Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T21:01:55.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE CALCULATION OF THE LUNAR SERIES ON CLASSIC MAYA MONUMENTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2007

Andreas Fuls
Andreas Fuls*
Affiliation:
Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation Science, Technical University of Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 12049 Berlin, Germany
*
E-mail correspondence to: {fuls@igg.tu-berlin.de}
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Archaeological and historical evidence clearly shows that the Lunar Series of mythical dates were calculated backward—that is, they were often determined from the date on which the monument was erected using a specific formula to calculate the age of the moon. In this article, I present a high-precision adjustment technique that confirms the “Palenque formula” using Lunar Series data from recent excavations. I show that the Palenque formula was also used at Tikal on 9.16.15.0.0 to backward calculate the Lunar Series of 5.0.0.0.0 12 Ahaw 3 Sak. At Coba, the backward calculation of the Lunar Series of the Era base date used a less precise 29.5-day lunar month. I also discuss the relationship between rulers of specific sites and the lunar-month count at those sites, finding that there was no “Period of Uniformity” in lunar calculation, as proposed by John Teeple (1930). Although a uniform six-month count was used during the reign of several rulers, in many cases the month count changed after a new ruler came to throne. I propose a month count related to a cycle of eight tropical years for the Lunar Series of K'inich Yo'nal Ahk I and Yo'nal Ahk III at the site of Piedras Negras.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , Fall 2007 , pp. 273 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, IV, Wyllys, E. 1951 The Maya Supplementary Series. In The Civilizations of Ancient America: Selected Papers of the XXIVth International Congress of Americanists, edited by Tax, Sol, pp. 123–141. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Berlin-Neubart, Heinrich 1970 Über Mondseriationen bei den Maya. Schweizerische Amerikanisten-Gesellschaft, Bulletin No. 34, Genf.Google Scholar
Fuls, Andreas 2004 El enigma del calendario maya. Investigacion y ciencia 5:64–71.Google Scholar
Fuls, Andreas 2007 Die astronomische Datierung der klassischen Mayakultur: Implikationen einer um 208 Jahre verschobenen Mayachronologie. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hamburg, Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt.Google Scholar
Graham, Ian, and von Euw, Eric 1997 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions., Vol. 8, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Johnston, Kevin J. 2001 Broken Fingers: Classic Maya Scribe Capture and Polity Consolidation. Antiquity 75:371–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, David H. 1983 The Maya Calendar Correlation Problem. In Civilization in the Ancient Americas: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Leventhal, Richard M. and Kolata, Alan L., pp. 157–208. University New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Kelley, David H., and Milone, Eugene F. 2005 Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy. Springer Science and Business Media, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linden, John H. 1986 Glyph X of the Maya Lunar Series: An Eighteen-Month Lunar Synodic Calendar. American Antiquity 51(1):122–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Simon, and Grube, Nikolai 2000 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens, Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Mathews, Peter 1992 No title. Workshop material presented at the Maya Hieroglyphic Weekend, October 31–November 1, 1992 at the Cleveland State University.Google Scholar
Mickler, Erich H. 1977 Die Mondhalbjahre in den Inschriften der Maya. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.Google Scholar
Mickler, Erich H. 1982 Funktionale Aspekte der Lunar Series in den Maya-Inschriften. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.Google Scholar
Montgomery, John 2000 The Montgomery Drawings Collection. http://research.famsi.org/montgomery.html Piedras Negras, Guatemala, JM05377, Stela 14, Left Side.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus G. 1937–1938 The Inscriptions of Peten. Publication 437, 5 vols. Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus G., and Brainerd, George W. 1983 The Ancient Maya, 4th ed.Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Riese, Berthold 1988 The Po Throne Panel: A Classic Maya Stone Relief. Journal of Mayan Linguistics 6:47–54.Google Scholar
Robertson, Merle Green 1991 The Sculpture of Palenque, Volume 4: The Cross Group, the North Group, the Olvidado, and Other Pieces. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Satterthwaite, Linton 1951 Moon Ages of the Maya Inscriptions: The Problem of their Seven-Day Range of Deviation from Calculated Mean Ages. In The Civilizations of Ancient America: Selected Papers of the XXIVth International Congress of Americanists, edited by Tax, Sol, pp. 142–154/ University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Satterthwaite, Linton 1959 Early “Uniformity” Maya Moon Numbers at Tikal and Elsewhere. Proceedings of the 33rd International Congress of Americanists 2:200–210.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, Grube, Nikolai, and Fahsen, Federico 1992 The Lunar Series in Classic Maya Inscriptions: New Observation and Interpretations. Texas Notes on Precolumbian Art, Writing, and Culture, No. 29. University of Texas, AustinGoogle Scholar
Seleschnikow, Semjon I. 1981 Wieviel Monde hat ein Jahr? Urania Verlag, LeipzigGoogle Scholar
Stuart, David S. 2000 Las nuevas inscripciones del Templo XIX, Palenque. Arqueología Mexicana VIII(45):28–33.Google Scholar
Teeple, John E. 1925a Maya Inscriptions: Further Notes on the Supplementary Series. American Anthropologist, new series 27(1):544–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teeple, John E. 1925b Maya Inscriptions: Glyph C, D, and E of the Supplementary Series. American Anthropologist, new series 27(1):108–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teeple, John E. 1930 Maya Astronomy. In Contributions to American Archaeology, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 29–115. Publication 403. Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Wells, Bryan, and Fuls, Andreas 2000 Correlating the Modern Western and Ancient Maya Calendars. ESRS (West) Monograph No. 5. Early Sites Research Society, Berlin.Google Scholar