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"The Maya
knew the exact length of the true solar year as 365.2420 days, that is,
with a minus error of 0.0002, while our present Gregorian calendar has
it at 365.2425, or a plus error of 0.0003."
(William Gates, The Yucatan before and after the Conquest).
How did they do it? Help from ET? Secrets from Atlantis? No. In our technological age we have just forgotten what can be achieved by careful naked-eye observing. Learn how they did it at Maya Sky Watchers |
| Why another web site about the Maya? Although there's a lot of information (and misinformation) about Maya astronomy on the Web, you won't find much about how we know what the Maya knew and how the Maya knew it. That's the focus of this web site. I hope it will be an antidote to some of the fantastic claims about the Maya that rest on very thin evidence, or none at all. I think the feats of Maya astronomers were pretty fantastic without attributing super-human knowledge to them. |
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"All moons, all years, all days, all winds, reach their completion. Measured is the time in which we can know the benevolence of the Sun. Measured is the time in which the stars look down upon us." (Popol Vuh of the Quiche Maya) To properly understand Maya astronomy, you need to know something about the Maya calendar. Start here with a quick Note on the Maya Calendar, where you'll also find links to more detailed discussions at other web sites. |
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"After
the lying down sky was manifested, Hun-Nal-Ye, the First Father,
entered the sky at the First-Three-Stone-Place. On 13 Ik, the last
day of Mol, he made proper the Wakah Chan."
(Palenque Temple of the Cross)
The Wakah Chan is the "raised up sky", the World Tree with the heavens at its top and the Underworld at its foot. The raising of the sky is the focal point of the Maya account of Creation. This event is mirrored in the late summer sky every year as the Milky Way rotates to stand erect at dawn, becoming the World Tree. Find out how Linda Schele discovered that Creation is writ in the sky at Raising the Sky: The Maya Creation Myth and the Milky Way. |
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"On 9.12.17.12.19
11 Mol 7 Zac (May 21, 539 AD), this [ball court] was dedicated."(Chinkultic
Disk/ball court marker)
In his classic of pseudoscience, Our Ancestors Came from Outer Space, Maurice Chatelain claimed that the Chinkultic disk proves a link between the Maya and Atlantis. There is no evidence for this claim, but the disk does have interesting astronomical and mythical significance. Check The Chinkultic Disk: Truth and Fiction. Other weird and wonderful ideas about Maya astronomy and calendrics (Arguelles' Dreamspell, Von Daniken's Maya astronaut, and others) are revealed here: Myths About the Maya: Bad Science and Worse Nonsense
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"Katun 4 Ahau
. . . . The quetzal shall come, the green bird shall come. Ah
Kantenal shall come.
. . . Kukulcan
shall come with them for the second time. It is the word of God."(Book
of Chilam Balam of Chumayel)
Authentic Maya traditions of augury and prophecy were based on calendrical and astronomical cycles. Two were particularly important, the tzolk'in, a round of 260 days, and the "count of katuns," a period of about 256 years. To learn more, visit Maya Augury and Prophecy in the Books of Chilam Balam |
| Don't forget the GMT correlation. Despite a lot of on-line publicity for other correlations between the Maya calendar and the European calendar, most of the evidence supports the correlation originally proposed by Joseph Goodman, the newspaper man who gave Mark Twain his first writing job. It sets the beginning of the Maya "long count" in 3114 BC. To find out why, check out The Correlation Question. |
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"[At
the time of] eclipse of the Sun, eclipse of the Moon. Ah
Tzul Ahaw, the Venus Dog Lord, descends." (from the Dresden
Codex)
Visit Maya Astronomical Glyphs and Symbols to learn about Maya deities, glyphs, and other symbls associated with the planets, zodiac, earth and sky.
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"We found a great number of books and since they contained nothing but superstitions and falsehoods of the devil we burned them, which they took most grievously, and which gave them great pain." (Bishop Landa, 1566). Fortunately, the inquisitors missed the Dresden Codex, one of only four surviving Maya glyph books. Much of the Codex is devoted to astronomy. For an overview, see Astronomy in the Codices, or go directly to descriptions of the Dresden Codex Eclipse Table, Venus Pages, and Mars Almanac. |
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"The
27th day of the moon has arrived." (from
a Classical monument).
The
oldest records of Maya astronomy are the lunar series glyphs that
report the phase of the moon. Learn to read these glyphs at Lunar
Astronomy in the inscriptions.
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Recommended Reading: Books about the Maya |
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