Deciphering the Handwriting on the Wall

Some Astronomical Interpretations of the Recent Discoveries at Xultun, Guatemala

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7904754
AutoresVictoria R Bricker, Anthony F Aveni (0000-0002-6015-009X), Harvey M Bricker
Ano2014
Volume25
Fascículo2
Páginas152-169
Data de publicação2014-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLatin American Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1045-6635 • E-ISSN: 2325-5080
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.7183/1045-6635.25.2.152
OpenAlexW2316615421
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas6

This study places the recently excavated ninth-century A.D. four-part calendrical notations at Xultun (Lunar Table, Ring Number, Long Count, and Multiplication Table) in the context of both Classic monumental inscriptions and astronomical knowledge in the Postclassic Dresden Codex. We demonstrate that the Lunar Table employed a formula attributed to Palenque and that it could have been used as a device to determine precisely where to break the sequence of alternating 29- and 30-day months one finds on dated monuments. All four categories found at Xultun appear in the Dresden Codex. The Ring Number, which bridges a date in the deep past with one in the recently completed era, is a perfect fit with one of the most fundamental Dresden eclipse cycles. Our analysis of glyphs accompanying the Long Count date enables us to place candidate eclipses, especially one that corresponds with a conjunction of Mars, in real time. We argue that the large multiples were extracted from, or prepared for, warning tables like the Dresden eclipse table, and we demonstrate why such tables must have existed well before the Xultun inscriptions. Thus, while the writings in the Dresden manuscript constitute a finished product, the writing on the wall of residential Structure 10K-2 is more akin to what one might find in an astronomer's notebook

Archaeology · Arithmetic · Art history · Astronomer · Astronomy · Context (archaeology · Database · Eclipse · Ninth · Notation · Physics · Sequence (biology · Suite · Table (database · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Historical Astronomy and Related Studies · Latin American history and culture · Mathematics · Classics · History