What did the ancient Maya see in the stars? Their descendants team up with scientists to find out

Some content has been removed for formatting reasons. Please view the original article for the best reading experience. Table of contents A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6597. Download PDF .parallax__element{object-position: 50% 80%; -o-object-position: 50% 80%;} Zunil, Guatemala —As the Sun climbs over a hillside ceremony, Ixquik Poz Salanic invokes a day in the sacred calendar: T’zi’ , a day for seeking justice. Before she passes the microphone to the next speaker, she counts to 13 in K’iche’, an Indigenous Maya language with more than 1 million present-day speakers in Guatemala’s central highlands. A few dozen onlookers nod along, from grandmothers in traditional dresses to visiting schoolchildren shifting politely in their seats. Then the crowd joins a counterclockwise procession around a fire at the mouth of a cave, shuffle dancing to the beat of three men playing marimba while they toss offerings of candles, copal, and incense to the wind-licked flames. Poz Salanic, a lawyer, serves as a daykeeper for her community, which means she keeps track of a 260-day cycle—20 days counted 13 times—that informs Maya ritual life. In April, archaeologists announced they had deciphered a 2300-year-old inscription bearing a date in this same calendar format, proving it was in use millennia ago by the historic Maya, ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research