[Aztlan] venus dog lord

[Martha Gottlieb]

On Friday 24 August 2007 11:56 pm, martha noyes wrote:
> Aloha all
>
> I got a couple of private emails after I posted that what started me on the
> Venus Dog Lord quest were two sentences in "Exploring Ancient Skies," one
> of which had to do with a Hawaiian place name and the other with UtoAztecan
> and ProtoPolynesian words.  The concern expressed in the emails was that
> drawing historical conclusions of precontact interactions between Polynesia
> and the Americas would make me - and my work - suspect, perhaps even placed
> in the rank of the kooks.
>
> I wanted to respond to that concern publicly.  It hadn't even occurred to
> me that it would seem as though I were drawing any sort of conclusion about
> anything.  I just wanted to know what a Venus Dog Lord was and how it
> was/is understood in the Maya culture.  I also wanted to understand what
> Venus might have to do with dog, whether it was in Mesoamerica,
> Mesopotamia, Egypt, among the Ainu, Innu, Maori or wherever in the world. 
> Venus linked to dog was a new idea to me and I simply wanted to learn about
> the idea.
>
> I wasn't even thinking about Hawaii or Polynesia.
>
> I saw the words I quoted from the Kelley and Milone book.  I then googled
> Venus and sun and dog, first on the web and then on Google Scholar.  That's
> where I found the Dresden Codex quote naming Venus Dog Lord.  I thought the
> Aztlan list would be a good place to find out more about the Venus Dog
> Lord.  It was/is a good place - I learned quite a bit, for which I'm
> grateful.
>
> It worries me that we're so instantly fearful of the mere possibility of a
> suggestion of diffusion that genuine inquiry can be quashed.
>
> Just had to say that.
>
> Martha

Ahoy all

What a shame that anyone would suggest you avoid discourse  in order to be 
Professionally Correct.   This kind of fearful response has arisen before on 
this list.   What is the basis for it?  Loss of tenure?   Loss of dignity?
 
I don't know enough to comment on the content of the idea, but I do know that 
science doesn't work that way.   

I think the owners of this list can keep us from bogging down into "Radical 
Archaeology".   However, there is a lot of honest intellectual sparring room 
between there and here.

Reminds me of the old saw, coined I imagine for physics;

"And so the field advances, one funeral at a time."

Martha Gottlieb