Darts of Dawn The Tlahuizcalpa

The Darts of Dawn: The Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
Venus Complex in the Iconography of

Mesoamerica and the American Southwest
M i c h a e l M at h i o w e t z , P o l l y S c h a a f sm a , J e r e m y C o lt m a n ,
and Karl Taube
Par t I. Introduction
Fundamental concepts pertaining to worldview and cosmology are

currently, as in the past, shared throughout Mesoamerica and the
American Southwest. Included here are “maps” of the cosmos and
cultural landscapes, such as directional symbolism, as well as the more
specific ideology of rain-making and the nature of many supernatural
beings (James 2000; Mathiowetz 2011; Schaafsma 1999, 2000, 2001;
Schaafsma and Taube 2006; Taube 1986, 2001; Young 1994). Among
ancient and contemporary indigenous people of Mesoamerica, the planet
Venus plays a central role in the art, ritual, oral traditions, and symbolism
of warfare. In highland Central Mexico—one of the best-documented
contact period regions of ancient Mesoamerican religion—the Morning
Star dominates as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, a fearsome being but also an
aspect of the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, an embodiment of the
eastern wind and the gentle breath of life (Carlson 1991; Graulich 1992;
Taube 2001). The extensive and complex religious symbolism linked to
Venus as Morning Star and warfare in Mesoamerica is strikingly similar
M i c h a e l M at h i o w e t z is a UC MEXUS/CONACYT postdoctoral research fellow at

Centro INAH Nayarit.
P o l ly S c h a a f s m a is a research associate at the Museum of Indian Arts and
Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
J e r e m y C o lt m a n is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at
California State University, Los Angeles.
K a r l T a u b e is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the
University of California, Riverside.
Journal of the Southwest 57, 1 (Spring 2015) : 1–102

2 ✜ J ournal of the S outhwest
to a Venus “star complex” that became prominent in rock art and kiva

murals in the American Southwest during the Pueblo IV period, that is,
post AD 1300 (Carlson 2005; Schaafsma 2000, 2005).
The present study examines the relation of Venus to warfare among
indigenous peoples in both Mesoamerica and the American Southwest
in an effort to draw attention to significant parallels centered upon an
ideology of warfare relating to this planet. Notably, we draw comparisons
between aspects and character attributes of the Postclassic skeletal god
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Mesoamerica and the Morning Star and related
supernaturals as represented in late pre-Hispanic Pueblo art, in particular
the contemporary Hopi Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu. We argue here
that these figures are historically related beings.
The archaeological evidence indicates that the symbolic expression of
a constellation of remarkably similar metaphors centered upon Venus as
the Morning Star in Central and Northwest Mesoamerica and the
American Southwest is not derived from a bedrock of shared cosmology
that has existed in these regions in perpetuity. Rather, by tracing the
timing of appearance of these ideas in the iconographic repertoire of
multiple geographical and cultural regions, we suggest that the occurrence
of Morning Star-related warfare symbolism, beginning after AD 900 in
West Mexico, by AD 1200 in Northwest Mexico in the Casas Grandes
region, and by AD 1300 in the American Southwest, indicates that the
expansion of Postclassic period information and interaction networks
from highland Central Mexico and Oaxaca played an important role in
the northward dissemination of a ritual and symbolic complex centered
on cosmological warfare and fertility (figures 1 & 2).
This expansion coincided with the development of the Aztatlán
tradition, a cultural complex that played a key role in many of the social
and religious changes that occurred in Northwest Mexico and the
American Southwest during the Pueblo III–Pueblo IV transition. As is
discussed below, among these changes in the American Southwest is the
dramatic florescence of Morning Star and warfare-related symbolism in
Pueblo rock art and kiva murals. While it is beyond the scope of the
present study to illuminate the precise mechanisms by which the Morning
Star complex was transferred to and locally manifested across the American
Southwest in the 14th century, we hope that this discussion will inspire
attention and debate to this topic in the future.
Venus ✜ 3
Figure 1: Regional map of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.

Figure 2: Regional map of West Mexico with Aztatlán-affiliated

archaeological sites (circles) and modern cities and towns (squares)
mentioned in the text (adapted from Hosler 1994: fig. 3.2).
Venus ✜ 5
P a r t II. V e n u s i n P o s t c l a s s i c M e s o a m e r i c a :
T l a h u i z c a l pa n t e c u h t l i a n d I t z l a c o l i u h q u i -
Ixquimilli
As the Morning Star, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, or “Lord of Dawn,” was

the feared and preeminent stellar being painstakingly observed and
incorporated into socially shared beliefs of fate, including warfare and
other forms of human strife. As a fierce and otherworldly god, he is
skeletal, often with a skull head, along with a vertically striped and at
times fleshless body—the vertical stripes referring to warriors doomed
for sacrifice. Typically, he wields his spear thrower upward as an aggressive
weapon to shoot his “darts of dawn.” Stars, flint dart points, ice and
cold, and a close affinity with the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl are
among his attributes. The complex of ideas evident in Venus mythology
in Mesoamerica is intimately related to rain and maize agriculture
(Schaafsma 2013; Schaafsma et al. 2010; Šprajc 1993a, 1993b, 1996).
Although it has been argued that a version of a skeletal Morning Star
deity was present among the Classic Maya (Carlson 1991), clear versions
of such a being remain to be documented convincingly for either the
Classic Maya or their contemporaries in Central Mexico, including Early
Classic Teotihuacan. Although one can find images of skeletal figures
with star signs in Classic Maya art, including Lintel 3 of Tikal Temple
IV (Jones and Satterthwaite 1982: fig. 74), the text offers nothing to
demonstrate any correlation of a major “Star Wars” event with our
current understanding of the Maya Long Count correlation nor the
584-day Venus cycle established by Ernst Förstemann (1906) in his
brilliant analysis of the Late Postclassic Venus tables in the Dresden Codex.
In fact, although the five illustrated aspects of the Morning Star in the
Dresden Codex all wield spear throwers and darts, none are skeletal.
Eduard Seler (1904) was the first to relate the Maya Venus tables to
similar passages in three roughly contemporaneous codices of Late
Postclassic highland Mexico, the Borgia, Vaticanus B, and Cospi of the
Borgia Group of pre-Hispanic Central Mexican codices. In all three
manuscripts, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is skeletal.
In describing the character attributes of this god, Nicholson (1971:
426–427) noted that Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is a militaristic stellar deity
who embodies both the Morning Star and Evening Star aspects of the
planet Venus. Among the Aztec, iconographic conventions for this deity
in the codices typically consist of red-and-white longitudinal body stripes
and a star-marked black mask associated with stellar deities, particularly
Mixcoatl-Camaxtli, who is a symbol of the Milky Way (Nicholson 1971;
Seler 1904: 360; Spranz 1973: 246–262). According to the Codex

Telleriano-Remensis, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is counted among the
malevolent tzitzimime (Quiñones-Keber 1995: 129, 255). In Aztec
thought, the tzitzimime were feared star demons of the night sky who
would descend to wreak havoc among mortals at particular times of the
year, such as during a solar eclipse or when new fire could not be drilled
at the end of the 52-year cycle (Taube 1993a: 12). In Late Postclassic
highland Mexico, the appearance of Venus as Morning Star brought
about much fear and trepidation. As Sahagún (1950–1982: bk. 7: 12)
noted, this terrifying event was one in which “much fear came over them;
all were frightened. Everywhere the outlets and openings [of houses]
were closed up. It was said that perchance [the light] might bring a cause
of sickness, something evil, when it came to emerge.”
In Postclassic highland Central Mexican representations, Tlahuizcal
pantecuhtli’s appearance with stars emphasizes his role as a militaristic
celestial being. Virginia Miller (1989) identified a corpus of Maya-style
star warriors at the Early Postclassic site of Chichén Itzá in Yucatan, some
of whom are skeletal, and she further related them to Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
(figures 7A, 7B; portfolio image 1). One group of sculptures at Chichén
Itzá depicts figures whose heads are enclosed with stars or star helmets.
As discussed below, similar conventions are also common for star warriors
in the American Southwest.
One relief from Chichén Itzá portrays a skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
as a Toltec warrior wearing a version of the cut-conch “wind-jewel” of
Quetzalcoatl (Taube 1992a: 120–121; figure 3A). Other examples from
Chichén Itzá depict a masked Quetzalcoatl as a warrior surrounded by
a plumed serpent, darts, and flames (figure 3B). In a study of Early
Postclassic Toltec-style iconography, Taube (1994: 223) pointed out a
rock painting from Ixtapantongo, Mexico, portraying an anthropomorphic
figure, identified as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, enveloped by a feathered
serpent whose sinuous body is lined with star signs (figure 3C).
Later Aztec examples of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli variously depict him
with a skeletal head or headdress, wearing prominent flint darts in his
headband, holding weaponry, and adorned with star signs on his body
(figures 3D, 3E, 4A–4E). In a recent analysis of the Aztec Stuttgart
Statuette, Coltman (2007) concluded that this statue represents a fanged,
skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as an arch-Toltec tzitzimitl warrior wearing
accoutrements of Quetzalcoatl, such as the conch epcolloli ear ornament
(see Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana 1964: 407). One Late
Postclassic Mixtec turquoise-mosaic disk bearing a similar portrayal of a
Venus ✜ 7
fanged, militaristic Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli wearing ovate dart points in

his headband was recovered from excavations at the Aztec Templo Mayor
(see Pohl et al. 2012: 38, fig. 21 [top center]). One fragmented stone
relief excavated at the Templo Mayor depicts an atl atl-wielding
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with a skeletal jaw wearing a single ovate dart point
in the headdress (portfolio image 2). Another depiction of a skeletal
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli wearing a single dart point in his feathered
headdress is also portrayed on the base of the Teocalli de la Guerra
Sagrada (Temple of Sacred Warfare), a stone monument constructed in
AD 1507 that is a symbolic throne of the Aztec emperor Motecuhzoma
Xocoyotzin (Caso 1927a; Umberger 2010, fig. 4). Finally, Tlaxcalan
altar painting A at Tizatlan, Puebla, depicts a remarkable image of
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as a skeletal being (Caso 1927b; figure 4C). Aside
from his skeletal attributes, he also appears with a flint blade projecting
from his nostril cavity. Both the skeletal features and the flint blade nose
are attributes also shared with the death god Mictlantecuhtli. However,
the red-and-white longitudinal striping and the probable star earpiece
mark the Tizatlan figure as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (portfolio image 3).
Some of our knowledge of the mythology concerning the Morning
Star and information of his various character attributes and aspects comes
from oral traditions recorded in Aztec and early colonial texts. As
described in the Leyenda de las Soles, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli shot a dart
at the newly created sun. The sun responded by shooting darts in return,
striking the Venus god in the forehead; hence, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
became the god of stone, cold, and frost (Bierhorst 1992: 149; Seler
1963: 2: 205; Velazquez 1945: 122). This transformation, as Seler (1963:
2: 205) noted, is embodied by the deity Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli, a
being who has a prominent backwards-curving conical head or headdress
lined with sharp pieces of obsidian and often a dart sometimes placed in
the headdress, clearly alluding to his defeat by the sun god Tonatiuh
(Miller and Taube 1993: 100; Taube 1993b: 42-44; figures 6A, 6B).
Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli also appears in the Venus pages of the Late
Postclassic Dresden Codex (Taube and Bade 1991: 16). This demonstrates
that during the Late Postclassic period (AD 1250–1521), the Maya also
regarded this deity as an aspect of the Morning Star and were clearly
aware of highland Central Mexican artistic conventions (figure 6C). As
noted later in this study, the curved conical head or headdress associated
with this deity is strikingly reminiscent of the conical hats worn by the
Hopi Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu and his probable alter ego
Patusngwa, the god of ice and cold (David et al. 1993: 152–153).
In some instances, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli bears symbolic elements that

are evocative of death, a trait that could be associated with the very
coldness of stone and the cessation of life; although it may also relate to
the coldness of dawn that precedes the arrival of the colorful realm of
brightness and life associated with the warmth and heat of the sun. For
example, the Aztec deity Mixcoatl-Camaxtli, an aspect of the Morning
Star Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, is the patron of dead warriors whose souls
were believed to accompany the rising sun (Nicholson 1971: 426). Page
78 of the Mixtec Codex Nuttall portrays a skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
being holding an atl atl, darts, and a shield, and he has flint knives and
stellar eyes emerging from his head and a flint knife at his nose—the
latter being characteristics commonly found on Postclassic West Mexican
versions of this deity. In this image, he is heavily ornamented with stellar
eyes on the feet and wrists and stellar imagery near the rib cage (figure
5A). In addition, the points tipping his pair of darts are identical to Late
Postclassic solar rays, such as those that appear on the famed Aztec
“Calendar Stone.” However, at the back of his head he also wears a
conical paper accoutrement often associated with images of the death
god Mictlantecuhtli, such as one portrayal of this deity on page 56 of
the Codex Borgia (see Díaz and Rodgers 1993: 56). Furthermore, a
portrayal of a deceased warrior’s mummy bundle on page 72r of the
Codex Magliabecchiano depicts this figure with the characteristic beaded
facial paint of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the dart in the forehead commonly
found on Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli, and the conical paper ornament worn
by the death god Mictlantecuhtli (Taube and Bade 1991: 14; figure 5B).
Thus, these dualistic attributes link Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli to both stellar
warfare and death.
Weapons, Darts, and Projectiles in the Mesoamerican Venus Complex
Projectiles, especially arrows and dart points, are also widely associated
with both Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli and Venus in its other northern
manifestations; while the rays of Venus are likened to darts, other weapons
also comprise part of this deity’s repertoire (Miller and Taube 1993: 166;
Taube 1994: 223, fig. 11c; also see Chamberlain [1982: 25 (n. 17), 60–71]
for Pawnee and Southeastern accounts). Seler (1904: 384) noted that the
Nahuatl word mitl signifies “arrow” or “dart” and that the rays of light
that emanate from luminous bodies were considered as darts or arrows
shot in all directions. The annotator of the Codex Magliabecchiano on
Venus ✜ 9
page 75v translated the word tzitzimitl as “una saeta,” or “an arrow”
(Boone 1999: 198). This conceptualization may refer to the perception
of the tzitzimime, of whom Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is a central figure, as
descending to the earth like an arrow or dart. A scene inscribed on a
notched musical rasp from Culhuacan in highland Mexico portrays a
number of darts raining down from a starry sky (figure 8). The skeletal
figure in the celestial region in this scene may represent a stellar tzitzimitl
attacking the sun (see discussion below) while the darts appear to have
been shot by the sun god into the Xipe Totec figure below, much as is
known for the Aztec rites of Tlacaxipehualiztli (see Taube 2009: 18).
The association of darts and Venus is further evident in the contact
period Anales de Cuauhtitlan, where Quetzalcoatl (as Tlahuizcal-
pantecuhtli) is described as making darts for four days in the underworld,
surely the darts to be used in announcing his dawn arrival (Bierhorst
1992: 36). It is apt that Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli’s preeminent weapon is
his spear thrower (atl atl), a weapon that symbolically shoots his deadly
rays of light. As Taube (2010: 176–177, pl. 3) recently noted, the spear
thrower serves a similar function as the weapon of choice for Quetzalcoatl
in the Late Postclassic Maya murals of Santa Rita.
The emanating darts from spear throwers may well represent the darts
of dawn, the shooting rays of the Morning Star, and likely also reference
the illuminated face of this brilliantly shining planet in the sky. Along
with his close association with plumed serpents and stars,
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli also frequently is portrayed with darts that project
from his head. For instance, a Postclassic period gold disk from Oaxaca
depicts a skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with darts and circular projecting
elements signifying stellar eyes emerging from the head (figure 11A;
portfolio image 4). This example is strikingly similar to Postclassic period
West Mexican Morning Star figures (figures 11B–11H, 12A–12H) and
a Morning Star deity from Tabasco portrayed in the Postclassic
International Style (figure 12I), as discussed below.
Among the most obvious iconographic conventions for
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Late Postclassic highland Central Mexican art
are two hafted red-and-white stone dart points protruding from the
front of his headdress. A Mixteca Puebla-style relief from Huaquechula,
Puebla, depicts a skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli grasping a set of darts
with multiple dart points also prominently positioned in his headband
(Dykerhoff 2000; figure 5C). Darts also appear in other significant
contexts within this complex. On the Upper Temple of the Jaguars at
Chichén Itzá, a feathered serpent-enveloped warrior appears with darts
and flames emanating from the body, a combination of characteristics

that may refer to the Morning Star at heliacal rising (Taube 1994: 223;
figure 3B).
In sum, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Postclassic period highland Central
Mexico was a feared stellar warrior, often portrayed with skeletal attributes,
who was identified as the personification of Venus as Morning Star.
Closely tied to militarism and often clad in weaponry and ornamented
with stars, this major deity wielded stellar darts that likely reflected the
luminosity of this celestial body as it rose prominently above the eastern
horizon at dawn.
Plumed Serpents with Stars in the Mesoamerican Venus Complex
In the art and iconography of Mesoamerica, the depiction of plumed

serpents in association with stars is widely interpreted as representing
portrayals of Quetzalcoatl in his guise as the Morning Star, both being
closely related to the dawn and the eastern directional point (Taube
1992a: 136; 2001). The close relation between Quetzalcoatl and
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is reflected in the mythology of the Anales de
Cuauhtitlan whereby Quetzalcoatl was said to have cremated himself
in the east to subsequently become the dawn (Bierhorst 1992: 36; Seler
1904: 359–360). As this tradition explains, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli became
an avatar of Quetzalcoatl. A number of other researchers also argued
that this pairing refers to Quetzalcoatl as an aspect of Venus (Coggins
1984; Miller 1989). Similarly, among the contemporary Tzotzil Maya
the dawning sun is preceded by the Morning Star, who appears as a large
plumed serpent known as Mukta ch’on, or “Great Snake” (Miller 1982:
89). This conception recalls the portrayal on the Stuttgart
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Statuette described above, where on the reverse
side of the sculpture a large plumed serpent carries a solar disk upon its
back (Coltman 2007, 2009; Taube 2010), a theme that unites the
Morning Star, plumed serpent, and the dawning sun into a coherent
complex of ideas (see Mathiowetz 2011).
While Venus is the preeminent stellar deity, all stars share the trait of
shooting rays. Among the earliest portrayals of a plumed serpent with
stars on the body is an example from Early Classic Teotihuacan (figure
9A) and a later example from the Late Classic rock art of Maltrata,
Veracruz (figure 9B). The Teotihuacan example appears in the Zone 5-A
murals and portrays the serpent body marked by both stars and a series
Venus ✜ 11
of footprints. A similar concept is evident in a Teotihuacan-style scene

inscribed on a conch shell that portrays two figures astride a plumed
serpent marked with stars along the body (figure 9C). The presence of
human figures or footprints along the plumed serpent body in these
examples refers to the plumed serpent as a road or pathway for supernatural
beings (Saturno et al. 2005: 25, fig. 18b).
At Early Postclassic Chichén Itzá, star imagery is quite prominent, with
the presence of stars on plumed serpent bodies likely alluding to Quetzalcoatl
as Venus as the Morning Star (Coggins 1984; Miller 1989; figure 9E). A
similar affiliation between plumed serpent bodies and stars is evident on a
balustrade at Chichén Itzá (figure 9D). In this image, the tail end of a
plumed serpent body is flanked on either side of its rattle by probable star
signs. The identification of these elements as stars is based upon their
similarity to star signs from Tula (figure 10C) and more elaborate depictions
of stars in the iconography of Chichén Itzá (figure 10A) as well as later
Aztec Tenochtitlan (figure 10B) and at Mitla, Oaxaca (figure 10D). In
proposing the existence of a Venus complex in Postclassic West Mexico,
Garduño and Vazquez del Mercado (2005: 74) noted a similar Venus star
sign in the symbolism of the Aztatlán culture (figure 10E).
Furthermore, the example of the feathered serpent on the Chichén
Itzá balustrade in figure 9D is clearly linked to Quetzalcoatl as the tail
plumes of this serpent terminate in bifurcated conch shells that symbolize
breath and wind. Taube (2001: 111) noted that in Mesoamerica conch
shells are closely identified with the plumed serpent, particularly as
portrayals of conches often appear on the serpent bodies. In sum, the
association of plumed serpents, some with conch shell symbolism
evocative of wind and breath and others with stars atop or flanking
plumed serpent bodies, suggests a strong link between the plumed serpent
Quetzalcoatl and stellar symbolism related to the Morning Star
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli.
P a r t III. V e n u s a s t h e M o r n i n g S ta r in
Postclassic West Mexico
The onset of the Postclassic period (ca. AD 900) saw the appearance
of the Aztatlán horizon in West Mexico (figure 2) along with a significant
change in settlement patterns, the expansion of economic networks, and
new religious symbolism reflective of increased contact with cultures in
Oaxaca and highland Central Mexico (Ekholm 1942; Foster 1999; Kelley
1986, 2000; Mathiowetz 2011; Meighan 1976). During this time period,
strikingly similar conceptions of Venus as the Morning Star became
evident in the archaeology and iconography of a limited region of West
Mexico largely encompassing the modern states of Nayarit and southern
Sinaloa with other iconographic examples apparent in the surrounding
region. Supporting evidence for a Morning Star complex is also found
in the ethnography of a number of indigenous groups in this portion of
West Mexico, such as the Cora and Huichol, among the probable
descendants of Aztatlán people. As in Central Mexico, Morning Star-
related imagery in the iconography of Postclassic period West Mexico is
reflected in a number of skeletal figures often portrayed with projectiles
and stars (stellar eyes) emanating from the head and face, in portrayals
of feathered beings wearing a plumed serpent headdress, or in depictions
of skeletal beings with a plumed serpent body. These figures, who have
no antecedents in Classic period symbolism in the larger region, appear
to relate to a newly widespread and fully formed Morning Star ceremonial
complex in West and Northwest Mexico during the Postclassic period
that was based upon knowledge of the highland Central Mexican deity
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (Mathiowetz 2011).
The symbolism of this deity in West Mexico is complex and its
occurrence is largely concentrated at sites in the core coastal and highland
interior zone of the southern region of the Aztatlán tradition, primarily
in Nayarit and southern Sinaloa (portfolio image 5). At the archaeological
site of Amapa, Nayarit, an image on the central interior of an Ixcuintla
Polychrome vessel dating from roughly AD 1100–1350 depicts the head
of a skeletal figure with four prominent projectiles emerging from the
head and face (figure 11B). Interspersed between these darts are linear
projections that terminate in circular elements, a motif identified as stellar
eyes. A similar portrayal of this figure occurs as a carved relief on a stone
slab excavated from the cemetery at Amapa (figure 11C). This illustration
depicts the head and body of a being with prominent darts and circular
stellar eyes emerging from the head. While these circular designs are
sometimes described as portrayals of extruding eyeballs in highland
Central Mexican art, Seler (1990–1998: 3: 136) noted that these groups
of “eyes,” often present in upper registers of iconographic scenes, were
intended to represent the starry sky. Thus, circular star-like projections
in Postclassic West Mexican examples, often paired with flint knives,
follow similar artistic conventions in the way in which starry skies and
stellar eyes are depicted in the art of Postclassic highland Central Mexico
(figure 10D).
Venus ✜ 13
A prominent zigzag motif in front of the body and face of the Amapa
figure on the above-described stone slab may well represent a bolt of
lightning, a motif one might expect to be affiliated with a militaristic
celestial being. Similar serpentine forms of lightning are a common artistic
convention often found with the storm and rain god Tlaloc, such as in
Early Postclassic art at Chichén Itzá (see Tozzer 1957: fig. 219) and in
Late Postclassic and contact period highland Central Mexican art (see
Codex Magliabecchiano, pp. 89, 91, 92). Meighan (1976: 43–45)
suggested that the precise original location of the carved slab and the
cluster of other slabs overlying the Amapa cemetery remains unclear, but
that they may have been associated with a building, wall, or platform
from the adjacent Mound E-7. In any case, the location of a portrayal
of the Morning Star deity in close association with a cemetery suggests
the perception of some of the deceased as stars, a common association
in Mesoamerica.
Two examples of similar skeletal beings occur on back mirrors of
unspecified provenience displayed in the Museo de Arqueología del
Occidente de Mexico in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Worn on the small of the
back, these objects, known as tezcacuitlapilli in highland Central Mexico,
were common warrior regalia in many parts of ancient Mesoamerica
(Garcia-DesLauriers 2000: 82–86; Taube 1992b). Appearing in one of
three side panels of one of the mirrors, an incised skeletal figure with
prominent mandible, crested head, and darts emanating from the forehead
and nose clearly relates to other depictions from West Mexico (figure
11D). In fact, the shape of the nose with the protruding dart on this
figure is identical to examples from Amapa (figures 11B, 11C). The
extruding breath, song, or speech scroll from the mouth is also reminiscent
of other Morning Star portrayals from the region (figure 11G) along
with comparable examples of this skeletal figure from Oaxaca (figure
11A) and Veracruz or Tabasco (figure 12I). A second portrayal of a
skeletal being inscribed on a back mirror, though in a somewhat more
angular style, occurs as a prominent, full-figured motif in the center of
the mirror (figure 11E). Designed with the identical nose-and-dart form
and crested head as in other examples, this being has a prominent pointed
object emerging from the top of the head and a number of lines or rays
emanating around the circumference of the face. These projecting lines
suggest a certain luminescence of the face and may allude to the brightness
of the illuminated visage of the Morning Star deity as he arises at dawn.
Mauricio Garduño Ambriz drew our attention to an unprovenienced
Botadero Incised (AD 900–1100) globular olla now housed in the
bodega of the Museo Regional de Nayarit in Tepic that portrays two

images of this skeletal being. One of these examples depicts the typical
projecting stellar eyes, flint knives, and crested ruff on the head with the
notable exception of a stellar-eye element emerging from the mouth and
a number of feather plumes placed behind the head (figure 11F). The
emergence of a stellar eye from the mouth is similar to the Amapa portrayal
of this figure (figure 11B) and is reminiscent of highland Central Mexican
codical examples of skeletal mandibles with emergent stars placed at the
mouth (see Codex Fejérváry Mayer, page 43). Other West Mexican
renditions also have plumes or tassels placed behind the head or near the
ear (figures 11A, 11B, 11C, 11F), a trait that is also evident on the
Veracruz/Tabasco example (figure 12I). The second portrait on the
above-described globular olla depicts the same skeletal being with
additional elements including a breath or song scroll and a possible tassel
or flower emerging from the mouth (figure 11G). Clearly related to these
figures and motifs, an Aztatlán-era sherd excavated at San Felipe Aztatán,
Nayarit, by Mauricio Garduño Ambriz depicts the lower mandible of a
skeletal being with a dart shooting from the nose (figure 11H). In this
image, it is clear that the manner in which the nose is depicted is identical
to other examples of this deity in West Mexico (e.g., figures 11B–11E,
12G).
A vibrant portrayal of the Morning Star deity is evident on the central
interior of a Cerritos Polychrome vessel (AD 900–1100) housed in the
Museo Regional de Nayarit (figure 12A; portfolio image 6). Depicted
in the central interior of the vessel is a skeletal figure with stellar eyes
and flint knives emerging from the head. The crested head is identical
to other examples from the region, while the distinctive rendering of
stellar eyes is identical to those on the previously mentioned cemetery
slab from Amapa. Remarkably, a Late Postclassic International Style
vessel from Veracruz or Tabasco (figure 12I) portrays a skeletal Morning
Star deity that has a number of nearly identical characteristics as those
on skeletal figures from Nayarit. This figure shares the same crested head,
the same flint knives and stellar-eyes convention as the Nayarit examples,
and a similar breath scroll emanating from the mouth, much like that
emerging from the mouth of the figure on the West Mexican-style gold
disk from Oaxaca. Notably, the stellar eye projections on the Veracruz/
Tabasco example are nearly identical to those on the Amapa stone slab
(figure 11C) and the examples from the Museo Regional in Nayarit
(figures 11F, 11G, 12A).
Venus ✜ 15
A similar skeletal being with crested head element, projecting stellar

eyes, and flint dart is evident on a Cerritos phase (AD 900–1100) sherd
excavated by Garduño Ambriz in San Felipe Aztatán, Nayarit (figure
12C). A ceramic sherd from an unspecified site near Tepic, Nayarit,
portrays a portion of a skeletal figure with a flint knife projecting from
the nose (figure 12E). An engraved image of this Morning Star deity
with dart shooting from the nose is depicted on a large, circular-shaped
stone now housed in the local archaeological museum in Compostela,
Nayarit (figure 12F; portfolio image 7). Some ceramic sherds from the
Cerritos phase (AD 900–1100) site of Chacalilla in Nayarit, about 10
kilometers south of Amapa, were observed to bear isolated depictions
of stellar eyes, with one set of sherd fragments portraying stellar eyes
that appear to emanate from the distinctive crested hair ruff found on
other West Mexican examples of the Morning Star. One Cerritos phase
(AD 900–1100) Sentispac Red-on-Buff rim sherd from Chacalilla,
Nayarit, depicts a flint knife coupled with a stellar eye (see Ohnersorgen
2007: fig. 4.4), a clear and apparently common symbol set affiliated with
the Morning Star complex described here. Finally, a rock art panel known
as “El Cantil de Las Animas,” located near the town of Jesús María
Cortes in Nayarit and recently reported by Centro INAH-Nayarit
archaeologist Mauricio Garduño Ambriz (2013a), contains depictions
of the skeletal Morning Star deity described herein.
Outside of Nayarit, other examples from further afield in the Aztatlán
region include an image of a similar skeletal figure with circular star
motifs emanating from the head that is evident on a single ceramic vessel
fragment from Culiacán, Sinaloa (figure 12B). While projectiles do not
emanate from the head in this example, a possible flint knife is placed at
the nose. Isabel Kelly (1945: 108) suggested that this sherd likely had
Postclassic Aztatlán-tradition affiliations. Further inland to the southeast
of the core coastal zone of Nayarit and southern Sinaloa, a skeletal figure
with a probable feather headdress and a projecting dart from the nose
is depicted on the central interior of a tripod vessel from the Postclassic
site of La Peña, Jalisco (figure 12D). The tall, plumed headdress of this
figure is remarkably similar to the tall feather-fanned headdress at times
worn by Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in highland Central Mexico during both
the Early and Late Postclassic (e.g., figures 3A, 3D, 4B, 4E). One other
example of a skeletal deity with dart emanating from the nose is found
on the central interior of a tripod polychrome vessel from the Museo
de Atoyac, Jalisco, located south of Guadalajara (see image in Ganot and
Peschard 1997: 293, fig. 158). Notably, some of these West Mexican
Aztatlán skeletal figures are at times accompanied by pairs of crossed
long bones, perhaps suggesting a conceptual connection to death. The
theme of skeletal beings coupled with crossed bones is also present on
the Late Postclassic International Style vessel from Veracruz (figure 12I),
though these bones remain unillustrated in the figure.
One far southern example of this skeletal being in West Mexico
ornaments a small portion of the body of a Postclassic period Tlaloc
effigy vessel from El Chanal, Colima (figure 12G). This skeletal being
is depicted with a typical dart shooting from the nose, a probable feather
fan headdress much like Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli wears on page 39 of the
Codex Borgia (figure 4E), and circular ornaments in his headdress, much
like the headdress of the skeletal figure with plumed serpent body depicted
on an Aztatlán-affiliated polychrome from Sinaloa (figure 14). The
circular ornaments worn by these West Mexican skeletal figures are similar
to those on the headdress of the Veracruz/Tabasco skeletal deity (figure
12I) as well as the circular shell pendants at times worn in the headdress
of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as portrayed on page 77 of the Codex Nuttall
(figure 4D), page 39 of the Codex Borgia (figure 4e), and page 57 of
the Codex Vaticanus B. These circular pendants may well have antecedents
in the circular rings commonly worn in the headdress by Classic period
Teotihuacan warriors and those that also appear in the headdress of the
War Serpent that overlies the body of the plumed serpent on the façade
of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan (Taube 1992c: 59).
Though the core locus of this Morning Star complex in Postclassic
West Mexico appears to have been in the larger Nayarit region, related
Morning Star symbolism also appears in a limited area in the far northern
Aztatlán region. In his study of the Aztatlán site of Guasave in northern
Sinaloa, Gordon Ekholm (1942: 61) illustrated the interior of a ceramic
vessel depicting what he described as a probable face with a projectile
point apparently emerging from the head (figure 12H). Notably, along
with the dart point, two circular stellar eyes similar to those portrayed
in the Culiacán and Amapa examples also emerge from the head. Such
shared traits suggest that these figures in these disparate regions likely
represent identical or conceptually related beings.
Furthermore, Ekholm (1942: 50) drew attention to a striking depiction
of a feathered, skeletal being portrayed on the interior of another vessel
from Guasave (figure 13; portfolio image 8). At the front of the face is
a depiction of two flint knives, one which protrudes from the nose.
Notably, this skeletal being also wears a plumed headdress with fangs
Venus ✜ 17
and an eye scroll that is strikingly reminiscent of eye scrolls portrayed

on plumed serpents in Central Mexico. While this figure may well be
wearing a plumed serpent headdress, this deity is much more complex,
particularly as he has a bird body with wings and a large tail, the
significance of which is not well understood at this point. Importantly,
in his discussion of this image Ekholm noted that this figure probably
is a representation of the highland Central Mexican deity
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, an assessment with which we agree.
A similar combination of skeletal being and plumed serpent is evident
in a scene from an Aztatlán-affiliated polychrome vessel recovered in the
1920s during construction of a canal along the coast near Culiacán,
Sinaloa (Toro 1925; figure 14). In this scene, two beings are portrayed.
One is a human figure who is carried in or emerging from the mouth of
a plumed serpent that is exhaling elaborate breath volutes tipped by
feather plumes, while the other is a skeletal figure with the body of a
plumed serpent. From the nose of the skeletal being emerges a flint dart
point. Notably, the skyband above these two figures is composed of
elements including flint darts, flowers, and a protruding circular element
representing a star. The circular stellar eye portrayed in this Aztatlán-
affiliated polychrome from Sinaloa is quite similar to those portrayed in
the above-described examples from other parts of West Mexico. Notably,
the close affinity of stars as symbolic celestial flowers remains evident
today among the contemporary Cora (Guzmán 2002: 104; Neurath and
Jáuregui 1998; Preuss 1912). In sum, archaeological evidence indicates
that Morning Star symbolism in West Mexico, largely centered in Nayarit
and the surrounding regions, is preeminently a Postclassic period
phenomenon.
Venus Ceremonialism among Contemporary Indigenous People in

West Mexico
In the ethnography of contemporary indigenous peoples of West

Mexico, a number of character attributes of the Morning Star deity
further suggest a strong affinity to the Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli complex
that earlier became manifest in this region. Much like the Morning Star
of the American Southwest and other regions in Mesoamerica, the
Morning Star in West Mexico is closely linked to stars in general, warfare
and hunting, darts and weapons, lightning, cold weather, agriculture,
the growth of corn, and the plumed serpent. In recent years, Johannes
Neurath (2002; 2004; 2005a) examined the mythology and ritual of

Venus worship, in his dual aspects as both Morning Star and Evening
Star, among the Cora (Náyari), Huichol (Wixáritari), and Mexicaneros
(Nahua) in the Gran Nayar. Neurath’s work largely draws from his own
ethnographic field research and from the pioneering works of early
ethnographers such as Carl Lumholtz, Konrad Preuss, and Robert Zingg.
To date, his work is the most complete synthesis of the major cultural
importance of this deity in this region today.
The Gran Nayar, a region populated by a number of indigenous people
including the Cora, Huichol, Southern Tepehuan, and Mexicaneros, is
located in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental in portions of the
modern states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Durango, and Zacatecas (Neurath
2005b: 571, fn. 1 and fig. 2). Neurath (2005a: 76) recognized that the
Venus symbolic complex found among contemporary indigenous people
of the Gran Nayar likely was closely tied to the widespread ubiquity of
Venus-related symbolism found among indigenous groups and ancient
cultures in other parts of Mesoamerica, Northwest Mexico, and the
American Southwest, an assessment corroborated in the present study.
In fact, Neurath (2005a) anticipated that his ethnographic research
would be useful in future controlled comparisons and studies of pre-
Hispanic Venus-oriented religious complexes.
The documentation of Cora religious beliefs by Jesuits in the early 18th
century coincided with the pacification of the Cora stronghold of the
Mesa del Nayar in AD 1722. Perhaps the earliest mention in these historic
documents that attests to the prominence of Venus as Morning Star is
reflected in the missionary accounts of Urbano Covarrubias. These accounts
record the Jesuit’s program of eradication of religious beliefs between AD
1729 and 1730, a report that noted that the Indians “adored . . . the
Morning Star as the liberator of their nation” (in Neurath 2005a: 77).
Evidence of deeply held beliefs centered upon Venus in this region suggests
a great antiquity and considerable cultural continuity for this ritual complex.
Writing in AD 1767 about the mission of San Juan Peyotan, the Franciscan
missionary José Antonio Navarro noted that Xuravíj (or Xu’urabe/Morning
Star) was one of the major deities of the Coras (in Meyer 1989: 198;
Neurath 2005a: 77).
Among the Huichol, Cora, Tepehuan (Odan), and Mexicaneros of
the Gran Nayar, Venus as the Morning Star is known by a variety of
names. The Cora Morning Star deity is known variously as Ha’atsíkan,
Tahá (Elder Brother), or Tonarikan (from the Nahuatl word tona, or
Venus ✜ 19
“light”) (Neurath 2005a: 81). Another name for the Morning Star
among the Cora is xu’rabe (xurawe), or “star.” Among Mexicaneros the
Morning Star is known as Piltonte (“Boy”), while they also call him by
the Tepehuan name Txidiúkam. Another Tepehuan name for Morning
Star, the creator of the mitote ceremonies, is Ixcaichoing. Interestingly,
this name recalls the first part of the name of the Central Mexican
Morning Star-related deity Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli of Central Mexico,
as described above. Other Huichol Morning Star beings are variously
known as Xurawe Temai, or “Star Youth”, and Tamatsi Parietsika, or
“Elder Brother of Dawn” (Neurath 2005a: 81–82). For the Huichol,
the Morning Star is also named Tamáts Pálike Tamoyéke, the (likely
misspelled) name “Pálike” being variously defined as “walking at
daybreak” or “the god of the dawn” (Seler 1990–1998: 4: 188–189).
Neurath (personal communication 2013) characterized Parietsika as a
Huichol ancestor who becomes the Morning Star as a result of a successful
initiation and vision quest. He further translated the name Párikuta
Muyéka (Parietsika) as meaning “the one who walks in the dawn.” Seler
(1990–1998: 4: 188–189) also noted that the Huichol Morning Star
Tamáts is equivalent to the Cora Morning Star deity Tabatzí. In fact,
Huichol and Cora Morning Star deities share a number of comparable
character traits.
Among the most recognized traits of Tamáts is his close relationship
to the east, his status as the god of hunters, his role in giving the Huichol
the power and knowledge to make rain, his role as the son of the sun,
and his role as the messenger of the gods who first received the sacred
songs and hymns (Seler 1990–1998: 4: 188–190). Other important
characteristics of the Huichol Morning Star suggest that he is an important
culture hero whose attributes include being a hunter and precursor of
the sun, a deity who “makes the first milpa appear with the seeds of his
sprouting bow,” an important creator figure who establishes the
arrangement of the world, and a being who introduces all of the important
ceremonies and rituals (Preuss 1996: 130). The importance of Venus’s
association with agricultural fertility is discussed below. In contemporary
Huichol and Cora traditions, other Morning Star-related beings also are
related to hunting or warfare. For example, Preuss (1996: 124) noted
that the Huichol Star Boy Xuráwetámai (“Star Youth”), much like the
Cora Morning Star Boy, is an expert bowman whose arrows slay the
hidden works of sorcerers and the itáuki, magical beings that cause illness
and impede the rain-making works of gods.
Quite like with representations of the Morning Star in Mesoamerica

and the greater American Southwest (see figures 15A, 19B, 19C), the
arrow is closely identified with the Huichol and Cora Morning Star deity.
In a Jesuit account from AD 1755, one Indian stated that the idol of
Tajadsi (Tahatsi), or Morning Star, was an arrow rescued from a temple
(callihuey) that was subsequently worshipped by Indians from across the
region in order to pray for good luck in hunting and in agriculture (in
Neurath 2005a: 77). Contemporary ethnographies indicate that the
Morning Star is represented by an arrow and that all Cora ceremonial
arrows are identified with this stellar deity (Neurath 2005a: 77). Neurath
elaborated upon this identification by relating that he observed two
arrows used in Cora mitote ceremonies that were placed into the ground
on the main altar to the east of the main dance plaza. With one arrow
representing “the people” and the other “corn,” the shaft of each arrow
was painted with the face of the Morning Star Ha’atsikan. Similarly, Seler
(1990–1998: 188–190) drew attention to Huichol offerings to Tamáts
that consisted of triangular-shaped pieces of bamboo that were painted
to represent “the spirit of the arrow.” These arrows were designated as
his “face” or “aspect” (nealika). This perception of the Morning Star as
having an arrow for a face draws striking parallels with the diagnostic
features of prominent arrows or flint knives that project from the head
and face of ancient portrayals of the Morning Star deity or related figures
in highland Central Mexico, West Mexico, Northwest Mexico (the Casas
Grandes culture), and the American Southwest.
Konrad Preuss (in Jáuregui and Neurath 1998: 84) further noted that
the deity Tamáts and the Huichol deity identified by Lumholtz as
Tonoámi (Tunuwame), or “singer,” are comparable figures in that both
are identified with the Morning Star. This latter appellation, which is
indicative of the Morning Star as patron deity of the Huichol ceremonial
center of San Andres Cohamiata (Neurath 2005a: 81), suggests a close
link with the shaman or priest who sings and who is the guardian of the
sun (Seler 1990–1998: 4: 188). The identification of the Morning Star
deity as a singer who was the first recipient of the sacred songs and hymns
is notable and, quite likely, is an ancient concept in the region. This
perception may shed light on the meaning of “speech” scrolls that
emanate from the mouths of the skeletal Morning Star depictions in
West Mexico (and Veracruz) described above (e.g., figures 11A, 11D,
11G, 12I). Indeed, these scrolls may well be an iconic manifestation of
the sacred songs of the Morning Star at dawn. Scrolls that emanate from
Venus ✜ 21
the mouth are also a widely known convention associated with other
skeletal beings in Mesoamerica, as seen in the center panel of the Great
Ballcourt at Chichén Itzá (Taube 1994: fig. 22a) and in Huastec shell
art (Beyer 1933: 204, fig. 66), among other examples.
The important role of the Morning Star as a central component of
indigenous ceremonialism in West Mexico was early noted by Carl
Lumholtz among the Cora, where in the beginning of their mitote songs
and dances “they first call him [Morning Star] to be present, and tell
their wants to him, that he may report them to the Sun and the Moon
and the rest of the gods” (Lumholtz 1902: 511). Mitotes are night-long
ceremonies involving round dances in plazas that mark critical moments
during the agricultural cycle, such as the preparation of the field, sowing,
and harvesting (Neurath 2005a: 79). Following Neurath (2005a: 79–82),
the close relation between mitotes and the Morning Star is evident in
that the name for the Mexicanero mitote ceremonies is Xuravet, taken
from the Cora word xu’rabe, or “Morning Star.” Notably, mitote singing
among the Cora, Mexicaneros, and Southern Tepehuanes is accompanied
by the musical bow, an instrument that “clearly alludes to Morning Star
as an archer.” It is during these mitote ceremonies that the Morning Star
and other stars descend to earth to bring fertility.
The descent of Cora star warriors to earth is a strikingly similar
conception to the descending Central Mexican tzitzimime star demons,
as described above. Perhaps the most dramatic appearance of these feared
astral demons in West Mexico is during the Holy Week ceremonies of
the Cora (Neurath 2005a: 88). During these rites—a veritable cosmic
battle—an army of drunken star demons called xumuabikari (translated
as “the blackened ones” or the synonym “judios”) are covered in ash,
dust, and clay, and carry lances and swords as they emerge from the
darkened underworld to attack and kill the sun/Christ before subsequently
prostrating themselves at his rebirth and ultimately victory over the
savage forces of darkness and chaos (Coyle 2001: 115–176; Jáuregui
2000; Neurath 2001, 2005a: 88; see imagery in Aldana and Madrigal
2007: 115–135). In 1923, Edward H. Davis, a field collector for the
Museum of the American Indian (now part of the Smithsonian),
photographed Semana Santa rites involving the xumuabikari in the Cora
town of Jesús María, Nayarit (Neurath 2007: 64, 75; portfolio image
9). As Coyle (2001: 152–153) described, in their role as aggressive star
demons within these ceremonies, young men are dressed in the corpses
of rotting animals, fight with each other incessantly and violently, and
stagger drunkenly around town singing obscene and ridiculing songs.

Neurath (personal communication 2013) characterized the xumuabikari—
who as the younger brothers of Christ are the stars—as savage beings
who inhabit the “monte” (or canyons) while periodically invading the
villages and challenging authority. Notably, Preuss collected examples
of the blackened masks used by some participants in Cora Semana Santa
ceremonies that are ornamented with circular-shaped star designs (see
images in Neurath 2007: 3, 32), a concept that recalls the circular-shaped
portrayals of stars in pre-Hispanic Aztatlán and highland Central Mexican
symbolism.
Perhaps most striking is that the Cora star demons who attack the
sun during the transition period of his emergence from the earth and
underworld appear conceptually identical to the inscribed image on a
notched musical rasp from Postclassic highland Central Mexico, as noted
earlier (see figure 8). This incised bone portrays a scene of cosmic battle
with a tzitzimime star demon attacking the sun as he travels on his
pathway from or into the jaws of the Earth Monster Tlaltecuhtli. This
cosmic battle is also depicted in a scene on the renowned Aztec Bilimek
pulque vessel where an army of tzitzimime star demons are depicted
attacking the sun (Taube 1993a: 6). Furthermore, the ritual episode in
which armies of drunken Cora star demons attack and are subsequently
defeated by the sun is remarkably similar to the mythical Aztec episode
involving the newly born solar deity Huitzilopochtli who slays the stars,
the 400 drunken Centzon Huitznahua, who represent the forces of night
and darkness (Taube 1993a: 3). Sahagún (1950–1982: VII: 27) noted
a similar scene for the Aztec New Fire ceremony, where “[i]t was claimed
that if fire could not be drawn. Then [the sun] would be destroyed
forever; all would be ended; there would evermore be night. Nevermore
would the sun come forth. Night would prevail forever, and the demons
of darkness [tzitzimime] would descend to eat men.” In essence, the
star demons of the Cora who attack the sun appear to be historically
related to remarkably similar highland Central Mexican traditions, a
complex of ideas that in all likelihood arrived in West Mexico no earlier
than the Postclassic period along with a new form of sun, Morning Star,
and plumed serpent worship.
During the course of the elaborate ritual battles of Cora Holy Week,
the astral demons appear to gravitate toward the south side of the church,
the location of the former graveyard of the community. This signifies a
connection between the star demons and the deceased ancestors who
Venus ✜ 23
are associated with the seasonal rains (Coyle 2001: 123, 155, 162) and
strongly recalls the Aztatlán-affiliated inscribed stone with Morning Star
imagery (figure 11C) that was found near the cemetery at Amapa. Though
these Cora ceremonies are laden with a number of Christian overtones,
they are clearly reflective of an indigenous cosmology centered upon
the sun, Morning Star, and stellar warriors that is of great time depth in
the region.
As alluded to earlier, the West Mexican Morning Star is closely
identified with fertility, and particularly to maize agriculture. In both
Cora and Huichol traditions, the first cultivator, known among the
Huichol as Watakame or Tuamuxawi, is often associated with the Morning
Star or the sun and also is considered to be a husband to the multi-colored
Corn Maidens (Neurath 2005a: 92). Cora and Mexicanero mitote songs
from the First Fruits ceremony describe the death of corn (as Evening
Star) when harvested and cooked along with his subsequent resurrection
as Morning Star (Neurath 2005a: 86).
As the Cora Morning Star Ha’atsikan is said to have introduced maize
agriculture, it is notable that Cora mitote songs describe the Morning
Star’s descent to earth and his transformation into corn, with each mitote
fiesta marking this foundational act (Neurath 2005a.: 80). One
Mexicanero song recorded by Preuss decribed the close link between
Venus as Morning Star, the mitotes, and corn agriculture: “Early in the
morning, the Morning Star shone brightly on the circular dance ground
and began to rise continually higher and higher toward the sky. People
wept. Now he was high in the sky and people said: Let’s gather corn and
sow” (in Neurath 2005a: 86–87). One Cora mitote account recorded
by Lumholtz (1902: 1: 522) reflects a similar conception: “The shaman
prayed to the Morning Star, presented to him the ears of corn that were
to be used as seeds, and asked him to make them be useful for planting.”
The Morning Star of the Tepecan also is associated with corn. As described
in one Tepecano prayer recorded by Mason (1918: 113), during the
festival of the Milpa Cuata the master of the feast “advances to the four
quarters of the dance circle, east, north, west, and south in turn, in
company with a small boy dressed to represent the Morning Star. Both
carry stalks of the forked twin corn and raise these on high.” The
description of the Morning Star carrying a stalk of corn is quite similar
to a portrayal of the Morning Star holding a possible corn stalk in Pueblo
IV period Rio Grande rock art from the Southwest, as described below
(figure 19B).
Along with the close relation to maize, West Mexican Morning Star
ceremonialism is also infused with rain-related rituals. During the Cora
Dance of the Urraqueros, or Magpie people, two lines of dancers are
led by the Morning Star and Evening Star, respectively. Their
choreography, ceremonial clothing, regalia, and the ornaments of their
headdress consist of beads, mirrors, and the spectacular, long blue tail
feathers of the urraca, all of which relate their position as rain gods who
descend to earth (Neurath 2005a: 84). Some mitote songs also describe
the return of the Morning Star along with the ancestors among rain-filled
clouds. At the beginning of one mitote song from the Cora town of Santa
Teresa, located about 100 kilometers north of Tepic in Nayarit, “[t]he
singer invoked the Morning Star to come with his brothers, the other
stars, to bring with them their pipes and plumes, and arrive dancing with
the rain-clouds that emanate from their pipes as they smoke. The Morning
Star was also asked to invite the seven principal Taquats [ancient ones]
to come with their plumes and pipes” (Lumholtz 1902: 523). The close
relation of the Morning Star, “the principal great god of the Cora”
(Lumholtz 1902: 511), and his accompanying star brothers with singers,
music, and dances is particularly notable.
In an elaborate scene on a recently reported Iguanas Polychrome
codex-style vessel from the Middle Postclassic Aztatlán site of San Felipe
Aztatán, Nayarit, depictions of two skeletal figures—both with flint darts
and stellar eyes emerging from the head—are portrayed in a manner
nearly identical to the other skeletal beings portrayed on vessels from
the surrounding region (see Garduño Ambriz 2013b). One of these
stellar skeletal beings on this codex-style vessel is depicted in the midst
of playing an upright huehuetl drum. The playing of a drum by a stellar
being is remarkably similar to the astral demons who at times carry drums
during the Holy Week ceremonies of the Cora of Santa Teresa (see Coyle
2001: 151–152, fig. 15). This similarity suggests a conceptual link and
continuity between the Aztatlán stellar figures and the probable
descendant traditions described for the Cora that relate stars, music,
song, and dance to mitotes and rites of fertility.
J. Alden Mason pointed out that, much like for the Cora and Huichol,
the Tepecan of Azqueltán, Jalisco, also consider the Morning Star to be
a major deity (Mason and Agogino 1972: 11). He also noted that most
prayers, at least two-thirds, begin with an invocation to the Morning
Star. Mason (1918: 94) recorded a prayer that clearly demonstrates the
close connection between the Morning Star, the east, and lightning:
Venus ✜ 25
“There beneath the east is it formed whence he (Morning Star) hath

sent his lightning and spoken.” The close association of the Morning
Star and lightning may be reflected in the previously mentioned inscribed
stone from Amapa, which depicts a probable Morning Star deity (figure
11C). In this portrayal, a prominent zigzag-shaped object that may
represent lightning is positioned in front of the skeletal deity. Elsewhere
in the American Southwest and Mesoamerica, lightning is perceived as
a fertilizing agent that promotes the growth of corn (Parsons 1939:
705, 708; Schaafsma 2000: 146–149 and figs. 4.35, 4.36; Taube 1986:
56–57, 74).
In other Tepecano prayers, the Morning Star also is a deity linked to
cold weather while his arrows, perhaps either his shooting rays or his
lightning, are perceived as cleansing elements. These concepts are evident
in the principal prayer spoken by the Chief Singer during the most
important Tepecan fiesta of the year, the Fiesta of the Rain: “With thy
arrows thou wilt purify us; thou wilt quit from us the pestilence which
surroundeth us beneath thy heavens. From there [the east] thou wilt
lead thy path. Thou wilt cleanse us with the cold which is thy hand, with
which thou wilt intensify for us thy spirit” (Mason 1918: 99). Notably,
the Tepecano Morning Star’s tears, arrows, and shield (chimal) are also
equated with the cold. While cold might ordinarily be perceived as
decidedly baleful, Mason (1918: 95, fn. 3) pointed out that the cold and
wind are considered in some regards by the Tepecano as being health
giving and purifying. The close association of cold with the Tepecano
Morning Star is strikingly reminiscent of the Central Mexican deity
Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli, the god of cold and stone who is an aspect of
the Morning Star Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli.
The association between the Cora Morning Star and stone is evident
in a story associated with the ancient mitotes recorded by Lumholtz while
he attended a Cora ceremony. In the tradition recorded by Lumholtz
(1902: 516), long ago the ancient people were traveling in order to attend
a mitote ceremony when, just before their arrival, the Morning Star arose
at dawn and the ancients were all then turned to stone. These stones,
which surrounded the open space of the dance plaza used during the
mitote ceremony observed by Lumholtz, were perceived by the Coras as
the living ancient ones, or “Taquats.” As will be recalled, it is the Morning
Star, his star brothers, and the Taquats who arrive at dawn dancing with
plumes and pipes amidst the rain-filled clouds of smoke emanating from
their pipes. Notably, this concept of ancestors who arrive into the
community plaza dancing among rain-filled clouds is remarkably similar

to the ancestral katsina rain spirits of the American Southwest and likely
is historically related (Mathiowetz 2011). Clearly, the Morning Star deity
of ancient and contemporary West Mexican people is intimately associated
with dualistic yet conceptually united themes of warfare and fertility.
Much as the Central Mexican Morning Star Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is
closely related to the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, so too is the
Morning Star related to the plumed serpent in West Mexican indigenous
cosmologies. Among the Huichol, the feathered serpent known as haiku,
or Tatei Nia’ariwame, is a serpent of the clouds that is the Goddess of
the First Rains from the east (Neurath 2005a: 90). During the Hikuli
Neixa (“Peyote Dance”), which represents the beginning of the monsoon
season, the Huichol peyote pilgrims return to the community as rain
along with the rain-bearing plumed serpent (Jáuregui 2002: 64–69;
Neurath 2005a: 90). The great line of returning pilgrims is the symbolic
embodiment or personification of the serpent’s body. Importantly, a
number of the leaders of this procession of peyote pilgrims embody the
Morning Star, a being who only exists due to the Huichol’s faithful
practice of initiation rites and vision quests (Neurath 2005a: 90; personal
communication 2013). Thus, the return of the plumed serpent and
Morning Star-related beings with the eastern rains strongly suggests a
historical relationship with remarkably similar cosmologies in highland
Central Mexico as described and depicted in the beginning of this paper.
This cosmological framework clearly reflects a northern Mesoamerican
manifestation of a ritual complex centered upon both the Morning Star
Tlahuizcalpantecuthli and Quetzalcoatl, the rain-bringing plumed serpent
of the east. That the earliest Morning Star depictions in West Mexico
date to no earlier than AD 900 suggests that the development or, more
likely, the transmission of this cosmological framework in West Mexico
is entirely a Postclassic period phenomenon.
Death God or Morning Star?: The Significance of Skeletal Deities in

Postclassic West Mexico
Based on pictorial similarities to figures in Central Mexican codices,

Solar Valverde and Jiménez Betts (2008) argued that the skeletal figures
in Postclassic West Mexican art described above represent a death god
linked to the western cardinal direction. However, one must be cautious
Venus ✜ 27
in assuming that all skeletal imagery is related to death, gore, and sacrifice.
For example, in a study of skeletal imagery in Mixtec art, Jill Furst
concluded that many if not all skeletonized beings were “the antithesis of
death gods” (1982: 207) and were usually beings linked to renewal,
regeneration, and life. We suggest that our separate conclusions of these
West Mexican figures as either a death god or a Morning Star deity may
not necessarily conflict. In fact, as noted earlier for highland Central Mexico
and in contemporary West Mexican indigenous ceremonialism, Morning
Star deities have close links to both death and regeneration.
It should be noted, however, that in the ethnographies of many
indigenous peoples of West Mexico we have found very little evidence
or mention of an important death god. One exception to this is Lumholtz’s
(1900: 60–61, figs. 47, 48) identification of a Huichol “god of death”
named Toko’kami (or T+kakame), who is described as a night-dwelling
creature smeared with blood and dressed in the bones of his victims.
However, Zingg (1938: 365; 2004: 259, fn. 128) disagreed with
Lumholtz’s identification of this figure as a death god and noted that
“this [identification] is not accurate, however, since Tukákame does not
appear in the death myth, nor does he appear in the mythology even as
a great god. Tukákame is a ghoulish conception which arouses great fear
in the Huichol mind, greater than that of the gods.” Thus, the lack of
any significant mention of a prominent death god in Huichol and Cora
cosmology and in the broader ethnographic literature of the region simply
does not account for the prominent portrayals of the skeletal figures in
the archaeological record of West Mexico during the Postclassic period.
On the contrary, we have found a preponderance of references to the
Morning Star in songs, stories, ceremonies, and other religious expressions
among contemporary people in the region sufficient to suggest a strong
cultural continuity of Morning Star ceremonialism from the Aztatlán era
to the present and a strong correlation between this deity and the highland
Central Mexican Morning Star Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In fact, in his
discussion of Carl Lumholtz’s pioneering ethnographic work among the
Huichol, Eduard Seler (1990–1998: 4: 188–190) synthesized Lumholtz’s
description of the Morning Star deity and also drew striking comparisons
to the Central Mexican deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Given the preeminent
importance placed upon the Morning Star deity in the ritual of
contemporary West Mexican indigenous communities—the probable
descendants of Aztatlán people—as well as the strong case for a great
time depth of cultural continuity of religion in the region, it should be
unsurprising to find a number of representations in the archaeological

record of figures whom we identify here to be Venus as the Morning
Star in ancient West Mexico. However, it should be noted that among
contemporary indigenous West Mexican groups, the planet Venus has a
strongly dualistic nature encompassing both life and death. The Morning
Star aspect of Venus is expressed in the concept of tukari (midday/light/
life/east) while the Evening Star aspect is associated with t+kari
(midnight/darkness/death/west) in a complementary system of
oppositions that allows for the release of the forces of fertility (Neurath
2000: 74–76; 2005a; personal communication 2013). In light of this
characteristic unity of oppositions embodied in the planet Venus, only
with a significantly expanded database of these skeletal images amassed
through archaeological work in the little-studied Aztatlán region will we
achieve clarity in an understanding of the specific nature and geographical
extent of these skeletal deities. Furthermore, a future challenge for
students of indigenous religion in West Mexico should include refining
our understanding of the transformative nature of Venus and identifying
its dual aspects as Morning Star and Evening Star as manifest in the
ritual, mythology, and symbolism of the Aztatlán culture during the
Postclassic period.
P a rt IV. V e n u s I c o n o g r a p h y in N o rt h w e s t M e x i c o
To the north of West Mexico, architectural features and iconography

on ceramics, among other things, suggest the presence of a historically
related version of this complex at the important archaeological site of
Paquimé, Chihuahua (ca. AD 1200–1425), a site often regarded as being
part of the Greater Southwest (figure 1; portfolio image 10). One example
of a probable Morning Star deity impersonator or related warrior appears
on a Ramos Polychrome wide-mouthed jar (figure 15A; portfolio image
11). This figure wears a plumed headdress and has a prominent dart
point projecting from the top of the head. VanPool (2003: 230, fig.
7.18h) considered this triangular object atop the head as being
representative of a snake’s tail rattle. Rattlesnake rattles as headgear,
however, as far as we know, do not appear in this iconographic complex.
This detail much more closely resembles a dart point, a feature that we
argue links this figure with stellar warfare-related beings widely evident
in the symbolism of other cultural traditions of Mesoamerica and the
Venus ✜ 29
American Southwest during this era. Notably, this figure is accompanied

in the adjacent panel by a probable deity impersonator wearing a plumed
and horned serpent headdress (figure 15B), perhaps suggesting a close
affinity between the plumed serpent and the Morning Star, much as is
known in Mesoamerica between Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli and Quetzalcoatl.
Importantly, the horned and plumed serpent, thought to be a Northern
Mexican variant of the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl (Mathiowetz 2011;
Schaafsma 2001), is a major motif on Ramos Polychrome, the hallmark
ware at Paquimé.
The horned serpent motif does appear in limited examples earlier in
the region to the north in southern New Mexico on Mimbres Black-on-
White ceramics (AD 1050–1150), where it is associated with beheadings
(see LeBlanc 1999: fig. 2.7). These early horned serpents, and the
underlying cosmological ideas, are generally considered to have had a
Mesoamerican genesis (Mathiowetz 2011; Mills and Ferguson 2008;
Schaafsma 2001). In one Mimbres example the horned serpent
impersonator carries a quiver with the arrows prominently featured
behind the beheader. The preferred beheading instrument itself in these
scenes, however, is a curved stick, possibly a rabbit-hunting stick (e.g.,
Stevenson 1904: 57–58). Nevertheless, the dart-headed deity or warrior
noted on the Ramos Polychrome vessel is among the earliest portrayals
of this concept. This conception appears to be a precursor to later Pueblo
IV (AD 1325–1600) examples in rock art of the American Southwest
that portray darts emerging from the headdresses of faces or masks, star
warriors, and from the head of the Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu, as
is discussed in more detail below.
The identification of a Mesoamerican-derived Morning Star warfare
complex at Paquimé is given further support with the notable presence
of warriors’ back shields unearthed at the site (Di Peso 1974: 2: 498,
fig. 255-2). These copper shields, known in Mesoamerica as tezcacuitlapilli,
are common devices worn at the small depression of the warrior’s back.
Among the most well-known depictions of tezcacuitlapilli in Mesoamerica
are those worn by Toltec warriors at Tula and Chichén Itzá, though
many more examples are known from the art of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.
Symbolically, these devices represent solar mirrors and the sun (Taube
1994: 233–234). By wearing the solar disk, Morning Star-related warriors
in Mesoamerica, and likely in the Casas Grandes region, supported the
burden of the sun as he arose in the east at dawn. Thus, much like in
other regions in Mesoamerica, it is probable that Casas Grandes warriors
linked to the Morning Star were perceived to have led the youthful sun,
portrayed in Casas Grandes symbolism as a macaw-headed male, out of
the underworld at dawn (Mathiowetz 2011). Prior to the florescence of
Paquimé, there is little to no material culture or iconographic evidence
indicating that these solar- and Morning Star-related deities and concepts
existed in the wider Southwestern region. In other words, these ideas
linked to Morning Star-related ritual warfare in the Casas Grandes culture
did not develop in situ but, rather, have their origin in Mesoamerica,
most probably in Aztatlán-era West Mexico.
In sum, the role of Paquimé in the transmission of a Mesoamerican-
derived Morning Star warfare complex to the American Southwest needs
further investigation. Ball courts, the prevalence of horned serpent
imagery, and the cross-shaped architectural features at the Mound of the
Cross all suggest possible manifestations of and links to the Quetzalcoatl-
Venus complex. Trophy skulls found in Room 23 at Paquimé reinforce
this possibility (Di Peso 1974: 5: 769, fig. 173–5, p. 769). The scarcity
or lack of graphic star iconography in Casas Grandes symbolism, however,
remains an enigma.
Considering that Aztatlán belief systems, deities, and ritual practices
were a central component and foundation of Casas Grandes religion, it
is worth noting that analogous ceremonialism centered upon skulls was
prominent among the historic period Acaxee of Durango and Sinaloa,
the former Aztatlán region. For the Acaxee, skulls of deceased enemy
warriors were hung on the walls of communal houses in connection with
ceremonies of warfare and planting (Beals 1933: 31). Pérez de Ribas,
in the early 1600s, reported 1,724 human skulls suspended from house
rafters in one Acaxee village. Among other reasons, these skulls were said
to be important for bringing rain to fall upon the fields (Pérez de Ribas
1968: 160). Recalling the nature of Morning Star worship and rites of
warfare and maize agriculture among the Cora and Huichol, it is highly
probable that these warfare-related practices among the Acaxee were closely
related to the Morning Star deity documented in Postclassic West Mexico.
While similar charnel houses are yet to be documented in the core Pacific
coastal and highland Aztatlán sites, these rites in the post-Aztatlán highlands
likely are of some antiquity and, if these practices are indeed of considerable
time depth in the region, may well have formed the basis for a historically
related version of similar ritual practices documented in Room 23 at Paquimé
during the Medio period. This topic surely deserves more attention.
Venus ✜ 31
P a r t V. V e n u s a s M o r n i n g S ta r a n d P u e b l o
War Iconography in the American Southwest
To the north in the Pueblo Southwest, warfare and its concomitant

symbolic repertoire is richly represented in Pueblo IV rock art and kiva
murals between ca. AD 1350 and 1600 (Schaafsma 1992: 87–137, 2000,
2005, 2007a, 2007b, 2013). While some scholars contend that a form
of Mesoamerican-style Venus symbolism is present in the cruciform
designs in petroglyphs and on ceramics of the Mimbres culture of
southern New Mexico, perhaps even dating as early as AD 800 (Thompson
2006: 173), we argue that evidence for the fully developed Venus complex
as described in the present paper is sparse in the Southwest before
AD 1350, the serpent beheaders on Mimbres ceramics cited above
notwithstanding. The complex iconography related to conflict in the
Pueblo IV period kiva murals and rock art in the Rio Grande Valley
(portfolio images 12, 13) consists not only of the obvious armed shield
bearers and other warriors, but it also includes a variety of stars and star-
faced entities, some with projectiles, knives and/or talons, syntheses of
stars and serpents, as well as katsinam and deities that display a selection
of these attributes. In rock art of this era, stars occur in conjunction
with warriors wielding weapons (see Schaafsma 2000: fig 5.2). Star
supernaturals, sometimes associated with rattlesnakes and serpents, are
represented in the kiva murals of Pottery Mound, a Pueblo site south
of Albuquerque dating between AD 1350 and possibly as late as 1500
(Schaafsma 2007b). Additional examples of stars occur on mural
fragments in a kiva excavated at San Lazaro Pueblo in the Galisteo Basin,
which is located to the south of modern Santa Fe, New Mexico (Fenn
2004: pl. 144).
Today, many Pueblos such as Zuni are proud of their warrior past and
refer back to it in the context of today’s war-related engagements (Ellis
1951; Shiwi Messenger 2000). While ethnographic sources are extremely
helpful in understanding some images from the pre-Hispanic past, warfare
and its related societies were on the wane by the time the first
ethnographers began collecting information on this aspect of Pueblo
social and religious organization in the late 18th century (Cushing 1896;
Fewkes 1898a, 1898b; Stephen 1936; Stevenson 1904). This being the
case, many aspects of Pueblo war ritual as pictured in late prehistoric
iconography, such as the synthesis of stars and horned and plumed
serpents, are not easily understood on the basis of more recent
ethnographic sources. On the other hand, references to Mexican data,

where parts of this elaborate complex are better understood as a coherent
whole, are extremely helpful in elucidating the origin and meanings seen
in the prehistoric record preserved in the Pueblo IV murals and rock
art. In addition, throughout Mesoamerica and the American Southwest,
war and fertility were and remain a linked complementary complex based
on a worldview demanding reciprocity and petitions to the deities for
agricultural success. In the Southwest, scalps taken in conflict were ritually
transformed into powerful rain fetishes, thereby providing an assurance
of rain to the cornfields of the victors (Bunzel 1932: 674–681; Schaafsma
2000: 146–157).
The star complex that can be related to the Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
configuration is diverse even in its Southwestern manifestations, and
while lacking overt visual resemblances to Mesoamerican imagery, the
Southwest examples display a similar set of attributes. The concept of
Venus as a bellicose planet prevails in the Southwest, much like in
Mesoamerica. Aspects of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as Morning Star and
avatar of the plumed serpent deity, Quetzalcoatl, explain certain features
of Pueblo war iconography and ceremonialism, as Schaafsma (2000:
152) explained:
There are additional Pueblo iconographic elements associated
with stars that have Mexican analogues connected with Venus.
Among these is the strong relationship between stars and snakes,
or mythological serpents, a relationship that in the Mexican case
has well-established Venus connotations associated with Tlahuiz-
calpantecuhtli, or Quetzalcoatl as Venus. Star-faced serpents in
Pueblo art unify the star/serpent concept, and the twinned aspect
of some of these figures would seem to reinforce the Venus asso-
ciation. . . . In addition, Mexican Venus glyphs with knives from
Aztec Tenochtitlan [Carlson 1991: fig. 1f] are strikingly parallel
in concept, if not in formal graphic elements, to the Pueblo star/
Knife-Wing conflation.
The mythical Knife-Wing, said to have wings and a tail of knives, is often
thought of as an eagle or other predatory bird related to the zenith.
Also readily related to Venus as Morning Star in the American Southwest
are star katsinam and black-faced stars portrayed in rock art and kiva murals
and in contemporary ceremonialism (portfolio image 14) with various
associated features, such as eagle feather headdresses—or in some instances
Venus ✜ 33
red-tailed hawk tail feathers—and talons, thus uniting the star with the
warrior deity Knife-Wing (Baldwin 1992; Schaafsma 2000: 142–154,
2005; figures 16A–16D). Feathered stars, such as those in figures 16A,
16B, 17A, and 17B, may also have projectiles in their headdresses (figures
16C, 16D; portfolio images 15–18). Star-faced entities with talons or big,
toothed mouths may be juxtaposed with coiled rattlesnakes (Schaafsma
2000: figs. 3.26b, 4.37). Stars also may have sinister-looking downturned
mouths, sometimes with teeth (figures 17A, 17B; portfolio images 17,
18). In the kiva murals, these mouths are painted red, a color suggesting
blood.1 In these Pueblo icons we see both the avian and ophidian
relationships while the bloody mouth signifies the “hungry maw” of this
being. The black face of the star might be viewed as the emergent stellar
warrior’s face.
In Layer 14 of Kiva 8 at Pottery Mound, snakes and stars with faces are
depicted next to a shield. The visage of the person on the face of the shield
is missing, but remnants of an eagle tail-feather fan headdress, such as that
worn by warriors and stars, are clear. This individual carries a bow and
arrow. Shields decorated with Morning Star symbols, also on this mural
layer, are depicted with possible projectiles inserted around the rim
(Schaafsma 2000: fig. 3.31). Star-faced snakes are pictured in Kiva 8, Layer
7 (figure 17A; portfolio image 17), and a horned and plumed serpent with
a feathered star person overlying the serpent body is featured in Layer 9
of Kiva 7 (figure 17B; portfolio image 18). The downturned mouth of
this star person is painted red, a previously described feature, and is an
element that projects a fearsome aspect (also see figure 21C). The
association of stars, serpents, and rattlesnakes occurs in rock art as well,
recalling similar—yet earlier and more widespread—examples of plumed
serpent bodies marked by stars in ancient Mesoamerican art. This
relationship is also manifest in contemporary Huichol ceremonies, as
described above, in which the plumed serpent is conceptualized as a
vehicle for Morning Star-related beings. Interestingly, the face of a warrior
in Kiva 8, Layer 3, at Pottery Mound (figure 20D; portfolio image 19)
closely resembles those of the eagle-feathered star persons. The warrior’s
spiky headdress, however, suggests he may be an Ice Man deity, currently
1See Carlson 1996 for the concept of the “Hungry Star” and a descending Venus
Monster in Greater Mesoamerica. He states: “One icon of the cult was the
manifestation of Venus as a descending monster with outstretched claws and open
hungry maw. The iconography often shows characteristics and the face or emblem
of a warrior emerging from the mouth.”
known at Hopi as Patusngwa, likely the alter ego of the Morning Star
Sotuqnangu as discussed below.2
Sotuqnangu, a Pueblo warrior deity in charge of summer thunderheads,
the growth of corn, ice and cold, lightning, and, ultimately, the inventor
of scalping, is today honored at Hopi (David et al. 1993: 24–25; Fewkes
1903: pl. LVIII). There his symbol is the Morning Star, and he is portrayed
as a masked deity and described as an indominable warrior and controller
of thunderheads, lightning, and torrential rain (figures 18A, 18C, 18D,
19A–19D). His mask displays rain and cloud symbols, and he wears a tall
“horn”—a gourd-like hat that bends on top that is also decorated with
clouds. He may carry a framework of sticks that symbolizes lightning
(figure 18B). It is said that when unmasked, his face is a star (see Geertz
1987: pl. XXII). This perception likely is embodied in a late-19th-century
Hopi carved wood image of Sotuqnangu where he is depicted wearing his
characteristic conical hat with a large four-pointed star painted prominently
on his forehead (see Portago and Wright 2006: pl. 103). A contemporary
Hopi wood doll carved by Ed Seechoma also portrays Sotuqnangu (or
possibly a related manifestation, A’hote) with a four-pointed star upon the
face and a prominent four-pointed star atop his headdress (figure 18C).
A similar conception is evident in an early-20th-century reconstruction of
a Hopi Soyal altar whereby a sun/star priest, holding a sun effigy, is shown
wearing a hat comprised of a large four-pointed star (Dorsey and Voth
1901: pl. XXIX).
The previously mentioned deity Patusngwa, pictured in David et al.
(1993: 152), is also known as “Ice Man” katsina. The description of this
figure notes that he is a deity, not a katsina. His resemblance to Sotuqnangu
is striking: His headdress is identical and in his hand he holds a projectile.
For the Hopi, Patusngwa resides in a cave of ice in the San Francisco
Mountains (Stephen 1936: 26). It is likely that this figure is the ice or cold
manifestation of Sotuqnangu. In his discussion of Hopi winter solstice
ceremonies held in the Chief Kiva during the late 19th century, Stephen
further described two types of headdresses worn during the ceremony.
The headdress worn by the Agave Chief is comprised of a tall, conical
gourd helmet and is called the Hail headdress (lemo'bı̆ta na'kwa) (figure
20A). Thus, the representation of Hail, the patron of the Agave warrior
society, is assumed by the Agave Chief. Notably, a second headdress worn
by the Horn Chief is comprised of three split conical gourds that measure
2For other co-occurrences of feathered stars and horned serpents as petroglyphs,

see Schaafsma (2000: figs. 3.25c, 4.2).
Venus ✜ 35
one foot in height (figure 20B). This headdress is called the Ice headdress
(patü’shüñüla na’kwa); the word patü’shüñwa meaning “ice.” Thus, the
chief of the warrior Horn Society is the representation of their patron deity,
the Ice Man katsina (Stephen 1936: 26). Notably, an effigy of the Hail
headdress also was hung on a late-19th-century Hopi War Chief standard
(Stephen 1936: 92).
Importantly, Patusngwa, or a close parallel, may be represented at
Pottery Mound, not only as the above-described warrior, but again as one
figure among many in a line of moisture-related ceremonialists or
supernaturals in Layer 1 of Kiva 2. The figure in question wears a headdress
comprised of a number of tall, white, pointed elements strikingly reminiscent
of icicles (figure 20C; portfolio image 20), a headdress that also might be
a representation of either the Ice or Hail headdress described above.
The role of ice also is an important aspect of the Morning Star
Sotuqnangu, a relationship that is known ethnographically at Hopi. Early-
20th-century accounts indicate that his accoutrements consist of two large
ice ridges on his head that represent clouds, and other regalia includes ice
and icicles that rattle all over his body (Voth 1905: 56–57). It is pertinent
to recall that the close connection between Sotuqnangu, cold, and ice is
very similar to the highland Central Mexican conception of the Morning
Star Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli’s alter ego Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli, the god
of cold, frost, and stone. Notably, among the Hopi it is the war gods,
beings who have a close affinity to the Morning Star, who have the privilege
of turning people into stone (Stephen 1936: 144, fn. 1).
The close relation between the dawn and cold is self-evident, as dawn
is often the coldest part of the day. Similar conceptions of the Morning
Star in relation to coldness are apparent in a Hopi oral tradition told by
Edmund Nequatewa (1936: 97). In this account describing the destruction
of the legendary place of Palatkwapi, which is the location of origin of
some Hopi southern clans (see Bernardini 2011; Di Peso 1974: 3: 767–779;
Mathiowetz 2011; Reyman 1971, 1995; Secakuku 2006: 55), the deity
So-tukeu-nagwi (Sotuqnangu) is said to have “descended from the heavens
all clothed in a glittering costume of ice that sparkled like silver and his
head and face shone like a star” (Nequatewa 1936: 97). Upon descending,
Sotuqnangu rescued children from their demise and, with all of them
traveling upon his shield, he gave them seeds and sacred tiponi and reunited
them with their family.
We must keep in mind, as noted in the beginning of this paper, that the
iconographic complex we are discussing here is only one part of a larger
cosmology and system of beliefs with broad ties to Mesoamerica. Much

like in Mesoamerica, supernaturals within this conceptual packet in the
American Southwest, including star beings with darts projecting from their
heads, are also pictured in Eastern Pueblo rock art of the Rio Grande
region. More specifically, an Eastern Pueblo version of Sotuqnangu
portrayed in Pueblo IV rock art in the Rio Grande Valley (figure 19B;
portfolio image 16) holds a possible corn stalk and has projectiles shooting
from his headdress. Another arrow hangs from his elbow as a third arrow
in the opposite hand morphs into a serpent. Finally, a fourth projectile
shoots across his leg. Another probable depiction of an Eastern Pueblo
rendition of the Morning Star with weapons is evident on a 17th-century
Tabira canteen from Gran Quivira, New Mexico (figure 19C). This
portrayal is also identified as Sotuqnangu based upon the rounded, four-
lobed face resembling a star and the numerous projectile points adorning
the neck, body, and earring of this being (Hayes et al. 1981). In the
foreground of this illustration are a number of four-lobed stars, a broken
dart, and a probable rabbit-hunting stick, all of which suggest a link to
either hunting or warfare, both being closely related activities. A second
Tabira figure, identified by Hayes and colleagues as Sotuqnangu, also has
as his face the same four-lobed star symbol with rounded edges (figure
19D). This characterization recalls the Hopi belief, described above, that
the unmasked face of Sotuqnangu is a star. Notably, the two eyes of this
being at Gran Quivira are comprised of a bow, further alluding to a
relationship with either hunting or warfare.
The analogy between rays and projectiles easily explains the portrayal
of projectiles in the headdresses of not only star entities but also in
association with other faces or masks represented in Pueblo IV period rock
art (figures 16E, 21A). The face or mask in figure 16E, from the Galisteo
Basin where warfare iconography is rampant, has a long projectile rising
from the top of the head. The lower edge of the face is pointed, a rare
feature in this art style, but in this case an attribute suggestive of the point
of a star. Other rock art examples of faces with projectiles shooting from
the top of the head occur in the northern Jornada region in Lincoln County,
New Mexico (figure 21A), and in the Upper Little Colorado River drainage
in Arizona, although in these instances supporting iconography, either
regional or local, in the way of star persons is lacking (Malotki 2007: fig.
365). Nevertheless, warfare themes are apparent in the Lincoln County
site (Kelley 1984).
In recent historic times, Pueblo rites such as sword and arrow swallowing
were performed to ensure cold rains and snow, which are beneficial for
Venus ✜ 37
spring planting. In Galisteo Basin rock art, known for its plethora of war
iconography, sword swallowers and figures pictured with arrows across their
faces (figure 21D) appear to represent members of Zuni and Hopi war-
related societies whose fetishes, prayers, songs, and rites are for cold and
snow (see Stephen 1936: 94; Stevenson 1904: 444–446, 463, 469, 506,
514). Their ceremonies are performed in the winter. At Zuni, the activities
of the sword and arrow swallowers involve Achiyala’topa, or Knife-Wing,
and the singing of scalp ceremony songs (Stevenson 1904: 444–522).
Notably, much like for the Hopi Agave and Horn warrior societies as
described in the following discussion, the Pleiades and Orion are also
important to the Zuni Sword Swallower Fraternity, as images of these
constellations are described as being painted on the wall above their altar
(Stevenson 1904: 453, pl. CVIII). At Hopi Oraibi, the stick swallowers are
a Momtcit, a warrior group whose war medicine consists of a plaque with
water whose contents include an arrowhead and scrapings from a scalp.
While all slayings of warriors are attributed to Kwatoko, a Hopi version
of Knife-Wing, Sotuqnangu also figures prominently in the war complex.
On First Mesa, while the stick swallowers (members of the Nasosotan
Society [Parsons in Stephen 1936: 94, fn. 4]) are not War Society members,
their activities take place in the context of the making of warrior prayer
sticks in late December (Stephen 1936: 94). Stick swallowers perform
while songs invoke Sho’tokununwa (Sotuqnangu) and lightning in an
all-night ceremonial of songs in order to cause frost, “to be brave,” and
“to make the ground freeze” (Parsons in Stephen 1936: 84, 94, fn. 3). It
is not clear from the text whether this takes place in the same kiva or
simultaneously in separate kivas.
Sotuqnangu’s link to both cold and fertility is further evident in one
Hopi account, indicating that “So’teknani [Sotuqnangu] puts grass seed
inside of hailstones. When these melt, the seeds go into the earth, the sun
shines with heat, and soon they spring up” (Wallis 1936: 15). A similar
link between cold and warfare is evident in that the Hopi war twin
Pü’ükoñhoya’s breath is considered to be “ice cold” (Stephen 1936:
239). Appeals to Pü’ükoñhoya during the “cold moons” of December
and January are important for bringing plenty of snow and ice to permeate
the land for future summer growth, as Stephen (1936: 239) noted: “If
there has been little winter moisture and ice, when summer comes the
fields get dry too soon and little or no harvest is yielded.” In summary,
Pueblo ceremonialism involving Sotuqnangu, war-related societies,
projectiles, winter cold, prayers for cold and snow, and Knife-Wing (known
as a scalper with wings and tail of flints) is a complex that may best be
explained as the Pueblo, albeit peripheral, manifestation of the

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli complex. As noted earlier in this paper, without the
Mesoamerican template, the coincidence of all of these aspects of these
rites might appear as an arbitrary conglomeration of traits.
In the Pueblo Southwest, knives and clubs are associated with the
Morning Star in both the late prehistoric art and contemporary oral
traditions. This connection recalls highland Central Mexican Morning Star
symbolism, such as the above-mentioned knives in relation to the Templo
Mayor Venus glyphs and the stellar skybands in Mesoamerican art (Carlson
1991: fig. 1f, see also 1d and 1e). Although lacking any direct reference
to stellar phenomena, we have already pointed out curved wooden clubs
pictured in the hands of horned serpent beheaders on Mimbres pottery.
Weapons were reputedly given by the deities themselves. At Zuni, for
example, Morning Star threw down the original clubs now owned by the
Bow Priests (Stevenson 1904: 587). Knives—weapons that are associated
with scalping—are depicted as part of the regalia of Morning Star-related
persons in Pueblo iconography. Figures bearing a long knife attached to
the side of the head, while sometimes lacking specific star attributes such
as the diagnostic four points, for example, may feature other kinds of star-
related symbolism. These include depictions of masks and entire human
figures that may represent either ceremonial impersonators or supernaturals
in their own right (figures 21B, 21C, 21E). At San Cristóbal Pueblo (ca.
AD 1325–1680) in the Galisteo Basin, a person whose body is decorated
with stars wears an eagle feather headdress with a knife shown on one side
(figure 21E). This person also holds an arrow in his right hand. At Zuni,
the agents named as the scalpers are the beast gods. Along with the Bear
and Mountain Lion is Knife-Wing, whose head became the Morning Star
and heart the Evening Star when he was slain (Benedict 1935: 97). Knife-
Wing is known as a scalper and has flint-blade feathers. In kiva murals and
rock art that include the star/eagle conflations already mentioned, the
talons—the means by which scalps are acquired—are emphasized.
The close association of the Pueblo Venus complex to the growth of
corn and fertility relates to the acquisition of scalps to be empowered as
rain fetishes (Schaafsma 2000: 154–157). The acquisition of these scalps,
said to have been invented by the deity Sotuqnangu, is viewed as a function
of the Morning Star/Knife-Wing or eagle conflation, and, as mentioned
previously, these figures are conflated in Pueblo iconography. As Knife-
Wing, these beings are associated with the zenith, from where they descend
with talons outstretched to do their deeds. A petroglyph of a feathered
Venus ✜ 39
star face with talons beside a corn plant near the Jemez River north of
Albuquerque (Slifer 1998: fig. 106) graphically unites references to scalping,
moisture, and the growth of corn.
Parsons (1939: 181–182) noted that scalps themselves were called
Morning Star at Hano, a characterization that conflates the two concepts.
Stars in the Pottery Mound murals were interpreted by the Acoma as
“soul-faces” (Hibben 1975:134), an interpretation that is reminiscent
of the Aztec association of stars with dead warriors and sacrificial prisoners
(Nicholson 1971: 426). If stars can be equated with these dead, it is easy
to make the case that they are equivalent to scalps, and, in any case, the
warrior dead contribute to the maintenance of the universe. We see here
also the seeds of ritual conflict, or at a minimum conflict incited or
justified by the need to obtain scalps that will, in turn, ensure adequate
rainfall for the next growing season and general well-being.
In addition to Venus, the close relation between stars and warfare in
the cosmology of Southwestern peoples is further evident in the emphasis
of certain stellar constellations in ritually infused warfare. In a study of
warfare in Mesoamerica, Taube (2000: 324–325) noted that the Pleiades
and the belt of Orion were closely linked to shooting stars and meteorites,
both being phenomena that evoke burning celestial darts and divine warfare.
Notably, Taube (2000: 319, 325) also pointed out striking similarities
among the Hopi and Navajo in the importance of these two constellations
in relation to creation mythology and warfare symbolism.
Among the Hopi, the Pleiades and Orion are closely watched during
the Wuwuchim initiation rites held during mid-November (Stephen 1936:
969, 973, 977; Taube 2000: 319). Taube (2000: fn. 29) drew attention
to Alexander Stephen’s account of Wuwuchim rites, during which all people
were warned to keep indoors as the Horn and Agave warrior societies
conducted a frenetically paced vigil around Walpi:
When the Pleiades come over head, the marching ceases, at least
so I understand. No women look out, no one stirs abroad save
the Agaves and the Horns. . . . As the night grew later the pace
waxed swifter until, as the Pleiades reached their zenith, both
Horn and Agaves were encircling Walpi at a furious run, and this
they maintained until the Pleiades and Orion were in the place
they occupied when the Singers and Wü’wüchîmtü finished their
songs on the previous nights at the [kiva] hatch, or about 12:30
(Stephen 1936: 977).
This ceremonialism involving the Hopi Horn and Agave warriors appears
to partly relate to a call for snow, as Alexander Stephen (1936: 977)
noted: “If anyone profane should look at them [Horns and Agaves]
tonight, no snow would come.”
The close link between stars, warfare, and the Pleiades and Orion in
Hopi cosmology is reiterated in the Winter Solstice (Soyal) War Chief’s
altar. Stephen (1936: 8–10) noted that an important component of the
War Chief altar in Goat Kiva was a star effigy (figure 22A). In his description
of the star effigy, Stephen (1936: 9, fn. 4) noted that a number of beads
on the tip represent the Pleiades while the beads above the handle represent
Orion. The wooden handle itself is said to represent the sky (to’kpela).
Interestingly, another form of the to’kpela, comprised of two crossed sticks,
also appears on Hopi War Twins altars (Stephen 1936: 93, fig. 67) and is
said to represent the “Heart of the Sky god” Sotuqnangu (Fewkes 1895:
272). Among the Hopi, Orion’s link to warfare is clear, as Parsons (1926:
212, fn. 12) noted that “Orion’s belt is thought of as a bandolier (to’zriki),
for the constellation is a war chief (kahletaka).” Furthermore, a separate
example of the pairing of Orion’s belt and the Pleiades, along with their
link to warfare, occurs in a scene inscribed on an early-20th-century flute
from Jemez Pueblo. The depictions of these two constellations on the flute
are comprised of individual stars, some of which have two vertical parallel
lines on each cheek (figures 22B, 22C) and all of which strongly resemble
in form the four-pointed star warriors in Pueblo IV art. The parallel lines
portrayed on these stellar faces are often described in the literature as
representing “war track” markings or footprints of the war twin
Pü’ükoñhoya. The importance of Orion and the Pleiades to the Hopi is
further evidenced as both constellations are present, along with the moon
and Morning Star, on the interior walls of the Chief Kiva during the
Powamu ceremonies in February (figure 22D).
While it is clear that important components of Mesoamerican Morning
Star symbolism are variously evident among ancient and contemporary
Puebloan peoples, aspects of the Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli complex also
appear in the symbolism and oral traditions of the Navajo—who acquired
significant elements of their cosmology from the Pueblos in the post-
Hispanic period. Attenuated aspects of the Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli complex
may account for arrows surrounding Big Star (Wyman 1983: fig. 48),
or Big Star portrayed with both arrows and flint (in this case protecting
a rainbow guardian) in a Hand-Trembling Evil Way sandpainting (Wyman
1983: pl. 13). In addition, Reichard (1963: 622) mentioned that the
Venus ✜ 41
Big Star Chant bundle contained a number of flints. Star people in

sandpaintings carry bows and arrows (Reichard 1963: fig. 19). On page
698, Reichard includes a quote: “Snakes and stars are the same,” but
she does not elucidate this statement. The sandpaintings under
consideration here include figures of both snakes and stars. In addition,
flint-clad Warrior Twins are pictured in sandpaintings of the Shooting
Chant (Newcomb and Reichard 1937: 47–49, pl. XV). The association
of Big Star to Venus in Navajo lore is further evident in that the rising
of Big Star is indicative of the approaching dawn (Haile 1947: 5). Finally,
and of interest from the perspective of this paper, Reichard (1963: 159)
described an affinity between Morning Star and “the month of crusted
snow” with ice for its heart. While one can observe that stars, arrows,
flints, and snakes—all attributes of the Mesoamerican complex under
consideration—appear together in Navajo ritual curing contexts, the
reasons for these associations in the Navajo world are not explained by
the authors and ethnographers who recorded these sandpaintings and
oral traditions. The information as presented, however, is largely
descriptive, lacking any integrative commentary.
This review shows that both Navajo and Puebloan traditions pertaining
to the Morning Star include themes analogous to those in Mesoamerica.
The late pre-Hispanic Pueblo iconography of rock art and kiva murals
provides ample testimony of the importance of Venus and Morning Star
symbolism in the Southwest and its association with warfare, beginning
by at least the 14th century, if not before. The ethnographic record
further elucidates these connections, including the Mesoamerican war/
fertility complex. While differently pictured, Southwestern art incorporates
Mesoamerican symbolism and metaphors in a way that maintains core
cosmological associations.
Although it is beyond the scope of the present study, future research
should address the distinct possibility that a historically related
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli complex derived from Mesoamerica was also
transmitted to the Pawnee, as mentioned previously, as well as pre-Hispanic
cultures along the East Coast of the United States via a Gulf Coast
interaction sphere (Schaafsma et al. 2010). For instance, a possible
historically related being was known among the Iroquois of the
Northeastern United States. This figure, known as Tawiskaron, was a
god of winter, frost, ice, and flint (Curtin and Hewitt 1918: 63–64). One
account specifically described his head as an arrow point of flint (Hewitt
1907: 708). While these cold-related characteristics are closely associated
with Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli in Mesoamerica, the name itself relates

more closely to Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Among the Cherokee, this cognate
being of flint and ice was known as Tawiskala (Hewitt 1907: 708). The
personal name of this deity is strikingly similar to a reading on page 48
of the Dresden Codex where one of the Venus gods that personifies the
Morning Star is phonetically named ta-wi-si-ka-la, or tawis (i) ka-l (a)
(Whittaker 1986). Although much work remains to be completed on this
subject, we contend that these figures found across disparate geographical
regions of the pre-Hispanic Americas may well be historically related
Venus deities who embody themes of winter, frost, ice, flint, and ritual
warfare that are closely related to the coldness of dawn.
P a r t VI. D i s c u s s i o n
Within the past decade, studies of the cultural history of the American
Southwest have included discussions centered upon the virtual explosion
of warfare imagery during the Pueblo IV period. Some scholars have
accounted for these images as depictions of aggressors and victims and
as signifiers of a catastrophic deluge of actual physical violence that swept
across the region (LeBlanc 1999: 236), primarily in the context of
destabilizing climate change. Others contend that this imagery reflects
a newly developed warfare-themed religious movement originating in
Mesoamerica that was, and remains, largely associated with weather
control and the production of rain (Schaafsma 2000). While we agree
that physical violence between social groups and individuals undoubtedly
occurred during the tumultuous Pueblo IV period, we contend that
estimations of intense pan-regional Southwestern conflict and physical
violence beginning around AD 1250 to 1300 may be overstated. While
we argue that the warfare symbolism that flourished in the American
Southwest during this era was primarily ritual in nature, integrating
conflict with concepts of reciprocity and the need for rain, conflict was
an ongoing part of Pueblo life (e.g., LeBlanc 2000).
The present study demonstrates that, archaeologically and
ethnographically, human conflict in the American Southwest and the
issues it entailed were, and continue to be, incorporated into a larger
cosmology with associated ritual practices and beliefs in a complementary
system engaging war and fertility, much like that which prevailed in
Mesoamerica. Because the focus of this paper specifically is upon the
deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as an avatar of Venus as Morning Star, the
Venus ✜ 43
broader issues of reciprocity underlying the whole warfare complex are

dealt with in more detail elsewhere (Schaafsma 2000; Schaafsma et al.
2010). Among Puebloan people now and in the past, a preeminent
concern is with ritual to bring rain, and the acquisition of scalps through
combat provided a means to this end. Morning Star metaphors in the
Southwest and the Morning Star deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in
Mesoamerica are associated with cosmological phenomena tied to the
production of snow, ice, rain, and other elements related to cold weather.
These rites are designed to influence agricultural cycles of growth and
the desire for an abundance of crops in the present and in the future. In
other words, Puebloan ritual warfare and symbolism beget success both
in hunting and in agricultural fertility.
In seeking to comprehend the nature of warfare among Southwestern
societies, LeBlanc (2003: 285) pointed out the need to understand
Mesoamerican warfare in order “to place the Southwest in its overall
Mesoamerican context.” We agree with this assessment and, in drawing
these desired comparisons in the present study, we strengthen our
contention that an emphasis on religious beliefs associated with Venus
as the Morning Star permeated Central and West Mexican ritual warfare
and symbolism, particularly during the Postclassic period (ca. AD 900–
1521), and these concepts ultimately form the framework by which
ritually oriented symbolic warfare in Northwest Mexico and the American
Southwest should be understood.
The initial northward movement of this ritual complex from highland
Central Mexico, or more likely from Oaxaca and Puebla, during the
Postclassic period can be traced in a progressive timeline of cosmological
disjunctions that are evident in the changed iconography and symbolism
in material culture from multiple, and very specific, regions of West and
Northwest Mexico and the broader American Southwest. In other words,
the de novo appearance of imagery emphasizing stellar and warfare
symbolism associated with Venus as a personified being signified the new
adoption of this ritual complex in certain key geographical and cultural
regions to the far west and north. The ritual warfare complex of
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli appeared distinctly in a progressive sequence in
Postclassic period Central Mexican imagery by AD 900 (primarily at
Tula and Chichén Itzá and in later Mixtec and Aztec symbolism), in
portions of West Mexico at Aztatlán-tradition sites after AD 900, in
symbolism of the Casas Grandes culture by AD 1200, and in the American
Southwest after AD 1300.
This new Morning Star symbolic and religious complex also

co-occurred with the appearance of a new and intimately related solar
ceremonial complex centered upon the young Mesoamerican solar deity
Xochipilli in each of these specific regions (see Mathiowetz 2011), a
coincidence that reflects the close identification of Venus as the primary
herald of the dawning sun. Furthermore, the appearance of a plumed
and horned serpent complex in the Southwest, derived from Quetzalcoatl
worship (Schaafsma 2001), in each of these regions indicates the
northward movement and adoption of a unified complex centered upon
this triumvirate of Mesoamerican deities during the Postclassic period
(Mathiowetz 2011).
In our estimation, this complex body of esoteric ritual knowledge,
transmitted between regions separated by great geographical distances,
was reshaped in localized contexts and clearly involved interactions
between people of disparate cultural regions. We should not view this
coherent and complex body of ideas as having been transmitted in bits
and pieces simply by word of mouth. In other words, through some
form of physical interactions, Southwestern people obtained this detailed
ritual knowledge from Mexico via Aztatlán people with ultimate origins
of this religious complex in Postclassic period highland Central Mexico
and Oaxaca. While this system of beliefs, as variously manifested
symbolically in different regions, may not look exactly the same from a
superficial point of view, a deeper analysis reveals a very clear historical
root, and a remarkable cultural continuity, that unites these Venus
traditions into a Greater Mesoamerican intellectual lineage and
cosmological paradigm.
Given that the Southwestern version of an ideological complex of
ritually themed warfare centered upon Venus has direct roots in the West
Mexican Aztatlán tradition and beyond via the Casas Grandes culture,
it is apparent that future research into the social, political, economic,
and religious organization of Casas Grandes and Aztatlán societies in
North and West Mexico, respectively, will shed light on the tectonic
shifts in social, cultural, and religious life that transformed the larger
Puebloan Southwest in the Pueblo IV period (see Glowacki and Van
Keuren 2011). The Venus warfare complex described in this study is
viewed as one aspect of an even broader cosmology with a focus on
rain-making adopted by the Pueblos after ca. AD 1300 (Mathiowetz
2011; Schaafsma 1999; Schaafsma and Taube 2006).
Many archaeologists who work in the Southwest and Northern Mexico
Venus ✜ 45
have long been averse to accepting the proposition that Mesoamerican

cultures and religious beliefs played any significant role in influencing
the cultural developments and ritual practices of Southwestern peoples,
though some prominent exceptions to this position have appeared in
the older archaeological literature and in that of more recent years (e.g.,
Gladwin et al. 1937; Haury 1943, 1945; Lekson 1999, 2008; McGuire
1980; Wilcox 1986a, 1986b; Wilcox et al. 2008, among others). In a
recent study of the nature of Chacoan ritual and cosmology, Plog (2011:
60) noted: “Indeed, I concur with many others . . . who have proposed
that groups throughout the Southwest and Mesoamerica shared significant
aspects of cosmology and ritual, and these aspects had deep historical
roots.” Unfortunately, however, a number of recent publications on
Southwestern cultural change largely continue to eschew the incorporation
of any detailed archaeological and ethnographic data from south of the
modern international border that separates the United States and Mexico.
Though dismissing event-oriented explanations for the movement of
ideas, such as by way of migration, one recent analysis of the nature of
Mesoamerican influence on Southwestern religion (McGuire 2011)
rightly concluded that these belief systems transformed the Pueblo world
after the end of the 13th century. While recognizing the importance of
West Mexico in Southwestern cultural developments, McGuire (2011:
23) argued against the idea that “neat packages” of cosmology and ritual
were transferred northward by the movement of people, whether they
be by “traders, missionaries, and rulers.” Instead, a key component of
his proposition is that the development of Southwestern ceremonialism
in the 1300s was primarily a result of the incorporation and transformation
of elements of Mesoamerican belief systems—many of which he argued
had arrived into the region incrementally over centuries by different
pathways—into newly created Puebloan religions, an assessment that
deserves further debate. In the pre-14th-century Pueblo world, however,
evidence for this is scant. After AD 1300, the major changes in the
iconography are testimony of new religious ideas including those
presented in this study. The evidence delineated within the present study
is only one aspect of Mesoamerican cosmological imports into the
Southwest (e.g., the katsina complex) and these complexes do not involve
isolated “traits,” but counter to McGuire are indeed comprised of “neat
packages” of symbols and metaphors embracing coherent worldviews.
In heeding McGuire’s (2011: 23) advocation of a focus on the
dynamics of “historically shifting networks of social and cultural
relationships” between social groups, we contend that the northward

movement of a complex of specific Venus-oriented beliefs and ritual
practices in the Southwest was facilitated by the movement of people
along ever-expanding economic networks and trade routes in the
Postclassic period that linked specific cultural groups and sites located
along the Pacific coast of Mesoamerica—particularly in Nayarit and
southern Sinaloa—to Puebloan societies in the modern states of
Chihuahua (Mexico), Arizona, and New Mexico. This movement perhaps
was partly facilitated via information and interaction networks connecting
Uto-Aztecan dialect/language groups (see Wilcox 1986b; Wilcox et al.
2008). In his early study of Mesoamerican/Southwestern relations,
McGuire (1980: 32) asserted that in order to draw these connections
we need greater documentation of the evidence for connectivity, including
details on spatial and temporal dimensions of the material evidence, and
in doing so “we must identify and distinguish between traits of generalized
Mesoamerican nature and traits originating from specific regions.” The
present study has sought to heed this challenge. To clarify, we propose
that a constellation of new ideas that included the major Mesoamerican
anthropomorphic Venus deity transformed Puebloan cosmology and
worldview and was not reshaped from isolated beliefs or ritual practices
of Mesoamerican derivation that were long present for centuries in the
American Southwest. Neither were these ideas simply broad parallels in
a shared continental-scale pan-American indigenous cosmology (see
McGuire 2011: 29), but instead they are very specific ideas that occur
in a very narrow temporal period. Our research has traced the movement
of these ideas across specific locales on the geographical landscape and
we have explored the materialization of their expression in the ritual
activities, artifacts, symbolism, and lived experiences of those cultural
groups who adopted and transformed these new beliefs.
The fact that these packets of ideas leapfrogged long distances, perhaps
1,000 kilometers or more in some instances, and took root among
disparate cultures known to have historical connections implicates the
movement of people as a primary mechanism of transmission.
Understanding the historical relationships and contacts between the
specific societies and communities described herein that were mediators
of the movement of this new system of beliefs will undoubtedly contribute
toward writing “the history of the Mesoamerican connection,” as
proposed by McGuire (2011: 24). In sum, the conclusions drawn from
the present study indicate the need to reevaluate the still generally
Venus ✜ 47
accepted paradigm of ancient Southwestern cultural insularity with

minimal influences from Mesoamerican societies and cosmologies. This
reassessment necessitates the inclusion of data into our analyses from the
richly detailed and voluminous archaeological and ethnographic literature
on ancient and contemporary Mesoamerican indigenous societies,
particularly those pre-Hispanic cultures (and their descendants) in West
Mexico that clearly played a central role in Southwestern cultural
dynamics.
P a r t VII. C o n c l u s i o n
This study has sought to delineate a common thread in the cosmology

and iconography of ritually infused warfare and Venus ceremonialism
among ancient and contemporary peoples of Mesoamerica and the
American Southwest. A number of shared themes within this complex
include a specific emphasis on an anthropomorphic Venus deity and such
aspects as projectiles as stellar rays and elements focusing upon warriors,
cold, death and regeneration, maize agriculture, the plumed serpent,
the east, and dawn. In Mesoamerica, the preeminent deity affiliated with
this widespread symbolic complex of warfare is Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli,
or Venus as the Morning Star. While this deity has roots in the Classic
period, he is most readily identified in the iconography of the Early and
Late Postclassic period in highland Central Mexico as well as in Toltec-
style imagery at Chichén Itzá in Yucatan. Notably, during the Early
Postclassic period, a manifestation of this Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli complex
appeared in Aztatlán iconography of far West Mexico, primarily in the
coastal region of Nayarit and Sinaloa. It was via the Aztatlán tradition
that this ideological complex was transmitted northward.
We acknowledge that scholars have previously drawn connections
between Mesoamerican and Southwestern societies prior to AD 900,
such as in the presence of pseudo-cloisonné decorative techniques or
shell bracelets in Hohokam sites that likely originated from or were
inspired stylistically by those in Zacatecas or nearby regions in West
Mexico (see Haury 1976; Holien 1975; McGuire and Villapando 2007;
Meighan 1999). The northward transmission of material goods and ideas
during this earlier era among the Hohokam reflects cultural connectivity
between Southwestern groups and West Mexican people—but it is
important to clarify that pre–AD 900 West Mexican people were situated
in an ideological universe that apparently was vastly different than that

which existed later among Aztatlán people after AD 900. We argue that
it is from this new wellspring of vastly different ideas in Postclassic West
Mexico that Pueblo IV people in the Southwest drew inspiration.
While spare elements of this complex, such as a few examples of the
horned and plumed serpent, appear in Classic Mimbres symbolism in
southwest New Mexico by AD 1000, this new worldview to a certain
extent appeared more clearly in the iconography and material culture of
the Medio period Casas Grandes culture in northern Chihuahua, Mexico,
perhaps as early as AD 1200. Thereafter, an elaborated manifestation of
this complex of Venus-oriented ritually infused warfare became much
more prominent and widespread during the Pueblo IV period in kiva
murals, rock art, and iconography on ceramics in the American Southwest
only a century or less after its arrival in Northern Mexico. Elements of
this complex remain prominent in the ethnography, oral traditions, and
ritualism of Pueblo people in these regions. While a more detailed analysis
of the specific means by which this complex became manifest in Northwest
Mexico and the American Southwest is beyond the scope of the present
study, it remains clear that further research is necessary in order to clarify
the role of Mesoamerican people and ideas in the dramatic sociopolitical
and religious changes that occurred across a broad region of the American
Southwest in the Pueblo IV period. <
Venus ✜ 49
Referenced Figures
C D E
Figure 3: Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Mesoamerica.

(A) Representation of skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli from northwest
colonnade, Chichén Itzá. Note cut-conch shell pendant at waist
representing wind-jewel of Quetzalcoatl (Taube 1994: fig. 14a).
(B) Masked Quetzalcoatl surrounded by a plumed serpent, darts, and
flames, Chichén Itzá (Taube 1994: fig. 11c).
(C) Postclassic Toltec-style rock art image of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with
feathered serpent and stars, Ixtapantongo, Mexico (Taube 1994:
fig. 15a).
(D) Aztec depiction of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, Codex Borbonicus.
Note two flint darts in headband (Taube 1994: fig. 14b).
(E) Portrayal of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as warrior with star sign at
waist, Codex Vaticanus B (drawing by Karl Taube).
A B
C D E

(A) Skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with smoking star on chest, detail of
Bilimek pulque vessel (Taube 1993a: fig. 12b).
(B) Aztec portrayal of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli wearing a skull mask
(with dart at nose) behind head. Note pair of dart points on
headbands, Codex Telleriano Remensis (drawing by Karl Taube).
(C) Skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli from altar painting A, Tizatlan,
Puebla. Note flint dart points at nose and in headdress and four-
pointed star earring (drawing courtesy of John M. D. Pohl).
(D) Detail of skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli as warrior. Note circular
shell discs in headdress, Codex Nuttall, p. 77 (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Nuttall 1975: 77).
(E) Detail of skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Note circular shell
ornaments in headdress, Codex Borgia, p. 39 (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Díaz and Rodgers 1993: 39).
Venus ✜ 51
A B

(A) Tlahuicalpantecuhtli as skeletal warrior. Note conical paper ornament
at back of head commonly worn by the death god Mictlantecuhtli, Codex
Nuttall, p. 78 (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Nuttall 1975: 78).
(B) Mortuary bundle of warrior with attributes of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
(beaded facial decoration), Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli (dart in
forehead), and the death god Mictlantecuhtli (conical paper ornament
at back of head), Codex Magliabecchiano, p. 72r (from Taube and
Bade 1991: fig. 2d).
(C) Carved relief from Huaquechula, Puebla, with depiction of skeletal
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Note dart in hand and dart points in headband
(drawing by Karl Taube after Dykerhoff 2000: cover photo).
A B
Figure 6: Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli in Mesoamerica.

(A) Sixteenth-century portrayal of Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli as "frost"
(cetl). Primeros Memoriales, p. 282v (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz
after Sahagún 1993: 282v).
(B) Portrayal of Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli wearing backward-curving
conical hat with dart in his headdress. Note probable obsidian lining
the headdress, Codex Telleriano Remensis, pg. 16v (from Taube and
Bade 1991, fig. 2c).
(C) Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli. Note dart in front of headdress, Dresden
Codex, p. 50 (from Taube and Bade 1991: fig. 2a).
Venus ✜ 53
Figure 7: Stellar warriors in Mesoamerica.

(A) Star warrior. Image located on the east side of the Temple of the
Jaguars and Shields, Chichén Itzá (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz
after Seler 1990-1998: 6: 118, fig. 220).
(B) Lower portion of skeletal warrior holding darts with darts shooting
from the feet. Note surrounding flame and smoke-like elements,
Chichén Itzá (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Seler 1990–
1998: 6: 124, fig. 239).
Figure 8: Stellar warfare in Mesoamerica.

Partial inscription on notched musical rasp depicting darts raining down
from sky along stepped path of the sun. Note skeletal tzitzimime star demon
attacking the sun at top left of scene (redrawn by Karl Taube after Von
Winning 1959: fig. 1).
Venus ✜ 55
A B
Figure 9: Plumed serpents and stars in Mesoamerica.

(A) Portrayal of plumed serpent body marked by stars and footprints. Detail
of Early Classic mural from Zone 5-A,Teotihuacan (from Saturno et
al. 2005: fig. 18b).
(B) Plumed serpent with pendant half-star on body. Late Classic rock art,
Maltrata, Veracruz (from Schaafsma 2001: fig. 137).
(C) Teotihuacan-style carved conch shell with image of running figures
atop star-marked plumed serpent body (from Saturno et al. 2005: fig.
18d).
(D) Plumed serpent body flanked by two probable stars. Note pair of cross-
sectioned conch shells signifying wind on both sides of feathered tail.
Detail from stair ramp of Structure 2D8, Chichén Itzá (drawing by
Michael Mathiowetz after Tozzer 1957: fig. 119).
(E) Plumed serpent body entwined with stars. Detail of cornice, Structure
3D11, Chichén Itzá (from Tozzer 1957: fig. 126).
A B
D E
Figure 10: Stars in Mesoamerica.

(A) Depiction of star. Detail from Upper Temple of the Jaguars. Pilaster
K5, Chichén Itzá (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Tozzer 1957:
fig. 278h).
(B) Depiction of star. Detail of stone relief, Tenochtitlan (drawing by
Michael Mathiowetz after Tozzer 1957: fig. 292).
(C) Detail of star next to head of warrior, Tula (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Taube 2004: 87, fig. 15b).
(D) Skyband with star, flint darts, and circular stellar eyes. Palace IV,
Mitla (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Seler 1990–1998: 2, fig.
63).
(E) Detail of Venus or star symbol from Cerritos phase (AD 900–1100)
Sentispac Red-on-Buff vessel in collection of Casa Museo Vladimir
Cora de Artes Visuales, unknown provenience near Acaponeta, Nayarit,
Mexico (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz).
Venus ✜ 57
A B
D
E
G H
Figure 11: Morning Star deity in Aztatlán-era West Mexico and

Oaxaca.
(A) West Mexican-style gold disk with representation of Morning Star as
a skeletal being with darts and stars emanating from head. Note
breath or song scroll emanating from mouth. Probable Oaxacan
provenience (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Aguilar et al.
1989: 201).
(B) Head of skeletal being with darts and circular elements likely
representing stars emanating from the head and face. Detail of
interior of Ixcuintla polychrome, Amapa, Nayarit (drawing by
Michael Mathiowetz after Bell 1960: fig. 51).
(C) Engraved stone slab depicting probable Morning Star deity. Note
skeletal face, protruding darts from head and nose, and protruding
stellar eyes, Amapa, Nayarit (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after
Meighan 1976: 321, pl. 15).
(D) Morning Star deity. Detail of side panel on engraved back mirror,
unknown West Mexican provenience. Museo de Arqueología del
Occidente de Mexico, Guadalajara, Jalisco (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz).
(E) Morning Star deity. Detail of central panel of back mirror,
unknown West Mexican provenience. Museo de Arqueología del
Occidente de Mexico, Guadalajara, Jalisco (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz).
(F) Skeletal deity with crested ruff on head, projecting flint blades and
stellar eyes. Note stellar eye emerging from mouth. Detail of
Botadero Incised vessel (AD 900–1100) in Museo Regional de
Nayarit (drawing from photo by Michael Mathiowetz).
(G) Skeletal deity with crested ruff, projecting flint blades and stellar
eyes, Detail of Botadero Incised vessel (AD 900–1100) in Museo
Regional de Nayarit. Note breath or song scroll and possible tassel or
flower emerging from mouth (drawing from photo by Michael
Mathiowetz).
(H) Skeletal jaw with dart protruding from nose, Iguanas Polychrome
sherd (Cerritos phase, AD 900–1100), San Felipe Aztatán, Nayarit,
West Mexico (drawing from photo by Michael Mathiowetz; sherd
courtesy of Mauricio Garduño Ambriz).
Venus ✜ 59
B
A C
E
D F
H
G I
Figure 12: Morning Star deity in Aztatlán-era West Mexico and Veracruz.
(A) Detail of interior of Cerritos Polychrome vessel (AD 900–1000) with
representation of skeletal Morning Star deity. Note crested head and
flint knives and stellar eyes emanating from head and face, Museo
Regional de Nayarit (drawing from photo by Michael Mathiowetz).
(B) Ceramic sherd from Culiacán, Sinaloa, with image of skeletal figure
with protruding circular stellar eye (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Kelly 1945: 107, fig. 58c).
(C) Skeletal figure with crested head and stellar eyes and flint dart
emanating from head. Detail of Tuxpan Red-on-Orange sherd
(Cerritos phase, AD 900–1100), San Felipe Aztatán, Nayarit, West
Mexico (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after photo courtesy of
Mauricio Garduño Ambriz).
(D) Figure with skeletal mandible and dart shooting from nose, La
Peña, Jalisco (drawing after photo by Michael Mathiowetz).
(E) Aztatlán-era sherd depicting portion of skeletal Morning Star deity
with flint knife projecting from nose, Tepic, Nayarit (drawing from
photo by Michael Mathiowetz; sherd courtesy of Mauricio Garduño
Ambriz).
(F) Inscribed stone depicting Morning Star deity with arrow shooting
from nose. Museo de Compostela, Nayarit (drawing from photo by
Michael Mathiowetz).
(G) Detail of skeletal figure with mandible, dart shooting from nose, and
circular disks in headdress, El Chanal, Colima (ca. AD 12th–15th
century). Compare disks to those in figures 4D, 4E, and 14 (drawing
by Michael Mathiowetz after Fields and Zamudio-Taylor 2001: fig.
6).
(H) Interior of polychrome vessel depicting probable human head with
dart emerging from head. Note circular elements likely representing
stars protruding from head. Guasave, Sinaloa (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Ekholm 1942: 57, fig. 6i).
(I) Detail of Late Postclassic International Style vessel with portrait of
skeletal Morning Star deity with flint knives and stellar eyes
emanating from head (accompanying crossed bones are
unillustrated). Note distinctive crested head and breath or song
scroll emanating from mouth. Carlos Pellicer Regional Museum of
Anthropology, Villahermosa, Tabasco (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz from photo by Karl Taube).
Venus ✜ 61
Figure 13: Morning Star deity in

Aztatlán-era West Mexico.
Detail of interior of Guasave
polychrome vessel depicting feathered
skeletal figure likely representing
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Note bird-
feather wings and tail and probable
plumed serpent headdress. Also note
flint knives in front of nose and face
(drawing by Michael Mathiowetz
after Ekholm 1942: 51, fig. 4a).
Figure 14: Morning Star deity and skyband symbolism in Aztatlán-era

West Mexico.
Scene depicts sky band (top) comprised of flint knives, flowers, and
circular element representing a probable stellar eye (top right). Scene in
lower panel depicts plumed serpents with anthropomorphic beings. Figure
at lower left depicts plumed serpent (with human figure in maw)
exhaling elaborate breath scroll comprised of pliant feathers, possible
quetzal or urraca plumes. Figure at lower right, likely a Morning
Star-related figure, depicts skeletal being with flint dart point at nose,
circular disks in headdress, and plumed serpent body. Detail of Aztatlán-
affiliated polychrome (AD 1100–1350) recovered near Culiacán, Sinaloa
(drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Braniff 2001: 150, fig. 49).
Figure 15: Morning Star and horned/plumed serpent deity

impersonators in Casas Grandes symbolism.
(A) Human figure with notched dart point emanating from head
(paired with male wearing plumed serpent headdress in figure 15B),
Chihuahuan polychrome. El Paso Centennial Museum, University of
Texas, El Paso, catalog no. 1936.85.18 (drawing after photo by
(B) Masked human figure or deity impersonator wearing a horned and
plumed serpent headdress (paired with dart-headed male in figure
15A), Chihuahuan polychrome. El Paso Centennial Museum,
University of Texas, El Paso, catalog no. 1936.85.18 (drawing after
photo by Michael Mathiowetz).
Venus ✜ 63
D
E
Figure 16: Star warriors in Pueblo IV kiva murals and rock art.
(A) Star faces wearing eagle-feathered headdress, Pottery Mound Kiva
6, Layer 1, west wall (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Hibben
1975: fig. 106).
(B) Star supernaturals in Rio Grande Pueblo rock art, Petroglyph
National Monument, Albuquerque. Note feather headdress and
taloned feet (drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(C) Star supernatural in Rio Grande Pueblo rock art, Petroglyph
National Monument, Albuquerque. Note feather headdress and
projectiles in headdress (drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(D) Star supernatural in Rio Grande Pueblo rock art, Petroglyph
National Monument, Albuquerque. Note feather headdress, taloned
feet, and projectile in headdress (drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(E) Supernatural with arrow projecting from the top of its head, Galisteo
Basin rock art (ca. AD 1350–1525) (drawing by Polly Schaafsma
after Brody 2001: fig. 150).
Figure 17: Star warriors and serpents in kiva and rock art symbolism in
the Pueblo IV period American Southwest.
(A) Star-faced serpent wearing an eagle feather headdress. Note
darkened face and downturned (red) mouth. Detail of Pottery
Mound Kiva 8, Layer 7, east wall (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz
after original field drawing on file at the Maxwell Museum,
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque).
(B) Horned and plumed serpent with star superimposed upon the body.
Note darkened star face with downturned (red) mouth. Pottery
Mound Kiva 7, Layer 9, west wall (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz
after Hibben 1975: Fig. 34).
Venus ✜ 65
A B
C D
Figure 18: Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu and his accoutrements in the
American Southwest.
(A) Sotuqnangu mask. Note conical cap and brow with cloud designs
(drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Stephen 1936: fig. 175).
(B) Wood lightning lattice used by Sotuqnangu. Note detachable
arrowpoint (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Stephen 1936:
figs. 182a, 182b).
(C) Hopi wood carving of Sotuqnangu or a close alternate with four-
pointed star on face, early-21st-century carving by Ed Seechoma
(photo by Polly Schaafsma).
(D) Sotuqnangu wearing conical cap and standing in front of clouds
and lightning. Hopi Flute altar from Oraibi (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Fewkes 1895: pl. I).
A
B
C D
Figure 19: Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu in the American Southwest.

(A) Hopi wall painting of Sotuqnangu holding lightning behind
cloudbank. Note conical cap on head with cloud and lightning
designs and war tracks on cheeks (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz
after Stephen 1936: fig. 118).
(B) Rio Grande rock art of Sotuqnangu with star face, and darts at
head, elbow, hand, and leg (drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(C) Scene on 17th-century Tabira Black-on-White canteen likely
depicting Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu. Note four-lobed face
likely representing a star and dart points on chest, neck, and
earring. Also note broken arrow, probable rabbit-hunting stick, and
four-lobed stars in foreground, Gran Quivira, New Mexico
(drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Hayes et al. 1981: fig. 115g).
(D) Abstract depiction of probable Sotuqnangu with star-shaped face on
17th-century Tabira Black-on-White jar, Salinas Province, New
Mexico. Note depiction of eyes as a segmented bow. Compare tasseled
gloves with those worn by a similar star warrior in figure 19C
(drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Spielmann et al. 2006: fig. 13).
Venus ✜ 67
A B
C D
Figure 20: Hail and Ice symbolism in Pueblo ceremonialism.

(A) Sketch of curved, conical Hail headdress worn in Hopi Chief Kiva
during the Winter Solstice ceremony (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Stephen 1936: fig. 14e).
(B) Sketch of curved, conical Ice headdress worn in Hopi Chief Kiva
during the Winter Solstice ceremony (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Stephen 1936: fig. 14d).
(C) Ceremonialist wearing headdress of icicles. Note lightning shooting
through the headdress. Pueblo IV period Pottery Mound mural in
Kiva 2, Layer 1, north wall (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after
Hibben 1975: 26, fig. 14).
(D) A warrior or possible Ice Man katsina wearing an icicle-like
headdress. His dark face has the attributes of a star face, and he
wears red-tailed-hawk feathers characteristic of some portrayals of
star persons. Pueblo IV period Pottery Mound mural on east wall of
Kiva 8, Layer 3 (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz after Hibben
1975: 81, fig. 59).
A B C
D E
Figure 21: Star and warrior supernaturals in Pueblo IV rock art.

(A) Jornada-style rock art depicting supernatural figure with arrow
projecting from the top of its head. Lincoln County, New Mexico, ca.
AD 1200–1425 (adapted from Kelley 1984).
(B) Hilili, a figure described ethnographically as a scalper with a knife
in his headdress. San Cristobal Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. AD 1350–
1680 (drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(C) Mask sharing headdress and mouth with star supernaturals. Note
the downturned toothed mouth and the long knife at the side of the
head. Piro Pueblo district, New Mexico, ca. AD 1325–1400
(drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(D) Rock art depiction of warrior with arrow placed across the face.
Galisteo Basin, New Mexico (drawing by Polly Schaafsma).
(E) Star person with knife on side of head and projectile in hand. San
Cristobal Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. AD 1325–1680 (drawing by
Polly Schaafsma).
Venus ✜ 69
Figure 22: Star symbolism in Pueblo art and ritual.

(A) Star effigy placed upon Hopi War Chief’s altar in Goat Kiva. Note
shell bead arrangement at tip of effigy representing the Pleiades and
bead arrangement above handle representing Orion. Also note
handle representing the sky (to'kpela) (drawing by Michael
Mathiowetz after Stephen 1936: fig. 5).
(B) The Pleiades. Detail of early-20th-century inscribed flute from Jemez
Pueblo (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz from photo in Fane et al.
1991: pl. 156).
(C) The constellation Orion's belt. Note parallel lines on stars’ cheeks
representing "war tracks." Detail of early-20th-century inscribed
flute from Jemez Pueblo (drawing by Michael Mathiowetz from
photo in Fane et al. 1991: pl. 156).
(D) Wall designs painted on the interior walls of Hopi Chief Kiva
during Powamu. Note Orion (left), the Pleiades (upper right), the
moon (lower center), and Morning Star (lower right) (drawing by
Michael Mathiowetz after Stephen 1936: 233, fig. 143).
Portfolio Images
Portfolio image 1: View of the main pyramid El Castillo at Chichén

Itzá, Yucatan, Mexico (photograph courtesy of Karl Taube).
Venus ✜ 71
Portfolio image 2: Fragment of Aztec stone monument with portrayal of

seated, skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. Note spear thrower (atl atl) in hand
and single dart point in headdress (photograph by Michael Mathiowetz
from the collections of the Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico).
Portfolio image 3: Skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with star earring and

flint dart points in headdress and at nose. Detail of altar painting A at
Tizatlan, Puebla (reproduction courtesy of John M. D. Pohl).
Portfolio image 4: Portrayal of skeletal Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli on gold

disk from Oaxaca, Mexico (photograph by Michael Mathiowetz from
the collections of the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico).
Venus ✜ 73
Portfolio image 5: Southward-facing view of the Pacific coastal plain in

Nayarit, Mexico, as seen from the hilltop acropolis at the Aztatlán site
of Coamiles. Note location of the archaeological site of Chacalilla on
volcanic hilltop on the far central horizon and the location of Amapa
in the central intermediate zone on the coastal plain (photograph by
Portfolio image 6: Portrayal of Venus as Morning Star on Cerritos

Polychrome (photograph courtesy of Mauricio Garduño Ambriz from
collections of the Museo Regional de Nayarit in Tepic, Nayarit,
Mexico).
Venus ✜ 75
Portfolio image 7: Venus as Morning Star portrait on Aztatlán stone

monument (photograph by Michael Mathiowetz from collections of
the Museo Local de Historia y Antropología de Compostela in
Nayarit, Mexico).
Portfolio image 8: Polychrome vessel from Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico,

with portrayal of skeletal morning star figure wearing plumed serpent
headdress (photograph by Michael Mathiowetz from collections of the
Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico).
Venus ✜ 77
Portfolio image 9: Mock battle with machetes, Cora Semana Santa rites,
Jesús María, Nayarit (photograph by Edward H. Davis, image OP
14961-729; credit: San Diego History Center).
Portfolio image 10: View of Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico (photograph

by Michael Mathiowetz).
Portfolio image 11: Morning Star and plumed serpent impersonators on

Chihuahuan polychrome (photograph by Michael Mathiowetz from
the collections of the Centennial Museum, UTEP, accession number
1936.85.18).
Portfolio image 12: View of east end of Comanche Gap dike, Galisteo
Basin, New Mexico. Note rock outcrop on ridge where abundant
warfare-related petroglyphs occur (photograph by Curtis Schaafsma).
Venus ✜ 79
Portfolio image 13: Detail of petroglyphs with warfare themes including

shield bearers, stars, and weaponry at Comanche Gap dike, Galisteo
Basin, New Mexico (photograph by Curtis Schaafsma).
Portfolio image 14: Portrayal of Hopi (Oraibi) Coto star katsinam

(from Fewkes 1903: pl. XXVIII).
Portfolio image 15: Rock art portrayal of star warrior with arrow
emanating from headdress. Petroglyph National Monument,
Albuquerque, New Mexico (photograph by Polly Schaafsma).
Venus ✜ 81
Portfolio image 16: Rock art portrayal of Sotuqnangu with star face
and dart point in hand and headdress. Galisteo Basin, New Mexico
(photograph by Polly Schaafsma).
Portfolio image 17: Star-faced serpents with feathered headdresses. Kiva

8, Layer 7, east wall, Pottery Mound, New Mexico (from Hibben 1975:
fig. 105, credit: KC Publications, Wickenburg, AZ 1975).
Portfolio image 18: Horned and feathered serpent and star warrior.
Kiva 7, Layer 9, west wall, Pottery Mound, New Mexico (from Hibben
1975: fig. 34; credit: KC Publications, Wickenburg, AZ 1975).
Venus ✜ 83
Portfolio image 19: Figure with star face attributes and Icicle headdress.
Kiva 8, Layer 3, east wall, Pottery Mound, New Mexico (from Hibben
1975: fig. 59; credit: KC Publications, Wickenburg, AZ 1975).
Portfolio image 20: Seated figure wearing Icicle headdress. Kiva 2,

Layer 1, north wall, Pottery Mound, New Mexico (from Hibben 1975:
fig. 14; credit: KC Publications, Wickenburg, AZ 1975).
Venus ✜ 85
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Darts of Dawn The Tlahuizcalpa

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The Darts of Dawn: The Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli

Venus Complex in the Iconography of

Fundamental concepts pertaining to worldview and cosmology are

M i c h a e l M at h i o w e t z is a UC MEXUS/CONACYT postdoctoral research fellow at

Journal of the Southwest 57, 1 (Spring 2015) : 1–102

to a Venus “star complex” that became prominent in rock art and kiva

Figure 1: Regional map of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.

Figure 2: Regional map of West Mexico with Aztatlán-affiliated

As the Morning Star, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, or “Lord of Dawn,” was

Seler 1904: 360; Spranz 1973: 246–262). According to the Codex

fanged, militaristic Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli wearing ovate dart points in

In some instances, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli bears symbolic elements that

Weapons, Darts, and Projectiles in the Mesoamerican Venus Complex

and flames emanating from the body, a combination of characteristics

Plumed Serpents with Stars in the Mesoamerican Venus Complex

In the art and iconography of Mesoamerica, the depiction of plumed

of footprints. A similar concept is evident in a Teotihuacan-style scene

bodega of the Museo Regional de Nayarit in Tepic that portrays two

A similar skeletal being with crested head element, projecting stellar

and an eye scroll that is strikingly reminiscent of eye scrolls portrayed

Venus Ceremonialism among Contemporary Indigenous People in

In the ethnography of contemporary indigenous peoples of West

Neurath (2002; 2004; 2005a) examined the mythology and ritual of

Quite like with representations of the Morning Star in Mesoamerica

stagger drunkenly around town singing obscene and ridiculing songs.

“There beneath the east is it formed whence he (Morning Star) hath

community plaza dancing among rain-filled clouds is remarkably similar

Death God or Morning Star?: The Significance of Skeletal Deities in

Based on pictorial similarities to figures in Central Mexican codices,

unsurprising to find a number of representations in the archaeological

To the north of West Mexico, architectural features and iconography

American Southwest during this era. Notably, this figure is accompanied

To the north in the Pueblo Southwest, warfare and its concomitant

ethnographic sources. On the other hand, references to Mexican data,

2For other co-occurrences of feathered stars and horned serpents as petroglyphs,

cosmology and system of beliefs with broad ties to Mesoamerica. Much

explained as the Pueblo, albeit peripheral, manifestation of the

Big Star Chant bundle contained a number of flints. Star people in

with Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli in Mesoamerica, the name itself relates

broader issues of reciprocity underlying the whole warfare complex are

This new Morning Star symbolic and religious complex also

have long been averse to accepting the proposition that Mesoamerican

relationships” between social groups, we contend that the northward

accepted paradigm of ancient Southwestern cultural insularity with

This study has sought to delineate a common thread in the cosmology

in an ideological universe that apparently was vastly different than that

Figure 3: Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Mesoamerica.

Figure 4: Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Mesoamerica.

Figure 5: Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Mesoamerica.

Figure 6: Itzlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli in Mesoamerica.

Figure 7: Stellar warriors in Mesoamerica.

Figure 8: Stellar warfare in Mesoamerica.

Figure 9: Plumed serpents and stars in Mesoamerica.

Figure 10: Stars in Mesoamerica.

Figure 11: Morning Star deity in Aztatlán-era West Mexico and

Figure 13: Morning Star deity in

Figure 14: Morning Star deity and skyband symbolism in Aztatlán-era

Figure 15: Morning Star and horned/plumed serpent deity

Figure 19: Morning Star deity Sotuqnangu in the American Southwest.

Figure 20: Hail and Ice symbolism in Pueblo ceremonialism.

Figure 21: Star and warrior supernaturals in Pueblo IV rock art.

Figure 22: Star symbolism in Pueblo art and ritual.

Portfolio image 1: View of the main pyramid El Castillo at Chichén