Maya astronomy

Figure from the Madrid Codex, interpreted as an astronomer^[1]

The Caracol structure at Chichen Itza has been interpreted as an observatory

Maya astronomy is the study of the stars, planets, sun, and other astronomical occurrences by the Precolumbian Maya Civilization of Mesoamerica. The Classic Maya in particular saw the Maya develop some of the most accurate pre-telescope astronomy in the world, aided by their fully developed writing system and their positional numeral system, both of which are fully indigenous to Mesoamerica. The Classic Maya understood of many astronomical phenomena: For example, their estimate of the length of the synodic month being more accurate than Ptolemy's,^[2] and their calculation as to the length of the tropical solar year was more accurate than that of the Spanish when the latter first arrived.^[3]

Notes

1. Milbrath 1999, pp. 252-253.
2. "Mayan Astronomy". University of Arizona. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
3. Leon-Portilla, Miguel (1 September 1990). Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806123080. Retrieved 11 December 2014.

References

Milbrath, Susan (1999). "Stars, the Milky Way, Comets, and Meteors" (PDF). Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars. Austin, Texas, US: University of Texas Press. pp. 249–293. ISBN 0292752253. OCLC 40848420 – via Project MUSE. (subscription required (help)).

Further reading

Aveni, Anthony F. (May–June 1979). "Venus and the Maya: Interdisciplinary studies of Maya myth, building orientations, and written records indicate that astronomers of the pre-Columbian world developed a sophisticated, if distinctive, cosmology". American Scientist (Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society) 67 (3): 274–285. Bibcode:1979AmSci..67..274A. JSTOR 27849219. (subscription required)

Chambers, David Wade (Autumn 1965). "Did the Maya Know the Metonic Cycle?". Isis (The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society) 56 (3): 348–351. doi:10.1086/350004. JSTOR 228110. (subscription required)

Martin, Frederick (March 1993). "A Dresden Codex Eclipse Sequence: Projections for the Years 1970-1992". Latin American Antiquity (Society for American Archaeology) 4 (1): 74–93. JSTOR 972138. (subscription required)

Merrill, Robert H. (July 1946). "A Graphical Approach to Some Problems in Maya Astronomy". American Antiquity (Society for American Archaeology) 12 (1): 35–46. doi:10.2307/275812. JSTOR 275812. (subscription required)

Merrill, Robert H. (July 1947). "A Note on the Maya Venus Table". American Antiquity (Society for American Archaeology) 13 (1): 82–85. doi:10.2307/275759. JSTOR 275759. (subscription required)

Merrill, Robert H. (January 1949). "The Maya Eclipse Table of the Dresden Codex: A Reply". American Antiquity (Society for American Archaeology) 14 (3): 228–230. doi:10.2307/275605. JSTOR 275605. (subscription required)

Satterthwaite, Linton (January 1949). "The Dark Phase of the Moon and Ancient Maya Methods of Solar Eclipse Prediction". American Antiquity (Society for American Archaeology) 14 (3): 230–234. doi:10.2307/275606. JSTOR 275606. (subscription required)

Saturno, William A.; David Stuart; Anthony F. Aveni; Franco Rossi (11 May 2012). "Ancient Maya Astronomical Tables from Xultun, Guatemala". Science. New Series (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 336 (6082): 714–717. Bibcode:2012Sci...336..714S. doi:10.1126/science.1221444. JSTOR 41584795. PMID 22582260. (subscription required)

Tedlock, Dennis; Barbara Tedlock (July–August 1993). "A Mayan Reading of the Story of the Stars". Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) 46 (4): 33–35. JSTOR 41771053. (subscription required)

Thompson, J. E. S. (2 May 1974). "Maya Astronomy". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (The Royal Society) 276 (1257, The Place of Astronomy in the Ancient World): 83–98. Bibcode:1974RSPTA.276...83T. doi:10.1098/rsta.1974.0011. JSTOR 74276. (subscription required)

Wertime, Richard A. Wertime; Angela M. H. Schuster (July–August 1993). "Celestial Origin of Maya Creation Myth". Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America) 46 (4): 26–30, 32. JSTOR 41771051. (subscription required)

Zaro, Gregory; Jon C. Lohse (March 2005). "Agricultural Rhythms and Rituals: Ancient Maya Solar Observation in Hinterland Blue Creek, Northwestern Belize". Latin American Antiquity (Society for American Archaeology) 16 (1): 81–98. doi:10.2307/30042487. JSTOR 30042487. (subscription required)