Located close to Puebla land about 80 miles east of Mexico City are the Cacaxtla ruins, discovered in 1975 by treasure hunters. This prehispanic site, whose murals are considered among the most beautiful of any archeological site in Mexico, probably reached its apogee between 700 and 900 AD, after the decline of Teotihuacan. The dynamic composition, realism of the scenes, harmonic proportions, expressive gestures, and other stylistic figures denote a strong influence of the Mayan and Tehotihuacan cultures on the mural paintings. The Mayan calendar was of great religious importance and provided the basis for the development of Mayan astronomy. It is thus common to find in Cacaxtla, as well as in other major prehispanic sites with Mayan influence, such as Tehotihuacan or Xochicalco, some representations related to cosmogony and mythology. In the south Mural located in the A building in Cacaxtla (believed to be dedicated to venus and rain), we find the symbol that is chosen as the logo for the Guillermo Haro International Program on Advanced Astrophysical Research.
 

DESCRIPTION

In Building A (South Mural), in front of the face of a feathered man standing over a snake, is a blue hollow rectangle open at its bottom side with two hands. It has been chosen for the GH logo. The other three sides of the rectangle look like arms and contain eyed half stars in white. The rectangle is encircled by alternating eight left and right human footprints representing motion. A "feathered eye" glyph is depicted in front of this element.
 

INTERPRETATION

The inner rectangle symbolizes the terrestrial level, protected by the sky (arms) and the hands denote giving. The 3 half white stars with the stellar eye symbolize Venus.  The 8 human footprints represent the 8 days during which the planet is invisible until it shows up again as the morning star.

Venus as the Morning Star is referred to as feminine, but as the Evening Star it is referred to as masculine. Both male and female representations of Venus (Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli) are very common in Cacaxtla because of the Cacaxtlan inhabitants' knowledge of its 584 day cycle (8 invisible days before the 250 visible days as the evening star, 90 invisible days before the 236 visible days as the Morning Star).