Xochicalco and the Epiclassic Writing Systems: Dave Kelley has

the Final Word Geoffrey McCafferty, Sharisse McCafferty,

and David H. Kelley (University of Calgary) Paper for the 2012 meeting of the Society for American

Archaeology, Memphis, TN

David H. Kelley (1924-2011)

Spinden Manuscript

Dave Kelley on the Xochicalco texts

The first thing, I think, is realizing the

size of the corpus. There is just a

tremendous amount of material to be

evaluated. A great deal of the

attention at Xochicalco has centered

on the three major stelae because they

have, by far, the most organized texts.

But, there are texts on ball court

markers and on panels, a ramp with a

whole series of animals on it, and just

one thing after another. And you have

the monuments that mark the new fire

ceremonies. There is nothing like this

anywhere else until you get to Tajin.

Xochicalco Stela 3

Temazcal 9 Reptile Eye

Temazcal + Carrying Pack + Cattail Frieze

Cacaxtla

This is the Jaguar Snake and his name is

9 Wind and he has another name which I

think is 1 Rain in this other painting. He

is holding the rain stick and then we

have the representation of 3 Deer and he

is holding this gigantic conch shell with 7

Wind coming forth. This is the birth of 7

Wind. Here 3 Deer is in dance position. I

find 3 Deer very interesting because in

the highlands they used positions for the

Venus cycle one day ahead of those that

were used in the Maya area. Where you

had 1 Ahaw being used in the Maya, you

would have 2 Wind being used in the

highlands. If you had 2 Death you would

have it being 3 Deer. Since I think that in

fact this is probably 9 Wind of Palenque.

I think that all of these: 9 Wind, 3 Deer, and 2

Death are all representations of the same

person occupying different roles. I suspect that

he was taking on all of the aspects of deities

successively but particulary 9 Wind because he

was the Lord of the New Age. So, he had to

become 9 Wind and I think he is the same 9

Wind that shows up at Xochicalco as well as at

Cacaxtla. At Palenque, this is 2 Death and the

date is 9 Ic 10 Mol. So it is a 9 Wind date and

he is dancing. Here, in Cacaxtla ? you have

him dancing and it is 3 Death and it is in

association with the birth of 7 Wind from a shell

and the only other place in Mesoamerica where

you have a representation of birth from a shell

is at Palenque..

4 Earthquake

7 Wind at Place of Spear

6 Earthquake and 9 House

3 Monkey and 4 House

Thanks Dave! You are missed

May the blessing of light be on you— light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire.