The first part of this two-part essay discusses the important roles crocodiles and sharks played in Preclassic (and later) political geography and myths of cosmogenesis in Mesoamerica. They are associated with sacrifices resulting in creation of the world and births of some major gods. Crocodiles are also associated with fertility, rebirth, and renewal of seasonal and temporal/calendrical cycles. Recent investigations at Nixtun-Ch'ich’ show that its gridded urban landscape, established in the Middle Preclassic period (ca. 800–400 b.c.), was likely modeled on a crocodile's back. The second part of the essay presents some speculations on the early role of this site and crocodiles in central Peten. At Tikal, archaeology and retrospective texts indicate that crocodiles appeared in early versions of the site's emblem glyph and in the name of an early ruler. Nixtun-Ch'ich’ might be the legendary chi place, important in the dynastic foundations of several lowland Maya centers.

中文翻译：

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鳄鱼、鲨鱼和对中部佩滕前古典历史的一些推测

这篇由两部分组成的文章的第一部分讨论了鳄鱼和鲨鱼在前经典（以及后来的）政治地理学和中美洲宇宙起源神话中所扮演的重要角色。它们与导致世界创造和一些主要神的诞生的牺牲有关。鳄鱼还与季节和时间/日历周期的生育、重生和更新有关。最近在 Nixtun-Ch'ich' 的调查表明，其网格化的城市景观建立于前古典时期中期（约 800-400公元前)，很可能是以鳄鱼的背部为模型的。文章的第二部分对这个遗址的早期作用和佩滕中部的鳄鱼进行了一些推测。在蒂卡尔，考古学和回顾性文本表明鳄鱼出现在该遗址标志符号的早期版本中，并以早期统治者的名义出现。Nixtun-Ch'ich'可能是传奇人物志地方，在几个低地玛雅中心的王朝基础中很重要。