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The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

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Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#111

Post by ShadowBanThis01 »

jcranmer wrote: post #71
fjfaase wrote: post #3

This implies that the Mayan must have been recording the positions of the planets with great accuracy over a rather long period of time, probably spanning several generations.

The Mayan calendrical system is the most complex to have ever been used. To write a full date in a Classical Mayan site, you need to include: * The current date in the 365-day solar calendar (18 months of 20 days + 5 extracalendrical days) * The current date in the 260-day ritual calendar (13 "months" of 20 days, the months don't work like regular months we're used to) * The "long count" date, i.e., the number of day…

I studied with one of the top Mayan scholars in North America, and learned that the 260-day Mayan calendar was correlated to the human gestational period. So this is interesting: "They also note that the number of days (16,380) used in the math happens to be a multiple of 260, which means that 20 rounds of 819-day periods match with the Tzolk'in—the general Maya calendar."

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#112

Post by Someone »

chema wrote: post #103
fjfaase wrote: post #3

This implies that the Mayan must have been recording the positions of the planets with great accuracy over a rather long period of time, probably spanning several generations.

Absolutely. Years ago I made what is essentially a Unix time / Maya Long Count converter and I was very pleased with how similar they were in concept (i.e. counting seconds or days from a particular epoch) with the only major difference being the base 10 vs base 20. https://github.com/chema/long-count

> I was very pleased with how similar they were in concept (i.e. counting seconds or days from a particular epoch)

I don’t think there are many alternatives. Counting backwards would either mean diving into negative numbers or postponing that by starting at an arbitrary high number.

“In the x-th year of ruler Y” plus a knowledge of the succession of rulers is awkward for recording over centuries. I expect that has been used almost everywhere before history (in the meaning of ‘after prehistory’ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory) began, but as far as I know, where written records exist, countries that used it such as Japan also had another system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calendar)

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#113

Post by vertis »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #82
fouc wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wonder what kind of organizational structure the Mayan astrologers had in order to develop and propagate this knowledge in their society over generations. Getting vibes of Neal Stephenson's Anathem.

Holy shit. Thank you for bringing this up, I'd wondered for ~15 years what my uncle was reading at his desk one time when I visited, but only ever remembered the cover.

You should definitely stop everything and read it.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#114

Post by andrewshadura »

aeturnum wrote: post #20
fjfaase wrote: post #3

This implies that the Mayan must have been recording the positions of the planets with great accuracy over a rather long period of time, probably spanning several generations.

Yes, absolutely. The Maya are generally thought to have been 'around'[1] for ~1450 years. [1] Of course, Mayan people still exist (and continue to carry their culture), but this is about the civilization.

They’re properly called Maya people. The word Mayan only refers to the ancient civilisation.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#115

Post by hypertele-Xii »

kortilla wrote: post #78
trinsic2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are different scientific methods and different senses that need to be used for abstract topics like Alchemy. Just because most of the worlds population lost the ability to use these other senses to understand the science behind Alchemy does not make it any less important. What you are referring to in your one-size-fits-all "Scientific Method" is called Scientism. A belief, just like religion, that the only meth…

If there aren’t testable explanations or predictions, it’s not science. Otherwise the word carries no meaning.

Then why does the word science predate the scientific method? Clearly it used to carry meaning, even if you find it now meaningless in your zeal for the scientific method.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#116

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

egypturnash wrote: post #28
dzdt wrote: post #5

Sounds like a "guess" rather than a "solution". They have noticed a numerical coincidence and formed a hypothesis. Without additional evidence tying the 819-day count to astronomical observations its not particularly convincing.

There's basically no surviving Mayan literature, thanks to the hard work of the Catholic church. So good luck finding more evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Writing_and_...

Using the word "literature" is highly eurocentric here. These weren't really books, more like very specific manuals for an esoteric and very small caste of priests.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#117

Post by rsynnott »

eru wrote: post #49
api wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of doing the whole hell thing, which God decided was kind of harsh, they just moved us into a shitty timeline run by hack writers. It's kind of like what's done with a show that somehow hasn't been cancelled yet but where all the good writers and a few of the lead actors have moved on. Their ideas are shit like: "I've got it! Let's make Donald Trump President! Then we'll have Donald Trump and the MyPillow guy…

Wider your horizon a bit. By and large, the world is getting better and better for more and more people. To take your first example: American political theatre is small fry compared to billions lifting themselves out of abject poverty.

While that's definitely the long-term trend, the last few years have been, ah, not great there either.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#118

Post by seszett »

johnchristopher wrote: post #98
rafark wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of the story of Bartolomé Arrazola. He was captured by the Mayans in the jungles of Guatemala: “[...] Then an idea flourished that he considered worthy of his talent, his universal culture and his arduous knowledge of Aristotle. He recalled that that day a total eclipse of the sun was expected. And he decided, in his innermost thoughts, to use that knowledge to deceive his oppressors and save his own…

Funny, there's a Tintin story with the same setting but a different outcome in the temple of the sun comic https://i.pinimg.com/736x/12/98/cb/1298cb768ee8ba2efbe1a1175... and https://www.artcurial.com/sites/default/files/lots-images/20...

Tintin was in Peru with the Inca though, not the Maya. Although maybe the Inca also knew how to calculate eclipses, I don't know.

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#119

Post by eru »

rsynnott wrote: post #117
eru wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wider your horizon a bit. By and large, the world is getting better and better for more and more people. To take your first example: American political theatre is small fry compared to billions lifting themselves out of abject poverty.

While that's definitely the long-term trend, the last few years have been, ah, not great there either.

The Covid shutdowns were a damper on the global economy, but otherwise it has still been going upwards.

Or are you talking about something else?

Re: The Mayan calendar might represent a longer timescale than previously considered

#120

Post by mandmandam »

eru wrote: post #47
irrational wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. Looking around, I would not be surprised to learn we have already passed the end of the world and have moved into hell.

The world is a better place now for more people than ever before. If anything, we are escaping hell, not descending into it.

People, yeah maybe. Though the threat of actual apocalypse is higher than it's been for 99.99% of human history.

Also, the 99+% of the other species on the planet would probably have a dim view of our 'progress', as would people who respect them.

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