The Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
A medieval Maya text for predicting solar eclipses has confused Western readers for centuries, but a pair of researchers may have finally cracked how it's really meant to work. Indigenous civilizations in Mexico and Guatemala kept calendars for more than two millennia before Europeans invaded the Americas, helping them to predictScientists Think They've Finally Figured Out How a Maya Calendar WorksThe bark paper codex is a 78-page accordion-style tome, with each page hand-written and illustrated in brilliant color, detailing astronomy, astrology, seasons, and medical knowledge.
"If you kept accounts of what happened at the time of certain celestial events, you could be forewarned and take proper precautions when cycles repeated themselves,"For instance, when the Sun was hidden behind the Moon, turning the day skies dark, members of Maya nobility would undertake bloodletting ceremonies to offer strength to the "Priests and rulers would know how to act, which rituals to perform and which sacrifices to make to the gods to guarantee thatallowed Maya calendar specialists, known as"daykeepers", to predict these eclipses for some 700 years. This table spans 405 lunar months , but how it actually worked has eluded scientists – until now. Linguist John Justeson of the University of Albany in the US and archaeologist Justin Lowry of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh propose a convincing explanation for the calendar's proper use in a new article inJuteson and Lowry reject the long-standing assumption that the table was reset at its final position ."Unanticipated eclipses could occur in the application of the next table or two if the final station of one table was used as the base for composing the next, and increasingly with each successive resetting," Juteson and Lowry Instead, they propose that a new table is begun in the 358th month of the current table. With this approach, the table's predictions are only about 2 hours and 20 minutes early for both Sun and Moon alignment. "This procedure would also entail that, occasionally, the first date in a successor table would be set at the 223rd month, about 10 hours and 10 min later relative to that alignment, to adjust for the gradually accumulating deviations of resettings at month 358," the authors By comparing the table with our modern knowledge of eclipse cycles, they found that with this method, the Maya would have been able to accurately predict every solar eclipsebetween 350 and 1150 CE, since it corrects for the small errors that accumulate over time. "Such revisions would maintain the viability of the table indefinitely, with departures of under 51 min over 134 years," the authors It's a fascinating insight into the important role of a Maya daykeeper, and the advanced mathematics developed in the service of this lost civilization's spiritual connection to the cosmos.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Scientists Reveal Simple Trick To Make You Seem More PersuasiveWithout changing what you say, this gambit can increase how your audience percieves your competence, researchers found.
Read more »
Scientists Reveal the Ideal Amount of Pot Plants for WellnessThey were surprised to discover that “too much” indoor greenery could actually make people feel more stressed.
Read more »
Scientists Reveal a Clever Trick to Help Win Rock, Paper, ScissorsThe Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
Read more »
One Year After The Klamath Dam Project, Scientists Are Thrilled By Nature's ComebackTalia has been a professional writer since 2018. She got her start at The Nerd Stash, covering consumer technology and entertainment.
Read more »
No, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS hasn't 'changed color', scientists sayBrett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more.
Read more »
Jupiter's volcanic moon Io may be hundreds of times hotter than scientists thoughtRobert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics.
Read more »