ANNOUNCEMENTS

Lingering MIDTERM EXAMS can be picked up AT THE END OF THIS LECTURE

HOMEWORK #6 DUE THURSDAY. TWO (2, DOS, ZWEI, DIEUX, DUE,

สอง, etc etc) OBSERVING PROJECTS ALSO DUE THIS THURSDAY.

DECISIONS ON MIDTERM/FINAL/RESEARCH PAPER DUE NEXT TUESDAY….just after class !

FISKE PUBLIC SHOWS FOR EXTRA CREDIT including NOVEMBER 6th

AND 12th ON POLYNESIAN NAVIGATION (FREE TO STUDENTS ON THE 12th).

WHAT OTHER CULTURES YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT THIS TERM ?

THE MAYA: THE ULTIMATE CALENDAR MAKERS

THE YEAR 1500, THE START OF “GLOBALIZATION”

BRIEF CHRONOLOGY:

1519 CORTEZ INVADES MEXICO; subdues the Aztecs and established Spanish (and Holy Roman Christian Church) dominion over Mexico, including Yucatan.

1562 BISHOP DIEGO DE LANDA wrote “On the Relations of the Affairs of Yucatan” including an attempt at making the correspondence between the Maya written language and Latin. But Bishop Landa also burned HUNDREDS of Maya books, made it blasphemy to read and write Maya and executed or tortured the “heretics”. Maya people lost their language, history and culture.

c. 2000: Maya Scholars decode and reconstruct the Maya language and history

MAYA TIMES and PLACES

SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS LOST WHEN CONQUISTADORS and CATHOLICS ARRIVED:

• MAYA LANGUAGE, HISTORY AND CULTURE

• MAYA ASTRONOMY WHICH CONTAINS HITHERTO

UNAPPRECIATED CYCLES OF VENUS & ECLIPSES.

• A DIFFERENT WAY OF INTERPRETING MATHEMATICAL

“ZERO”.

• AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF REALITY AND COSMOLOGY

AND THAT IS WHAT IS STILL BEING LOST TODAY AROUND

THE PLANET DUE TO THE CONTINUATION OF

GLOBALIZATION; e.g., “..the imminent disappearance of half

the extant languages of the world”.

Wade Davis in The Wayfinders

Video: Breaking the Maya Code

TZOL KIN + HAAB = SACRED

CALENDAR ROUND

EXAMPLES OF BEAUTIFUL

“GLYPHS” MARKING MONTHSTHE CALENDARS OF THE MAYA NUMBERS AND DAYS CLOSELY LINKED…

THE NUMBERS “CARRY” THE DAYS “KIN” = TIME, DAY, SUN

NUMBERING SYSTEM IS BASE 20 (FINGERS AND TOES)

ZERO REPRESENTS COMPLETING A CYCLE, NOT EMPTINESS

------------------------------------------------------------THREE CALENDAR SYSTEMS1. LONG COUNT IS A SEQUENTIAL DAY

COUNT LASTING ~ 5000 YEARS (USED FOR HISTORICAL DATING)

2. TSOL KIN IS A 260 DAY CALENDAR OF 13 NUMBERS & 20 NAMES

3. HAAB IS VAGUE SEASONAL YEAR OF 18 “MONTHS” OF 20 DAYS EACH + 5 DAYS

TSOL KIN + HAAB IS A DIVINATORY CALENDAR…

OMENS AND “COMMANDS” FROM KUKULKAN

(QUETZALCOATL TO THE AZTECAS) ARE DETERMINED BY

THE CALENDAR ROUND DAY ON WHICH VENUS REAPPEARS

IN THE MORNING SKY. Calendar

Round

= DAY reads

the divination

UPON VENUS

HELIACAL

RISING

MORNING

MAYA CALENDAR ROUND

ENTIRE ROUND COMPLETED IN 52 YEARS

TSOL KIN (260

DAY COUNT)

HAAB

(365 DAY “VAGUE” YEAR)

TSOL KIN + HAAB IS A

DIVINATORY CALENDAR…

OMENS AND “COMMANDS”

FROM KUKULKAN

(QUETZALCOATL TO THE

AZTECAS) ARE

DETERMINED BY THE

CALENDAR ROUND DAY

ON WHICH VENUS

REAPPEARS IN THE

MORNING SKY.

…look who else has such a

crazy combination

calendar !!!

MAYA CALENDAR ROUND

HAAB(18 MONTHS OF 20 DAYS + 5)

TSOLKIN (260 DAY COUNT)

52 YEAR FULL CYCLE

WESTERN CALENDAR ROUND

TROPICAL YEAR (28, 30 OR 31 DAY MONTHS)

WEEK(7 DAY COUNT)

6 YEAR FULL CYCLE BUT LEAP YEAR MESSES THIS UP (ACTUAL CYCLE IS {6,11,6 AND 5 YEARS!})

VENUS SYNODIC PERIOD: 584 DAYS 5 VENUS CYCLES ≈ 8 YEARS.

VENUS TABLE FROM

DRESDEN CODEXMOTION OF VENUS AS VIEWED

FROM OUTSIDE THE SOLAR SYSTEM

IN 1901 GERMAN LIBRARIAN ERNST

FORSTEMANN NOTICED THE

RECURRENCE OF THE NUMBER 584 IN

THIS TABLE. THE TABLE EXTENDS FOR

5 VENUS CYCLES: (5 x 584) = 2920 DAYS

= (8 X 365) or 8 “vague years” (The “Haab”)

1/ VENUS AS MORNING STAR 263 DAYS

2/ VENUS BEHIND SUN 50 DAYS

3/ VENUS AS EVENING STAR 263 DAYS

4/. VENUS INVISIBLE 8 DAYSTOTAL = 584 DAYS

PALACE OF THE GOVENOR OF UXMAL

HIS VIEW TO THE EAST TO SEE VENUS RISING

MAYA ECLIPSE TABLE

Longer Eclipse Cycles(EVEN NUMBERS OF SYNODIC & DRACONIC MONTHS )

SAROS CYCLE

MAYA CYCLE = 46

TSOLKIN ROUNDS

CHINESE CYCLESAROS CYCLE

MAYA CYCLE

EXACTLY 46 TSOL KIN CALENDAR ROUNDS ECLIPSES HAPPEN ONLY ON SPECIFIC “KIN”

THE MAYA HISTORICAL CALENDAR: THE “LONG COUNT”

Days

Months

Years

“Decades”

“Centuries”

“Millennia”

THE “LONG COUNT” ONE CREATION CYCLE OF 1,872,000

DAYS…~ 5000 YEARS !

THE LONG COUNT CYCLE JUST ENDED WAS SUPPOSED TO END IN EARTHQUAKE/FIRE

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS CONTROVERSIAL. BEST ESTIMATE IS CALLED THE “MARTINEZ, GOODMAN, THOMPSON (GMT) CORRELATION:

START: 13 AUGUST 3113 BCEEND: 21 DECEMBER 2012 CE_________________________________

1 DAY (“KIN”)1 UINAL (20 KIN)1 TUN (18 UINALS) ~ 360 DAYS (ONE HAAB)1 KATUN (20 TUNS)

1 BAKTUN (20 KATUNS)13 BAKTUNS IS THE FULL CYCLE

THE MAYA: THE ULTIMATE CALENDAR MAKERSTSOL KIN, HAAB AND LONG COUNT

Vertical standing stones called STELAE commemorate important

Maya dates; e.g. buildings, kinships, etc.

TOTAL NUMBER OF KIN:

1,152,000100,800

1080

2012

____________

1,253,912

AFTER “START”

?

END OF THE “LONG COUNT” CYCLE

CORRELATION BETWEEN MAYA LONG COUNT AND GREGORIAN CALENDARSTILL CONTROVERSIAL BUT

BEST START DATE: 12 AUG 3113 BCE

(DUE TO GOODMAN-MARTINEZ-THOMPSON GMT CORRELATION TO THE “AHAU EQUATION”)

OTHER GUESSES RANGE FROM 300 YEARS BEFORE GMT TO 500 YEARS AFTER GMT.

GMT CORRELATION FINDS LAST LONG COUNT CYCLE ENDED ON 21 DEC 2012.

*** HAPPY END OF THE WORLD (AGAIN) **

The “GREAT WORLD AGES”

TRADITION CURRENT DURATION START/END

CYCLE

MAYA LONG 5125 YRS 3113 BCE

COUNT 2012 CE

GREAT AGE OF PISCES 2150 YRS c. 0 CE

WORLD AGES c. 2150 CE

INDIAN KALI YUGA 432,000 YRS c. 3102 BCE

MAHA YUGA ?? ??