The Mayan calendar was already used 2,300 years ago

9 Jan. () –

researchers of the University of Texas at Austin have found in San Bartolo (Guatemala) evidence of the oldest known Mayan calendar.

During the excavation of murals at an archaeological site, two fragments were found that were joined together to form the notation “7 deer”, dating back more than 2,000 years, to 300 BC, several centuries older than previously obtained evidence.

The fragments are part of the Mayan divinatory calendar, which was also used by other Mesoamerican cultures, including the Aztecs, and which is still in use today. The calendar survived hundreds of years of conquest and nearly 40 years of Guatemalan civil war, and is a testament to the long history of Maya intellectualism.

“The Mayan calendar is one of the most distinctive and well-known features of traditional Mesoamerican culture and peoples. It was used for centuries before the arrival of Europeans, and some of it is still used among the indigenous Mayan communities of Guatemala” , Explain it’s a statement David Stuart, professor of art history who discovered the fragments. But its origins have been murky for a long time.” The discovery of the fragment painted in San Bartolo allows us to establish a good date of 300 BC, which is much earlier than any date we had before.”

According to the study, published in the journal Science Advances, the stag’s 7-day record is important in understanding the development of the 260-day divinatory calendar. The calendar is an important aspect of indigenous Maya identity in many contemporary communities, and this discovery lays a good foundation for understanding the origins of Mesoamerican writing, science, and religion.

Along with the discovery of the calendar, the researchers found 10 other text fragments that reveal an established writing tradition, multiple scribal hands and murals that combine texts with images of a complex primitive ritual. Stuart he was also part of the team that discovered the San Bartolo deposit in 2001.

“Prior to this, many assumed that the Maya simply borrowed an older system from other nearby cultures. We now know that they had it as early as anyone, if not earlier,” Stuart said. “The Maya were key players in the development of Mesoamerica as a whole.”