Arithmetic, Astronomy, And The Calendar by Kaylee Spencer-Ahrens and Linnea H. Wren

Abstract The Maya were excellent mathematicians and superb astronomers. They invented the concept of zero; they devised innovative methods of measuring and dating time; and they painstakingly tracked the movements of celestial bodies. The sophistication of Maya arithmetic, the exactitude of Maya records of planetary movements, and the orderly logic of the Maya calendar reveal the importance of time in the Maya view of the universe To the ancient Maya, time was a dynamic concept by which temporal existence was raised to historic importance, meshed with natural rhythms, and was imbued by spiritual significance. When conceived as a rational framework, time allowed the Maya to order the sequence of daily events, to recollect the past, and to anticipate the future. When conceived as an active structure, time permitted the Maya to discern the shapes of physical space, to measure the cycles of the natural world, and to comprehend the meaning of the supernatural realms. As an evocative metaphor, time furnished the Maya with opportunities to encounter other gods and ancestors. By formulating time in an extraordinary creative series of calendrical and astronomical cycles, the Maya intertwined virtually all aspects of existence into a harmonious pattern.