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Maya Inscription at Xultun Names Astronomer and Records Planetary Formula
Researchers have identified the first named ancestral Maya astronomer-mathematician from an inscription at Xultun, Guatemala. The text contains calculations for Mars and Venus cycles dated to around AD 781.
Jul 17, 5:39 PM·1m read1 source
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An inscription at the Maya site of Xultun in Guatemala has identified an ancient astronomer-mathematician named Sak Tahn Waax along with his calculations for the orbital cycles of Mars and Venus. The text, labeled Text 19, consists of 11 hieroglyphs on a mural inside a small masonry building.
Franco Rossi at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues deciphered the inscription, which uses a 260-day calendar, a 365-day solar calendar, a 584-day Venus cycle and a 780-day Mars cycle.
The formula spans five Venus synodic cycles for a total of 2920 days and most likely refers to 7 November AD 781. Sak Tahn Waax, whose name translates to White-chested Fox, is believed to be the author. Rossi said the find marks the first direct mention of an ancestral Maya astronomer-mathematician by personal name and the oldest recorded name of such a figure from anywhere in the Americas.
Excavations at Xultun began in 2010 and uncovered roughly 50 similar texts on the east and north-east walls that researchers view as working drafts of astronomical calculations. The Maya civilisation flourished in Central America from roughly 2000 BC to AD 1697.
Rossi said the formula demonstrates how Maya scholars tracked relationships between planets and human counts of time for use in ceremony, prediction and seasonal understanding.
The work was published in the journal Antiquity.
