DOCSLIB.ORG

Maya Narratives: Gods, Lords, and Courts

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Maya Narratives: Gods, Lords, and Courts ANTHROPOLOGY 1168 SEVER HALL 102, TUESDAY AND THURSDAY 10 -11AM 1524-1560: Spanish secular and ecclesiastical authorities have some access to and are curious about Maya hieroglyphs and the content of the indigenous codices 1560-s – late 17th century: a change in perception to “books of the devil” and an increasingly aggressive campaign against Maya hieroglyphic codices and their keepers Several attempts to understand Maya writing and translate some codices but none of such descriptions/translations has survived except for Landa’s Diego de Landa (1524-1579) Second Bishop of Yucatán, Mexico Great auto de fe in Mani in 1562 Second campaign in 1573-79 “…It was impossible to proceed strictly juridically with them… because if we had proceeded with all according to the order of the law, it would be impossible to finish with the province of Maní alone in twenty years…” 16th century 17th century After Chuchiak 2004: Map 1 John Lloyd Stephens (1805-1872) American lawyer, diplomat and travel writer Author of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán (1841) and Incidents of Travel in Yucatán (1843), two lengthy & well-illustrated reports of his travels through Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in 1849- 1841, accompanied by the artist Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854) Abbé Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg (1814-1874) Widely-traveled cleric who discovered many of the great manuscripts upon which current Mayanist research depends including Diego de Landa's Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán (in an anonymous copy dating to 1661), the Quiché Maya Popol Vuh, and the famous 16th- century Motul Dictionary of Yucatec Maya. Ernst Förstemann (1822-1906) Published and studies the Dresden codex Deciphered Maya numbers and calendar Identified and explained the astronomical information in the Dresden codex (Venus and lunar tables) Combinations of 260- day cycle names and days of the 365-day solar year repeat approximately every 52 years Most Maya dates are recorded in this system The Long Count was used for larger periods of time Leon de Rosny (1837-1914) Studied the Paris and Madrid codices Suggested that Maya writing was a mix of phonetic signs and word signs Identified glyphs for cardinal directions Could it be a spelling of cutz – a word for “turkey”? Rosny suspected that it was, but he could not find a way to prove that the second sign was tz(V) Alfred Percival Maudslay (1850-1931) Documented the monuments of Palenque, Copan and Quirigua in both casts and photographs, opening the way to the decipherment of Maya writing. Sir J. Eric S. Thompson (1898- 1975) Dean of Maya hieroglyphic research through much of the twentieth century, Thompson contributed greatly to our understanding of the complicated Maya calendar First comprehensive catalog of Maya glyphs Yurii Knorozov (1922-1999) Suggested that Maya writing was logo-syllabic and typologically similar to Old World scripts Landa’s “alphabet” as a bi-script Same signs in the surviving Maya codices used to decipher more syllables based on context Landa’s Relacíon de las Cosas de Yucatán (ca. 1565) is an invaluable survey of Maya culture on the eve of the Conquest, containing detailed descriptions of the Maya calendar, the Yukatek Maya language and a bilingual key to ancient Maya writing. Only an abridged later copy of the original manuscript has survived . Knorozov realized that the Maya script had too many signs for a heavily logographic system like Chinese but too few for a purely syllabic or alphabetic writing .Multiple signs in Landa’s alphabet were assigned the same values (a, b, l, o, u). It would make sense in a mixed logosyllabic script, but not in an alphabet .Several signs are assigned values including both a consonant and a vowel (e.g., ca, ka, cu, ku, ma and ti). So the script probably contained syllables Cutz means “turkey” in many Mayan languages including Yucatec spoken in the region where the codices were likely from cu – tzu? Knorozov suggested that the value of the second sign could be tz(u), so that the spelling was cu-tz(u) Madrid Codex 91a tz(u)-l(?) Dresden 7a Dresden 13c Dresden 21b Dresden 40b Captions to the images of dogs in the Dresden codex always contained a word spelled with two characters – a potential tz(u) and one of “l” letters of Landa’s alphabet. One of the words for “dog” in Yucatec is tzul, so Knorozov suggested that captions spelled the word tzul as tzu-l(u) Dresden 19a 20a 21a Knorosov showed that Landa’s l(u) and cu appeared together in the spelling *-lu-cu, where context requires the Mayan word buluk “eleven”. allographs mu- u-lu-mu u-mu-ti u-mu-ti muwan ulum u-mut u-mut allographs u-mu-ca u-mu-ca CHAK-CHE-e u-muc u-muc ca-CAAN CHE-e Initial and final phonetic complements or “clues” as Knorozov termed them Problem with language identification (Knorozov tried to read in Yukatek instead of Ch’olan) Letter to M. Coe. 1957; DO archive Some “corrections” where in fact a step in a wrong direction… David H. Kelley (1924 - 2011) first American scholar to both support and extend Knorosov’s phonetic approach. tu uucpiz tun uaxac ahau u katunil, laix u katunil cimci chakanputun tumen kakupacal yetel tec uilue “In the seventh year of Katun 8 Ahau, this was the time when Chakanputun was destoyed by Kakupacal and Tec Uilu.” Chilam Balam of Chumayel (Roys 1967: 51, 141) Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909-1985) Her 1958 article on the historical nature of Maya inscriptions brought about a paradigm change in Maya research. Heinrich Berlin (1915-1987) Berlin’s main interest in Maya writing was personal names, but in 1958 he found a series of glyphs that were particular to individual sites (or kingdoms). Berlin’s “Emblem Glyphs” are now knownto be the personal titles of Maya kings, identifying them as the “divine lords” of their own kingdoms. His discovery was a major breakthrough in understanding Classic Maya political organization, which had previously been interpreted as everything from an Empire to a series of small chiefdoms. Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions (1968+) Tikal project reports Copan inscriptions by Barbara Fash Palenque inscriptions by Merle Greene Robertson and Linda Schele Maya vases by Michael Coe and particularly by Justin Kerr (Maya Vase Book volumes and later data base) Harvard Peabody and Dumbarton Oaks conferences (1971+) Palenque Round Table series (1973+) New generation of scholars: Floyd Lounsbury, Victoria Bricker, Linda Schele, Peter Mathews, John Justeson, Stephen Houston, David Stuart, Nikolai Grube, Alfonso Lacadena, Simon Martin David Stuart (1965-) .Stuart vastly enlarged the number of contexts in which phonetic readings could be tested by turning his attention to logographs. .His Ten Phonetic Syllables (1987) remains a foundational study for decipherment methodology. Three ways of writing tz’a-pa-ja, tz’ahpaj “it is driven into the ground” Words in the Maya script may be written with syllables (phonetic values only) or with logograms (pronunciation & meaning): AJAW vs. a-ja-wa PAKAL vs. pa-ka-la WITZ vs. wi-tzi Understanding spelling variation became key to all later decipherments Many more Mayan languages have been documented in the last 50 years Contributions by Lyle Campbell, Terrence Kaufman, John Justeson, John Robertson, Soeren Wichmann and Victoria Bricker have led to a better understanding of modern Maya languages and their historical trajectories It has become clear that most Maya inscriptions were written in some Ch’olan language Present-day discussions center on the exact nature of the Classic Mayan / Hieroglyphic Mayan and its relation to the present-day and colonial Ch’olan languages and the spelling rules in the script Rediscovery of Maya glyphs Deciphering the calendar Phonetic decipherment The final breakthrough The language of the glyphs .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Yucatán, México
    1 Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, and Labná http://academic.reed.edu/uxmal/ return to Annotated Bibliography Architecture, Restoration, and Imaging of the Maya Cities of UXMAL, KABAH, SAYIL, AND LABNÁ The Puuc Region, Yucatán, México Charles Rhyne Reed College Annotated Bibliography Yucatán This is not a general bibliography on the Yucatán. This section includes publications on the Yucatán that deal extensively with the Puuc Region. Because these often give attention to individual sites, some of these publications are listed also in the sections on Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, or Labná. Most publications on larger topics, such as Maya art or architecture, are listed only in those sections of the subject matter bibliography. A Álvarez, María C. Textos coloniales del Libro de Chilam Balam de Chumayel y textos glificos del Códice Dresden. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-Centro de Estudios Mayas, Book 10, 1972. Andrews, Anthony P. “El ‘guerrero’ de Loltún: comentario analítico”. Boletín de la Escuela de Ciencias Antropológicas de la Universidad de Yucatán. 48/49: 36-50, 1981. Andrews, Anthony P. “Late Postclassic Lowland Maya Archaeology”, Journal of World Prehistory, 7:1 (1993), 35- 69. 2 Andrews, Anthony P., E. Wyllys Andrews V, and Fernando Robles Castellanos “The Northern Maya Collapse and its Aftermath”. Paper presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, Philadelphia, 2000. Andrews, E. Wyllys, IV Archaeological Investigations on the Yucatan Peninsula. New Orleans: Tulane University, Middle American Research Institute (MARI), Pub. 31, 1975. Andrews, E. Wyllys, IV “Archaeology and Prehistory in the Northern Maya Lowlands: An Introduction”. Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica: Part One, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Glyph T93 and Maya "Hand -Scattering"
    5 Glyph T93 and Maya "Hand-scattering" Events BRUCE LOVE Dumbarton Oaks N THE UPPER TEXT of each of the four "New Year" pages of the Dresden Codex (Fig. la-d) I appears the compound T93.682b (Fig. Ie). In one instance, the suffix T87 - the familiar TE sign (Thompson 1950:271) - is attached (Fig. If). In a recent presentation (Love 1986), I proposed that these are to be read, respectively, as ch'a-h(a) and ch'a-h(a) TE, with the alternative possibility that T93 was used, not as the phonetic syllable ch'a, but lographically, as CH' AH, with T682b as a redundant phonetic indicator, or CH'AH-(ha) TE. Further investigation supports the ch'alCH' AH reading for T93 to the extent that it now warrants presentation to the community of Mayanists for evaluation. This is the primary purpose of the present paper. In addition, I will examine some implications of the proposed reading for current interpretations of the "hand-scattering" events in Maya art and texts. The combinations T93.682b or T93.682b:87 appear on Dresden 25-28 with numerical coefficients of 7, 16, 5, and 6. In all four cases the glyph is paired with T687b - read as po-rn(o), or porn ("incense") by Lounsbury (1973:107) - which consistently occupies the preceding glyph block. Each of these also carries a numerical prefix, or coefficient (9, 7, 11, and 6). This pairing of two nominals, each with prefixed numbers, and one with the clear meaning of "incense," suggests that both refer to offerings connected with the ritual depicted in the accompanying scenes.
    [Show full text]
  • With the Protection of the Gods: an Interpretation of the Protector Figure in Classic Maya Iconography
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2012 With The Protection Of The Gods: An Interpretation Of The Protector Figure In Classic Maya Iconography Tiffany M. Lindley University of Central Florida Part of the Anthropology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Lindley, Tiffany M., "With The Protection Of The Gods: An Interpretation Of The Protector Figure In Classic Maya Iconography" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 2148. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2148 WITH THE PROTECTION OF THE GODS: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE PROTECTOR FIGURE IN CLASSIC MAYA ICONOGRAPHY by TIFFANY M. LINDLEY B.A. University of Alabama, 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2012 © 2012 Tiffany M. Lindley ii ABSTRACT Iconography encapsulates the cultural knowledge of a civilization. The ancient Maya of Mesoamerica utilized iconography to express ideological beliefs, as well as political events and histories. An ideology heavily based on the presence of an Otherworld is visible in elaborate Maya iconography. Motifs and themes can be manipulated to convey different meanings based on context.
    [Show full text]
  • The Toltec Invasion and Chichen Itza
    Other titles of interest published by Thames & Hudson include: Breaking the Maya Code Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs Angkor and the Khmer Civilization India: A Short History The Incas The Aztecs See our websites www.thamesandhudson.com www.thamesandhudsonusa.com 7 THE POSTCLASSIC By the close of the tenth century AD the destiny of the once proud and independent Maya had, at least in northern Yucatan, fallen into the hands of grim warriors from the highlands of central Mexico, where a new order of men had replaced the supposedly more intellectual rulers of Classic times. We know a good deal about the events that led to the conquest of Yucatan by these foreigners, and the subsequent replacement of their state by a resurgent but already decadent Maya culture, for we have entered into a kind of history, albeit far more shaky than that which was recorded on the monuments of the Classic Period. The traditional annals of the peoples of Yucatan, and also of the Guatemalan highlanders, transcribed into Spanish letters early in Colonial times, apparently reach back as far as the beginning of the Postclassic era and are very important sources. But such annals should be used with much caution, whether they come to us from Bishop Landa himself, from statements made by the native nobility, or from native lawsuits and land claims. These are often confused and often self-contradictory, not least because native lineages seem to have deliberately falsified their own histories for political reasons. Our richest (and most treacherous) sources are the K’atun Prophecies of Yucatan, contained in the “Books of Chilam Balam,” which derive their name from a Maya savant said to have predicted the arrival of the Spaniards from the east.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rulers of Palenque a Beginner’S Guide
    The Rulers of Palenque A Beginner’s Guide By Joel Skidmore With illustrations by Merle Greene Robertson Citation: 2008 The Rulers of Palenque: A Beginner’s Guide. Third edition. Mesoweb: www. mesoweb.com/palenque/resources/rulers/PalenqueRulers-03.pdf. Publication history: The first edition of this work, in html format, was published in 2000. The second was published in 2007, when the revised edition of Martin and Grube’s Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens was still in press, and this third conforms to the final publica- tion (Martin and Grube 2008). To check for a more recent edition, see: www.mesoweb.com/palenque/resources/rulers/rulers.html. Copyright notice: All drawings by Merle Greene Robertson unless otherwise noted. Mesoweb Publications The Rulers of Palenque INTRODUCTION The unsung pioneer in the study of Palenque’s dynastic history is Heinrich Berlin, who in three seminal studies (Berlin 1959, 1965, 1968) provided the essential outline of the dynasty and explicitly identified the name glyphs and likely accession dates of the major Early and Late Classic rulers (Stuart 2005:148-149). More prominent and well deserved credit has gone to Linda Schele and Peter Mathews (1974), who summarized the rulers of Palenque’s Late Classic and gave them working names in Ch’ol Mayan (Stuart 2005:149). The present work is partly based on the transcript by Phil Wanyerka of a hieroglyphic workshop presented by Schele and Mathews at the 1993 Maya Meet- ings at Texas (Schele and Mathews 1993). Essential recourse has also been made to the insights and decipherments of David Stuart, who made his first Palenque Round Table presentation in 1978 at the age of twelve (Stuart 1979) and has recently advanced our understanding of Palenque and its rulers immeasurably (Stuart 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Escritos Mayas Inéditos Y Publicados Hasta 1578
    ESCRITOS MAYAS INÉDITOS Y PUBLICADOS HASTA 1578: TESTIMONIO DEL OBISPO DIEGO DE LANDA 1 René Acuña (Estudios de Cultura Maya, Volumen XXI, 2000) Abstract: Bishop Landa was one of the major actors, and actually authors, in sixteenth century Yucatan. Importance of his letter, addressed to the Inquisidores of New Spain (Jan. 19, 1578), stands is that he explicitly explains what the Status of the Maya written production by the Franciscan friars was by that time. He does not mention any existing grammar and/or Mayan vocabulary, and he roundly denies that Maya translations of the Holy Books were then available. Presentation of Landa’s letter is a brief one, with no claim whatsoever to historical and/or philological depth. Resumen: El obispo Landa fue uno de los principales actores, de hecho autores, en el Yucatán del siglo xvi. La importancia de su carta, dirigida a los inquisidores de Nueva España (enero 19 de 1578), radica en que expone sin reticencias el estado en que se encontraba la producción de los lingüistas franciscanos hasta la época de su informe. Sobre la existencia de gramáticas o vocabularios de lengua maya no dice palabra, y sin ambages niega que hubiera a mano traducción alguna de las Escrituras Sagradas. La presentación de esta carta es sumaria, sin la menor pretensión de profundidad filológica o histórica. El manuscrito, descripción y datos históricos El documento publicado a continuación se encuentra en el Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), ramo Inquisición, volumen 90, expediente 42 (antes 8). Consta de dos fojas tamaño folio, escritas por ambas caras.
    [Show full text]
  • Resistencia E Identidades De Mujeres Mam En Oposición a La Mina Marlin En San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala
    Resistencia e Identidades de mujeres Mam en oposición a la mina Marlin en San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala Nancy Isabella Sabas Gonzalez Universidad Nacional de Colombia Maestría en Estudios de Género, Escuela de Estudios de Género Bogotá, Colombia 2019 Resistencia e Identidades de mujeres Mam en oposición a la mina Marlin en San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala Nancy Isabella Sabas Gonzalez Tesis presentada como requisito parcial para optar al título de: Maestría en Estudios de Género Director (a): Ph.D., Astrid Ulloa Línea de Investigación: Globalización, Desigualdades Sociales y Políticas Públicas Universidad Nacional de Colombia Maestría en Estudios de Género, Escuela de Género Bogotá, Colombia 2019 La propiedad y el dinero […] son materialmente acaparaciones, desvitalizaciones de lo vivo, abstracciones de la muerte, en el sentido gaiatico de la muerte, porque se realiza matando la vida. […] Lo que la propiedad y la posesividad significan en realidad es lo contrario a lo que pretenden significar: la desposesión de la abundancia de la vida. Casilda Rodrigañez Agradecimientos En primer lugar, agradezco a mi madre, Nora González, por inspirarme para estudiar sobre las desigualdades que experimentan día a día las mujeres racializadas y empobrecidas en la sociedad. Así mismo, agradezco de manera especial a la Diócesis de San Marcos, Guatemala, por su admirable trabajo en San Miguel Ixtahuacán y por conectarme con esta comunidad para realizar esta investigación. También extiendo mi más profunda gratitud y admiración a todas las mujeres Mam que resisten a diario contra el extractivismo en sus comunidades, particularmente a Maudilia López por ofrecerme su amistad y aportar profundamente para esta tesis. Agradezco también a la Parroquia de San Miguel Ixtahuacán, por su contribución a esta investigación y por proveer un espacio para mi autocuidado y sanidad interior durante mi estadía allá.
    [Show full text]
  • Solution of the Mayan Calendar Enigma Thomas Chanier
    Solution of the Mayan Calendar Enigma Thomas Chanier To cite this version: Thomas Chanier. Solution of the Mayan Calendar Enigma. 2016. hal-01254966v6 HAL Id: hal-01254966 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01254966v6 Preprint submitted on 29 Nov 2016 (v6), last revised 13 Nov 2018 (v7) HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. SOLUTION OF THE MAYAN CALENDAR ENIGMA Thomas Chanier∗ Independent researcher, Coralville, Iowa 52241, USA The Mayan arithmetical model of astronomy is described. The astronomical origin of the Mayan Calendar (the 260-day Tzolk'in, the 365-day Haab', the 3276-day Kawil-direction-color cycle and the 1872000-day Long Count Calendar) is demonstrated and the position of the Calendar Round at the mythical date of creation 13(0).0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku is calculated. The results are expressed as a function of the Xultun numbers, four enigmatic Long Count numbers deciphered in the Maya ruins of Xultun, dating from the IX century CE. (Saturno 2012) Evidence shows that this model was used in the Maya Classic period (200 to 900 CE) to determine the Palenque lunar equation.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Origin of the Different Mayan Calendars Thomas Chanier
    On the origin of the different Mayan Calendars Thomas Chanier To cite this version: Thomas Chanier. On the origin of the different Mayan Calendars. 2014. hal-01018037v1 HAL Id: hal-01018037 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01018037v1 Submitted on 3 Jul 2014 (v1), last revised 14 Jan 2015 (v3) HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. On the origin of the different Mayan Calendars T. Chanier∗1 1 Department of Physics, University of Namur, rue de Bruxelles 61, B-5000 Namur, Belgium The Maya were known for their astronomical proficiency. Whereas Mayan mathematics were based on a vigesimal system, they used a different base when dealing with long periods of time, the Long Count Calendar (LCC), composed of different Long Count Periods: the Tun of 360 days, the Katun of 7200 days and the Baktun of 144000 days. There were three other calendars used in addition to the LCC: a civil year Haab’ of 365 days, a religious year Tzolk’in of 260 days and a 3276- day cycle (combination of the 819-day Kawil cycle and 4 colors-directions). Based on astronomical arguments, we propose here an explanation of the origin of the LCC, the Tzolk’in and the 3276-day cycle.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Note 10
    Textdatenbank und Wörterbuch des Klassischen Maya Arbeitsstelle der Nordrhein-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste an der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn ISSN 2366-5556 RESEARCH NOTE 10 Published 28 May 2018 DOI: 10.20376/IDIOM-23665556.18.rn010.en The Signs 740 and 812 for SIH “Gift”: Representation and Meaning in the Maya Codices Christian M. Prager1 1) Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn In his sign catalog, Eric Thompson (1962:320–322) includes under sign no. 740 two graphs that are nearly identical. Their icon represents an upward-facing iguana head, but differ by a row of dots atop the mouth of one variant. The first variant of T740 lacking the dots represents the syllable hu1 (Figure 1a); the second grapheme with the row of dots (Figure 1b) is read as SIY, SIH, or SIJ, depending on its respective context (Houston 1997:292; Stuart 2005:78). All these respective linguistic readings of the logogram are plausible interpretations that will be discussed below in further detail. a b Figure 1. Grapheme (a) denotes the syllabic sign hu; and (b) represents the logogram SIH ‘bestow’ or ‘be born’, respectively (drawings by Christian Prager). Hieroglyphs meaning ‘birth’, including siyaj ‘be born’, sihyaj or sijyaj ‘be bestowed’ (represented by the grapheme T740), and pan kab or tal kab ‘touch the earth’ (T217:526) (MacLeod 1991:2–3; Stuart 2005:79) are, with over 100 attestations, among the most frequently used verbs in texts from the Classic period (Gronemeyer 2014:617–621), because of the large number of biographical reports about Maya rulers and members of their courts (Proskouriakoff 1960; Schele 1982).
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1601.03132V7 [Math.HO] 15 Nov 2018 [2]
    Solution of the Mayan Calendar Enigma Thomas Chanier1∗ 1Independent researcher, 1025 12th avenue, Coralville, Iowa 52241, USA The Mayan calendar is proposed to derive from an arithmetical model of naked-eye astronomy. The Palenque and Copan lunar equations, used during the Maya Classic period (200 to 900 AD) are solution of the model and the results are expressed as a function of the Xultun numbers, four enigmatic Long Count numbers deciphered in the Maya ruins of Xultun, dating from the IX century AD, providing strong arguments in favor of the use of the model by the Maya. The different Mayan Calendar cycles can be derived from this model and the position of the Calendar Round at the mythical date of creation 13(0).0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku is calculated. This study shows the high proficiency of Mayan mathematics as applied to astronomy and timekeeping for divinatory purposes.a I. INTRODUCTION In the Calendar Round, a date is represented by αXβY with the religious month 1 ≤ α ≤ 13, X one of the 20 Mayan priests-astronomers were known for their astro- religious days, the civil day 0 ≤ β ≤ 19, and Y one of the nomical and mathematical proficiency, as demonstrated 18 civil months, 0 ≤ β ≤ 4 for the Uayeb. Fig. 1 shows a in the Dresden Codex, a XIV century AD bark-paper contemporary representation of the Calendar Round as book containing accurate astronomical almanacs aiming a set of three interlocking wheels: the Tzolk'in, formed to correlate ritual practices with astronomical observa- by a 13-month and a 20-day wheels and the Haab'.
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, México
    FAMSI © 2003: Ivan Šprajc Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, México: 2002 Field Season Report With Appendices by Daniel Juárez Cossío and Adrián Baker Pedroza, and Nikolai Grube Research Year: 2002 Culture: Maya Chronology: Classic Location: Campeche, México Sites: Various Table of Contents Abstract Resumen Acknowledgments Introduction Comments on Particular Sites El Mameyal La Victoria Altar de los Reyes El Chismito Los Tambores Balakbal Altamira Other sites Concluding Remarks List of Figures Appendix 1: Emergency consolidation works at Mucaancah by Daniel Juárez Cossío and Adrián Baker Pedroza Appendix 2: Epigraphic Analysis of Altar 3 of Altar de los Reyes by Nikolai Grube Sources Cited Abstract The project represented the fourth season of reconnaissance works in an archaeologically little known region of central Maya Lowlands. Several formerly unknown archaeological sites were surveyed in the southeastern part of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and in the adjacent region to the east, and two large sites reported by Karl Ruppert’s expeditions in 1930s were reexamined. The location and basic characteristics of the sites, mainly pertaining to the Classic period, were recorded and some surface pottery was collected. At Altar de los Reyes, a major urban center, two main architectural complexes were mapped and some interesting sculpted monuments were found, including an extraordinary altar with a series of emblem glyphs. Resumen El proyecto representó la cuarta temporada de trabajos de reconocimiento en una región arqueológicamente poco conocida de las tierras bajas mayas centrales. Inspeccionamos varios sitios arqueológicos previamente desconocidos en la parte sureste de la Reserva de la Biósfera de Calakmul y en la región adyacente hacia el este, y reexaminamos dos sitios grandes reportados por las expediciones de Karl Ruppert en la década de 1930.
    [Show full text]