A recently published study in the popular science journal
Science Advances
found evidence that
the Mayan calendar may be older than previously thought.
The researchers discovered that several Mesoamerican structures were built based on a specific solar orientation, coinciding with sunrises on specific dates, reports
RT.
By analyzing the characteristics and alignment of the complexes, which date from between 1,100 and 750 BC, the specialists found that the monuments present patterns that coincide with the
260 days, 13 numbers and 20 symbols
used by the Mayan calendar to measure time.
Which would mean that the cholq'ij, as they say "order of days" in Maya, would be at least
3,000 years old.
A pyramid from the archaeological site of Cobá, Mexico (AP).
Last year, researchers from the University of Texas reported finding traces of a Mayan calendar dating back at least
2,000 years
in an excavation at the San Bartolo archaeological site in southwestern Guatemala.
However, the new discoveries would push back another millennium the date predicted by researchers at the University of Texas, which until now was considered the oldest, indicates
RT.
According to Professor David Stuart (who discovered the vestiges at San Bartolo) the new results present "good, strong evidence that the Mayan calendar had its origins long before we had the actual written evidence," the expert told
Science.
In late 2021, Takeshi Inomata published the largest laser imaging detection and ranging archaeological survey to date, known as LiDAR 3D.
An ancient Mayan calendar (Shutterstock).
The scanner
makes it possible to find vestiges and map places thanks to hundreds of flashes of light, which are collected and reconstructed as three-dimensional maps.
Back then, Inomata analyzed areas of the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where he found
478 Mesoamerican monuments
, most of them unexplored, says
RT.
Intrigued by the find, Šprajc contacted Professor Inomata, with the intention of collaborating in the study of 415 of the structures found.
After months of study, the experts (in collaboration with Anthony Aveni) discovered that in most cases, the orientation of the complexes was linked to
sunrises on specific dates
and that 90% of the structures had landmarks. architectural, which allowed to locate the sunrises with February 11 and October 29 of the Gregorian calendar, whose spacing range is adjusted to the 260 days of the Mayan calendar.
three thousand years old
"The oldest of these complexes dates to around
1100 BC,
at a time known as the Formative period, suggesting that the 260-day calendar is at least as old," explains the
Science publication.
A Mayan calendar found in a pyramid (Shutterstock).
The ancient Maya
relied on the alignment of the stars
, the architectural features of buildings, and other natural landmarks in order to build time measurement instruments,
RT
reports .
Other of the monuments studied by the researchers also presented regular patterns.
In some cases, the orientation of the complexes coincided with sunrises with intervals of
130 days,
that is, half of the Mayan calendar.
While others presented spaces of 13 or 20 days, such as the number of numbers and symbols used by the cholq'ij.
Other structures were built following the orientation of
the cycles of Venus and the Moon,
associated with the rainy season and the cultivation of corn, while in other cases it was not possible to identify a reference.
A huge Mayan calendar found in some archaeological ruins (Shutterstock).
"What fascinates me," Professor Stuart told
Science
, "is that there is this regularity and consistent pattern from the very beginning and it lasts for centuries throughout the history of Maya architecture,"
RT says.
The oldest structures studied by the researchers date back to the time when the Mesoamerican population was transitioning from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one, Ivan Šprajc explained to the American media.
At that time,
the cultivation of corn
was barely gaining relevance among civilizations, so the 260-day calendar could have been useful to indicate when certain resources would be abundant, said the Slovenian researcher, who considers that the cholq'ij is closely related with
the growth cycle of that plant.
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