THE MAYAN CALENDAR

Determining the current date is now a breeze with our smartphones. But in ancient times, did people have the concept of a year lasting 365 days? The answer is both yes and no. The Mayan calendar had cycles that resembled a year, but they were much longer, consisting of 819 days. This created a mystery for researchers who sought to understand when this calendar began and ended.

During the 1940s, American scientists John Linden and Victoria Bricker made significant progress in deciphering the Mayan calendar. They approached the problem differently from their predecessors by expanding the calendar to cover a full 45 years, which was 20 times longer than the original cycle. Through this expansion, a pattern started to emerge.

Decoding the Mayan calendar was a breakthrough because it was based on glyphs, which are small images representing characters or symbols. Instead of using the Arabic numerals we use today, the ancient Maya used these glyphs to mark each day. Each cycle was repeated four times, and the Maya colored each block differently. Initially, scientists believed these colors corresponded to the four cardinal directions: red for East, white for North, black for West, and yellow for South. However, in the 1980s, researchers discovered that the colors actually represented the sun's position in the sky. Yellow represented the zenith (the highest point of the sun), white represented the nadir (the lowest point), and the colors associated with the other directions were adjusted accordingly.

The Mayan calendar and their expertise in astronomy are evident in the alignment of structures like the step pyramid in Chichen Itza, located on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. During the equinoxes in March and September, when the sun shines directly over the equator, the pyramid exhibits a fascinating phenomenon. Sunlight illuminates a sculpture of a serpent head at the base of the pyramid, and as the sun progresses up the 91 steps, it creates the illusion of a snake slithering down the structure. This remarkable display showcases the Mayas' advanced astronomical knowledge.

The Mayan astronomers also observed synodic periods, which are the time intervals between a celestial body completing a full lap from Earth's perspective. They meticulously recorded the synodic periods of various planets, from Venus to Saturn. The American researchers discovered that the Mayan calculations for these synodic periods neatly aligned with the number 819. By expanding the Mayan calculations to include all the planets, the researchers uncovered the pattern hidden within the calendar.

The year 2012 gained significance due to the Mayan calendar. Some people believed that the world would end on December 21st, but it turned out to be a false rumor. The Mayan calendar marked this date as the end of a cycle known as "The Long Count," which was similar to our New Year's Eve. It simply indicated the completion of a cycle in the Mayan measurement of time, rather than signaling an apocalyptic event.

Aside from their calendar, the Maya also had other achievements. They were skilled in working with rubber, creating different grades of rubber 3000 years before Charles Goodyear. The Maya extracted natural latex from rubber trees, similar to their neighboring civilizations, the Aztecs and the Olmecs. Although there is no physical evidence, researchers speculate that the Mayans produced bouncy balls from latex. These balls ranged in size from a softball to a soccer ball. Furthermore, the Mayans enjoyed chocolate, which they consumed as a drink made from smashed cocoa beans. The word "chocolate" possibly originates from their language, and the Mayas enhanced the flavor of their drinks with various spices.

Clean water was essential for the Mayas, and they developed impressive filtration systems. They used zeolite, a mineral containing aluminum and silicone compounds, which is still used in modern air and water purifiers. Additionally, the Mayan engineers created reservoirs by carving out large underground caves in limestone bedrock. These reservoirs were lined with a watertight material and featured small channels that collected rainwater from the hills. Each reservoir could hold an average of 10,000 gallons of rainwater, equivalent to 55 modern hot tubs.