This is one of the more complex extant Cosmograms. The motifs represented can be considered as an evocation linked to the cosmos and to a divinatory system based in-part on astrology. A large ‘X’-shaped cross dominates the composition, the cross section in the very center. The ‘X’ divides a central panel composition into quarters, which is surrounded by a strapwork borders; each space filled with numerous finely crafted cupules. The composition represents a ubiquitous feature of Mesoamerican cosmology that represents the universe as quadripartite, a division also found in pre-Columbian calendars, religious games, color-coded cardinal directions, and even in the morphology of certain Maya hieroglyphs.

Large volcanic votive stele incised with a star chart.

This star chart of the proto-Andean Valdivia culture is one of a group of ‘Cosmograms’, or ideograms, believed to reflect the inherent relationship between the stars and Earth. It is among the oldest objects that evidence the human interest in finding their place in the universe and express a relationship between the heavens and the earth. It has been suggested that Valdivian cultures regarded the Earth as a convex arc and the Milky Way as a river of stars with waterways, like the Valdivia River, being terrestrial extensions of the same cosmic hydrology.

This stele is one of the most elaborate cosmograms known from the Valdivian culture. Carved from soft igneous rock, it most likely shows cosmic space, represented by a strapwork ‘X’-shaped cross, surrounded by a strapwork border, each outlined with double-fillets and dotted with numerous finely crafted cupules, with a delimitation symbolised by an elegant furrow running along all the edges. It has been theorized that the stele was used to locate stars on dates of religious importance. The observer on the ground may have used the cosmogram’s sight lines to identify prominent and sacred features on the horizon.

The Valdivian culture created the oldest representational images to date in the Western Hemisphere. The specific functions or uses of ‘Cosmograms’, which are almost always rectangular in shape and are very large and exceptionally decorated on both sides, remains unknown to this day. Many remaining cosmograms have anthropomorphic characteristics, believed to be the first pictographic writing system of the Americas, which have descendants later used throughout South and Central America. Dots are used in many of these systems for the lower units in a numbering system, which converts to pictograms after twenty.

A proto-Andean culture sky map, amongst the earliest evidence of a human desire to find their place in the universe, and express a relationship between the heavens and the earth. The Valdivian culture created the oldest representational images to date in the Western Hemisphere.

Cosmogramme from the Valdivia Culture