to the Mayan glyphic, and it is frank in its admission as to how many problems remain in reading these texts. The dates given in the table following these translations are very very tentative, and Conference participants wishing to see exactly how difficult the problem of reading them is should examine the work cited.
TEMPLE OF THE CROSS INSCRIPTION
http://FAMSI.Saiph.com:80/dataSpark/schele/preview/01/IMG0078.jpg
“12 Bak’tuns, 19 k’atuns, 13 tuns, and 4 winals after the previous era began; on 8 Ahaw, 18 Sek, was born Lady White. It was 8 tuns and 5 winals since the birth, and then the (?) event was carried out on 4 Ahaw 8 Kumuku. 13 baktuns were completed. It was 1 tun, 9 winals, 2 kins since the image was made visible at the Closed Sky, the First Three Stone Place, and then First Maize Revealer the Partitioner entered the sky. On 13 Ik’ 20 Mol he prepared the Raised Up Sky Place, Eight House Partition is its holy name, it is the House of the North. It was 1 bak’tun, 18 k’atuns, 3 tuns, and 12 winals since Raised Up Sky Heart was set in motion by First Maize Revealer the Partitioner, and then he (identified as God 1) arrived as Matawil. He (identified as God 1) is the child of White Ox Ya Ch’okle Lady. It was 2 bak’tuns, 1 k’atun, 7 tuns, 11 winals since her birth and then the white headband was closed for her White on 9 Ik’ 0 Sak.
TEMPLE OF THE SUN INSCRIPTION
http://FAMSI.Saiph.com:80/dataSpark/schele/preview/01/IMG0075.jpg
“1.18.5.3.6, 13 Kimi 19 Keh: He was born, The spirit of the Sun-eyed Torch, The killer of the Kings in the White House, the White Bone House, The ?? of heaven, who with fire closed the eye of the Sun-eyed Lord Sun.
“1.18.5.3.6 days (note the day count repetition, but this time as a day displacement) since he (First Maize Revealed the Partitioner) set in motion the Raised Up Sky Heart and then he (Sun-eyed Torch, the king killer) arrived at Matawil. He (Sun-eyed Torch) is the child of Valley Lady White Holy Palenque Lord
“9.12.18.5.16 days since made visible the image at Closed Sky First Three Stone Place on 4 Ahwa 8 Kamk’u and then happened 2 Kib 14 Mol.
TEMPLE OF THE FOLIATED CROSS INSCRIPTION
http://FAMSI.Saiph.com:80/dataSpark/schele/preview/01/IMG0076.jpg
“1.18.5.4.0, 1 Ahaw 13 Mak: The Third one was born, the Red Dwarf(?) Partitioner, the third born of the K’awil Man (First Maize Revealer the Partitioner), the Divine Sprout K’awinal.
“1.14.14.0 days since he arrived, the Sprout K’awinal, at Matawil, and then was completed 2 baktuns.
“2 Ahaw 3 Wayeb, She conjured up the gods, Valley Place Lady White, Holy Matawil Ruler. It happened at First True Mountain White Flower, Born First Tree Precious.”
THE DATES
Such as they have been reconstructed by the glyph scholars, and this is extremeley extremely tenative, are:
16 June, 3122 BCE - The First Maize Revealer Partitioner is born
7 December, 3121 BCE - Birth of Lady White (?)
13 August, 3114 BCE - Image made visible at Closed Sky, the First Three StonePlace;
Event for The First Maize Revealed Partitioner
5 February, 3112 BCE - The First Maize Revealed Partitioner enters the sky,
Prepared/Dedicated the Raised Up Sky Place in the North
Set in motion the Raised Up Sky Heart
8 November, 2360 BCE - Birth of the Red Dwarf(?) Partitioner
25 October, 2360 BCE - Birth of Sun-eyed Torch, The killer of the kings in
the White House, the White Bone House, the ?? of the heavens,
who with fire closed the eye of the Sun-eyed Lord Sun;
“arrived” (struck) at Matawil
21 October, 2360 BCE - Birth of G1
7 September, 2325 BCE - A white headband was closed for White?
17 February, 2325 BCE - Lady White conjured up the gods at Matawil
23 July, 690 CE - Some significant contemporaneous event occurred,
thought by some scholars to be a planetary conjunction.
Is this a comet’s appearance?
Most of these dates are very poorly derived from the texts of these inscriptions, and these translations really need to be very carefully re-done. If the dates hold, then it would appear that the Rio Cuarto impactor may perhaps have landed at a much earlier date than previously thought, leaving the ca. 2100 BCE climate collapse without explanation.
THE RIO CUARTO IMPACT EVENT:
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST CREATION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE COUNT OF DAYS
from The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel: Heaven Born Merida and Its Destiny, translated by Munro S Edmunson University of Texas Press, Austin, 1986, page 120 et seq
“Thus it was read by the First Sage Melchisedek, and the First Prophet, Puc Tun: the Catholic priest (sacerdote), and the First Sun Priest. This is the sermon of the occurance of the birth of the Count of Days, which was before the awakening of the world occurred, and it began to run by itself, alone.”
This appears to be a team translation: Melchisedek was the biblical name given by the Padres to their Catholic sacerdote, and Puc Tun was the First Prophet and First Sun Priest - in other words, the Chilam Balam. Following the introduction, some kind of prime force next brings into existence his companions by “saying ” them, and together they then try to create and perfect man:
“Then said his mother’s mother, then said his mother’s sister, then said his father’s mother, then said his sister in law, “What is to be said when a man is seen on the road?” So they said whilst going along, but no man occurred.
“And then they arrived, there, in the east, and they began to say, “Who is it that passed by here now? Here are his tracks, right here. Measure them with your foot, according to the word of the Planter of the World.”
“Then they were to measure the footprint of our Father, who is the holy God. This was the beginning of saying the Count of the World by footsteps. This was 12 Oc.
“This is the account of his birth. For 13 Oc occurred, and they matched each other’s paces, and arrived there at the east.
“They said his (the Count of Days’) name, since the days had no name(s) then. (By “saying” the days’ names, the gods created them.) And he traveled on with his mother’s mother, his mother’s sister, and his father’s mother, and his sister-in-law.
The month was born, and the day name was born, and the sky born, and the earth, the pyramid of water and land, stone and tree. Then were born the things of sea and land.”
What follows is an expansion of the preceding passage.
“On 1 Chuen (Monkey) he manifested himself in his divinity, and created [the] heaven[s] and [the] Earth.
“On 2 Eb (Peak) he made his first pyramid. He descended, coming from there in the heart of [the] heaven[s], there in the heart of the water[s]. For there was nothing of earth, or stone, or tree.” (Perhaps the Maya concieved of space as a cold clear lake, as did the Hurrians.)
“On 3 Ben he made all things, each and every thing: the things of [the] heaven[s], and the things of the sea, and the things of the land:
“On 4 Ix there occurred the separation of [the] heaven[s] from the Earth.
“On 5 Men occurred the working of everything.
“On 6 Cib occurred the making of the first light (candle): there occurred illumination, for there was no Sun or Moon.
“On 7 Caban there was born the Earth, which we did not have before.
“On 8 Etz’nab He planted His hands and feet, and made birds upon the Earth.
“On 9 Cauac Hell was first tasted.
“On 10 Ahau occurred the going of evil men to Hell, because the Holy God had not yet appeared.
“On 11 Imix occurred the shaping of stones and trees. That was done on this day.
“On 12 Ik (Wind) occurred the birth of breath. This was the beginning of what is called breath, because there is no death in it.
“On 13 Akbahl occurred the taking of the water. Then He moistened earth, and shaped it and made man.”
This is the creation of the “clay” men of the first creation. Oher Native American peoples have different numbers of creations and destructions, but the Maya had 2: the first, that of the clay men, seems to have been destroyed by the floods caused by rain from the soot of the Rio Cuarto impact; as was seen above, the second, that of the “wooden” men, was destroyed by the mega-tsunami of the 1150 BCE impact. God now plans the destruction of the “clay” men.
“On 1 Kan he was disturbed in his (at) heart, by the evil that had been created. (the clay men)
“On 2 Chicchan occurred the appearance of everything evil.run: And He was it, even within the towns.
“On 3 Cimi (Death) He invented death. It happened that then was invented the first death, by Our Father who is God.
“On 4 Manik ... (Sadly, the text here is lost.)
THE RAINS FROM THE SOOT OF RIO CUARTO:
“On 5 Lamat there was the invention of the Seven Floods of Rain, water, and sea.
“On 6 Muluc occurred the burial of all the caves. And this was before the awakening of the world. (In other words, the final creation.) This occurred by the commandment of Our Father, who is God.
“Everything that there was not (which had been destroyed), was then spoken in [the] heaven[s]. (In other words, everything is created again.) For there had been no stones and trees. (These are required by the Bacabs for the separation of the heavens from the Earth.)
And they went and tested each other (This probably refers to the astronomical quiz, the “Theodora”, posed to candidates for astronomer.), and then He spoke as follows: “Thirteen heaps and seven make one.”, He said for speech to emerge. (A count of 13 and then of 7 exhausts the 20 day names.)
“For they had no speech. Its origin was requested by the First Lord Sun-Priest (Kin), for their organs of speech were not yet opened, so that they could speak to each other.
“They went there to the Heart of the Sky, and took each other by the hand. And then they (the Bacabs) stood there in the middle of the country, and (they) divided it up.
(This is the Bacabs’ partitioning ceremony described in the passages above.)
“And they (the Bacabs) divided the Burners, the four of them: 4 Chiccan the Burner, 4 Oc the Burner, 4 Men the Burner, and 4 Ahau the Burner. These are the Lords, the four of them.
(These “Burners” were officials who kept a fire cult which was tied to the Count of Days.)
(This is followed by a long passage untranslated from the hieroglyphic and a closing. Continuing with the last line.)
“The account of all the days, through which The Beginning is counted, was in the east, as has been told.”
AN ACCOUNT OF THE RESPONSE TO THE RIO CUARTO EVENT FROM QUIRIGA, STELA C?
Freely adapted From Schele, 1993, p 67
Schele interprets the wording of the following stela inscription, which dates from the mid- first millenium, as being an astronomical parable, where the three thrones represent the sky, the earth, and the sea; but a literal reading of the words as the response of the Lords of 3 different lands may originally have been meant and seems to work just as well.
“4 Ahaw, 8 Kumk’u, to say - to make appear;
Three stones were set, they planted;”
(Either the parts of creation, the sky, the earth, and the water; or a list of three peoples perhaps now follows.)
“One stone, the Jaguar Paddler (Chilam Balam) and Stingray through nose Paddler (Lord),
It happened at First-Five-Sky (Na-ho-chan) Jaguar (Lord’s) throne stone;”
(Na-ho-chan the Maya homeland?)
“He planted a stone, the West-First-Rainpriest,
It happened in the land, of the Serpent-Throne-Stone;”
(Some north-western people?)
“And then it happened a stone was set, Na Itzamhi,
Waterlily-throne-stone, it happened at Lying-Down-Sky;”
(The tsunami happened in the east, where the “sky laid down”. The “Waterlily-Throne-Stone” is probably a reference to the people widely known as the “Olmecs” (the Zoque).)
“(The) First stone place were completed 13 baktuns (?ago);
It was his action, Raised-up Sky Lord.”
13 baktuns is a year count, and translates into 5,200 years. This clause may refer to the raising of the first stone, a different time than the raising of the 3 stones; if Rio Cuarto dates to roughly 2360 BCE, then moving back 5,200 years brings you to 7,560 BCE; add in the years between the baktun start to 4 Ahua, 8 Kumk’u, and possibly you’re at 8,000 BCE or so, the time of the hypothesized Holocene-start impact event, and quite possibly the beginning of Native American astronomy.
If you’re attempting to reconcile the dates, remember that conquest period Tultul Xiu and Itza peoples used different counts, and it is likely that those counts differed from those of the “Classic” Maya.
A EUROPEAN MEMORY OF THE 1150 BCE IMPACT:
PLATO’S TALE OF ATLANTIS
It has long been known that Plato’s tale of Atlantis was a construction of his designed to instill moral lessons. It has been widely known that Plato incorporated into this construction two remote historical memories, one a description of the Minoan confederation, and the other a memory of the invasion of the “Sea Peoples”.
The mystery has been why Plato set this tale in the Atlantic.
In his book Gateway To Atlantis, author Andrew Collins has carefully assembled a large amount of material documenting very firmly early contacts by peoples from Europe and the Mediterranean with those of the Western Hemisphere. So far so good, but then Collins goes on to set “Atlantis” in Cuba, and further argues that Plato’s tale actually refers to the Holocene-start event.
From the Mayan records of an impact produced mega-tsunami which occurred around 1150 BCE, we can assert that it is far more likely that the bit of ancient history which Plato incorporated into his moral fable was most likely is a dim memory of that impact event, rather than the Holocene start impact event.
NEAR EASTERN MEMORIES OF THE 1150 BCE IMPACT:
II CHRONICLES 20:34
“Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they [are] written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who [is] mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.
And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly. And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongeber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works.” And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish. ”
PSALM 48:4
“For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
They saw [it, and] so they marvelled;
They were troubled, [and] hasted away.
Fear took hold upon them there;
Pain, as of a woman in labor:
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.”
It is important to note that while the ships of Tarshish were destroyed, enough people survived on land that Tarshish was able to re-build.