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An Observation on Correlating the Mesoamerican and European Calendars

Never does the complexity of correlating the "Maya" calendar with our own
become more apparent than when we try to pin down a particular event in
time such as an eclipse. This is because the days of our calendar have
their beginning and end at midnight on the Greenwich Meridian and the new
day moves progressively eastward around the world at the rate of 15º of
longitude for every hour. Thus, Copán, Honduras, near longitude 90º W., is
six clock hours behind Greenwich, so when it is midnight in London, it is
6 PM the previous day in Honduras.

The fact that the Olmecs and the Maya reckoned the beginning and end of
their days from sunset meant, in effect, that as a Christian day was
beginning at midnight local time in London, a new day was also beginning
at sunset local time in Mesoamerica. However, what might have seemed like
a convenient coincidence between the two time-counts was, in fact,
complicated by the manner in which each of the two cultures did their
counting. The Europeans assigned a new number to a day as it began,
whereas the Mesoamericans did not give a number to a day until it had been
completed. Moreover, the Europeans began their count with "1", whereas the
Mesoamericans started theirs with "0". When we argue that Thompson's
initial correlation value of 584,285 is the correct one to employ, it is
because it does indeed mark the beginning of the Maya time-count on a day
they numbered as "0", although it was actually Julian day # 584,286 that
coincided with the day the Maya numbered as "1".

Although the concept of the Julian day was intended to simplify
astronomical mathematics -- and does so in most cases -- when it comes to
correlating the Mesoamerican and Christian calendars, it adds an
unintended further complication. This is because the Julian day has its
beginning and end in London, not at midnight like a new calendar day, but
at noon, in the middle of a given calendar day. This means that any
celestial event which takes place between midnight and noon London time
(that is, between sunset and sunrise Mesoamerican time, when most lunar
eclipses visible in that part of the world would occur) will correlate
quite nicely with the Thompson's initial value of 584,285, whereas any
event occurring between noon and midnight London time (in other words,
between sunrise and sunset Mesoamerican time, when most solar eclipses
visible in that part of the world would be expected to take place) will
correlate instead with a value of 584,286.

Looking at the specifics of the lunar eclipse which was recorded on
numerous structures at Copán late in the month of June in the year 763 --
an event which Morley first characterized as "an astronomical congress" --
we find the following: the Christian day June 28, 763 began at midnight in
London on what was then Julian day # 1999921. At the same moment, the sun
was just going down in Honduras, completing Maya day # 1415635. At noon
London time on June 28, a new Julian day began -- number 1999922 -- in the
middle of which the sun set in Honduras, ending Maya day # 1415636. Since
it was now midnight in London, a new calendar day -- June 29 was just
beginning and Maya day # 1415637 had also gotten started. At noon London
time on June 29, Julian day # 1999923 began and twelve hours later -- at
midnight London time, calendar day June 30 commenced. Over in Honduras the
sun had still 26 minutes before it would set on the western horizon.
However, five minutes before it disappeared, the darkened full moon rose
over the eastern horizon, giving the Maya sky-watcher cause to record its
eclipse as having occurred on Maya day # 1415637, even though it did not
reach its culmination until about 40 minutes later but still within the
lingering twilight of the previous day. In the Western world the mid-point
of the eclipse was recorded at having taken place at 1:10 Universal Time
on June 30, 763, or 7:10 PM local time on June 29 in Honduras. Although
the culmination of the eclipse came on Julian day # 1999923.55, Oppolzer,
in keeping with standard astronomical practice, assigned Julian day #
1999924 to the event because it was at noon on June 30 that the new Julian
day began.

One of the clearest correlations between a solar eclipse and a Maya
calendrical inscription is that recorded on Stela 3 found at Santa Elena
Poco Uinic in Chiapas, Mexico. First mentioned in a footnote to his paper
Maya Astronomy in 1931 by John Teeple, it is also discussed by Floyd
Lounsbury in a footnote to his article published in 1978. Bearing a Long
Count date of 9.17.19.13.16. 5 Cib 14 Chen, which is Maya day # 1425516,
this inscription most likely records the total solar eclipse whose path of
centrality passed directly over this location at 12:48 P.M. local time --
an event tabulated as number 4768 in Oppolzer's compendium and which he
records as having occurred on July 16, 790 (Julian day # 2009802). It is
obvious that in this instance the difference between the Maya and Julian
counts amounts to 584,286 days, a fact which caused Lounsbury some
puzzlement because, although he found Thompson's original correlation of
584,285 more accurate than he did Thompson's revised value of 584,283,
here the two day-counts differed by an additional day. Had he understood
that the Maya day began and ended at sunset, as explained above, he would
have realized that both Thompson's initial value (i.e., 584,285) and that
implied by the inscription at Santa Elena Poco Uinic (584,286) are
perfectly correct.

(Note that references for this and the other papers are found on the 'home
page' of this article.)

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