Mesoamericans also saw Venus as a deity (Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc both have Venus associations) but that doesn't mean they didn't also recognize it as a star....or more simply "bright light in the sky." I think the circled-dot symbols being used as both sun and star symbols suggest that it was a symbol which meant "bright light in the sky" as opposed to solely "sun" as the southeastern scholars seem to think.

As I argue in my petroglyph paper, if this symbol is solely a symbol for the sun then why would they draw multiple versions of the same symbol on the same petroglyph along with designs that represent constellations and a comet? The Sun doesn't share the sky with constellations....nor do we have multiple suns in our sky.

Simple logic would argue that the number and context of these symbols on this petroglyph strongly suggest they represent stars and thus the circled-dot symbol (circumpunct, to be precise) is a symbol for any light in the sky whether it be the sun or a star.