1995/12/01 by Bruce Love · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Conservation Techniques and Studies #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies
paper · doi:10.2307/971837
openalex publication_date 1995/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
The proposal that the Prehispanic Maya recorded the revolutions of the planet Mars was made in the 1920s, and subsequently dismissed by Eric Thompson. Victoria Bricker and Harvey Bricker, followed by John Justeson, have rekindled the debate by proposing new lines of evidence supporting a “Mars Table” in the Dresden Codex. A review of the evidence does not support their contention and concludes that Thompson, following Seler, was essentially correct when he interpreted the “Sky Beast” as associated with rain and lightning. The purported Mars table is in fact a variant of the Chac almanacs that deal with weather and agriculture.