Artifact: Mayan Calendar

The Maya are most famous for their architecture, art, and advanced studies of mathematics and astrology. Mayan ruins are rich with clues about the mystery of this Mesoamerican society and are still studied today. These ancient city plans and structures are designed and constructed to meet the religious and ceremonial needs of the Mayans. The Maya worshipped and prayed to a numerous assortment of gods, each having their own unique, individual aspects that fulfilled different functions. Through their interactions and cultural diffusement with other Mesoamerican civilizations and their own studies of the stars, the Maya created a fully developed system of calendars. These calendars consisted of three separate systems (Long Count, Tzolk’in, and Haab) of tracking time that overlap and intersected at key points in each’s cycle. In the Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl (shown above) each cycle is represented. The sun god Tonatuiah is depicted in the center, surrounded by the four previous perished creations (jaguar, wind, rain, water). This is enveloped by the 20 day cycle of the Tzolk’in and the five dots for the five unlucky days that align the Tzolk’in 360 day cycle with the Haab 365 day cycle. It was the Mayan priest’s job to interpret these calendars’ cycles and give a prophetic outlook on the past or future to the Mayan population based on the calendars relationships. “The repetition of the various calendric cycles, the natural cycles of observable phenomena, and the recurrence and renewal of death-rebirth imagery in their mythological traditions were important influences upon Maya societies.”* The celestial and terrestrial cycles observed by the Mayans and inscribed in their calendars marked the timing of each ritual and ceremony. The Mayan calendar also allowed for the priest to record events in an elegant linear system. The Maya believed that knowing the past meant you could understand the cyclical influences of the present, and by understanding the present, they could understand the cyclical influences of the future.

*Coe (1992), Miller and Taube (1993).