Research work · 2025
Maya astronomy and the precession of the equinoxes
Journal for the History of Astronomy
Abstract
The presence of very large time intervals in Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions has prompted a proposal that the period of the roughly 25,770-year precession of the equinoxes is among those in the historical record, by showing that some very long recorded intervals are near whole multiples of the sidereal year. Analysis of Maya long numbers shows the arguments for such a proposal to be invalid and the claims implausible. It argues methodologically for the effectiveness of basic, shorter-term calendrical intervals, and substantively for Maya daykeepers focusing on the solstices rather than equinoxes.