We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
THE MESOAMERICAN 6,940-DAY CYCLE RECONSIDERED.
- Authors
Iwaniszewski, S.
- Abstract
In 1931 John Teeple first proposed that the dates recorded on Stela A at Copán evidenced the Classic Maya knowledge of the Metonic cycle. While his Determinant Theory has long been fully discredited, scholars' explanations of a 6940-day period have been diverse (e.g. Morley, 1920; Spinden, 1924; Chambers, 1965; Alexander, 1988). The information, however, is not self-evident. At best, the use of the 235-lunar month cycle may only be inferred from a limited corpus of documents, but cannot be confirmed (Bricker and Bricker, 2011). While it may be imprudent to firmly dismiss the hypothesis concerning the Maya awareness of the Metonic cycle, it seems that even if the Maya has some knowledge of it, in practice this knowledge had never been consistently used or disseminated.
- Subjects
PRE-Columbian architecture (Mesoamerica); TEEPLE, John; ARCHAEOASTRONOMY; MAYA astronomy; NAHUA calendar
- Publication
Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry, 2014, Vol 14, Issue 3, p155
- ISSN
1108-9628
- Publication type
Article