41-49

• Iwaniszewski, Stanisław

the ancient Maya consisted of a determination of various calendar cycles commensurating with the synodic cycles of the relevant celestial bodies. This practice of commensuration – of converting distinct synodic cycles into a single calendrical cycle – was a common practice in the life of the Maya day-keepers. By quantifying the multiples of synodic revolutions along a single scale of the Calendar Round combined with the Long Count, the Maya skywatchers created relationships easily represented and compared. The Lunar Series consisted of six glyphs, referred to by letters, E, D, C, X, B, and A and represented the attempts to create the cyclical calendrical structure capable of predicting the synodic period of the Moon. In this paper, I am providing a method of detecting possible intercalations needed to fit the lunar motion and a possibility of the use of a 4784-day period, derived from the Xultun Lunar Table, as a lunar correction cycle. By this means, all Lunar Series from Dos Pilas receive reasonable explanations.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

Maya Astronomy, Lunar Theory, Lunar Series, Xultun Lunar Table, Dos Pilas monuments

Περιέχει 8 πίνακες

1. Aldana, G. (2005) Agency and the “Star War” Glyph: A historical reassessment of Classic Maya astrology and warfare. Ancient Mesoamerica, Vol. 16, 305-320.Aveni, A. F. (1980) Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. Austin, University of Texas Press.Aveni, A.F and Hotaling, L.D. (1994) Monumental Inscriptions and the Observational Basis of Maya Planetary Astronomy. Archaeoastronomy, Vol. 19 (supplement to the Journal of the History Astronomy, Vol. 25), S21-S54.Barthel, T. S. (1951) Maya-Astronomie: Lunare Inschriften aus dem Südreich. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Vol. 76, 216-238.Beyer, H. (1933) Zur Konkordanzfrage der Mayadaten mit denen der christlichen Zeitrechnung. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Vol. 65, 75-80.Beyer, H. (1935) On the Correlation between Maya and Christian Chronology. Maya Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, 64-72.Beyer, H. (1937) Lunar Glyphs of the Supplementary Series at Piedras Negras. El Mexico Antiguo, Vol. 4, No. 3-4, 75-81.Brauer, T. (2007) A New Approach for Systemizing the Dates in the Maya Lunar Series. Mexicon, Vol. 29, No. 4, 99-102.Bricker, H.M. and Bricker V.R. (2011) Astronomy in the Maya Codices. [Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 265), Philadelphia, The American Philosophical Society.Dütting, D. (1986) Lunar Periods and the Quest for Rebirth in the Mayan Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Estudios de Cultura Maya, Vol. 16, 113-147.Guenter, S. P. (2003) The Inscriptions of Dos Pilas associated with B’ajlaj Chan K’awiil. Mesoweb:<www.mesoweb.com/features/guenter/DosPilas.html.>Houston, S. D. (1993) Hieroglyphs and History at Dos Pilas: Dynastic Politics of the Classic Maya. Austin, University of Texas Press.Iwaniszewski, S. (2012) Los ciclos lunares y el calendario maya. Arqueología mexicana, Vol. 19, No. 118, 38-42.Iwaniszewski, S. (2015) Counting Lunar Phase Cycles in Mesoamerica. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, Ruggless, C.L. N. (ed., New York, Springer Reference, 709-714Justeson, J. S. (1989) Ancient Maya ethnoastronomy: an overview of hieroglyphic sources. In World Archaeoastronomy, Aveni, A.F. (ed.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 76-129.Kelley, D. H. (1977) Maya astronomical tables and inscriptions. In Native American Astronomy, Aveni, A.F. (ed.), Austin, University of Texas Press, 57-73.Kinsman, H. (n.d.) Grammar in the Script: Nouns and Statives. Crabs and Glyphs “Maya Glyph Decipherment including Notes on Ancient Maya Astronomy. www.crabsandglyphs.com.org , text acceded 22.06.2015.Lounsbury, F. G. (1978) Maya Numeration, Computation, and Calendrical Astronomy. In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 15, suppl. 1, Gillespie, C. C. (ed.), New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 757-818.Lounsbury, F.G. (1982) Astronomical Knowledge and Its Uses at Bonampak, Mexico. In Archaeoastronomy in the New World, Aveni, A.F. (ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 143-168.Martin, S., and Grube, N. (2008) Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. New York, Thames & Hudson.Mathews, P. 2001[1979] Notes on the Inscriptions on the Back of Dos Pilas Stela 8. In The Decipherment of Ancient Maya Writing, Houston, S.D., Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. F., and Stuart, D. (eds.), Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 394-415.Morley, S. G. (1916) The Supplementary Series in the Maya inscriptions. In Anthropological Essays. Holmes Anniversary Volume, Washinton, J.W.Bryan Press, 366-396.Satterthwaite, L., Jr. (1947) Concepts and Structures of Maya Calendrical Arithmetics. [Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Anthropological Society Joint Publication, 3].Philadelphia, University Museum.Schele, L. and Freidel, D. 1990 A Forest of Kings: the Untold Story of the Ancient Maya, New York, William Mor-row.Symonds, S. Houston, S.D., and Stuart D. (1992) Implicaciones del descubrimiento de una nueva escalinata Jeroglífica en Dos Pilas, Petén. In Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala,1990, J. P. Laporte, J.P., Escobedo, H. and Brady, S. (eds.), Guatemala, Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, 214-217.Teeple, J. (1931) Maya Astronomy. [Publication 403], Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington.Tozzer, A. M. (1941) Landa’s Relación de las cosas de Yucatan. Translated and edited by Alfred M. Tozzer. [Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, vol. 18], Cambridge, Mass.Vega Villalobos, M. E. (2012) Los dioses, el gobernante y la comunidad. Las estrategias político-religiosas del Gobernante 2 de Dos Pilas, Guatemala. Estudios de Cultura Maya, Vol. 40, 51-78.Zender, M. and Skidmore, J. (2012) Unearthing the Heavens: Classic Maya Murals and Astronomical Tables at Xultun, Guatemala. Mesoweb Reports. www.mesoweb.com/reports/Xultun.pdf, electronic text consulted 1.12.2012.