Before Comparing Suns: Solar Imagery, Sacred Landscapes, and the Limits of Religious Comparison in the Pre-Columbian Americas

This bounded documentary evidence audit examines what identifies an image as solar and what further evidence could support cultural transmission. It compares published and institutional records for Taíno narrative and rock art, Classic Maya imagery and the word k’in, the Mexica Sun Stone, Inca solar descriptions, the Echenique disk, and Tiwanaku’s Gateway of the Sun. The examined records do not establish a shared solar cult or a direction of transmission. Manufacture, meaning, and later reuse are assessed separately. Working paper version 1.2, 19 October 2026. This revision standardizes the assistance disclosure; the research conclusions are unchanged. Not independently peer reviewed. The audit is selective, not exhaustive; it does not demonstrate that transmission never occurred. García Goyco 1984, a critical edition of Pané, the 2017 Zamas report, and Rowe 1976 were not read. Source access and limitations are documented in the accompanying package. The author confirms no funding and no competing interests. Artificial intelligence assisted with research analysis, manuscript preparation, review, and release preparation. Original text and diagrams are CC BY 4.0; third-party images retain their documented terms. The ZIP provides manuscript sources, evidence tables, figure credits, references, and build instructions.