When The Mayan Calendar Was Conceived

Fig. 1 Evolution of January

Today, I want to explain some of the different figures that I have talked about and used concerning the duration of the axial precession of the Earth.

Numbers such as 26,000 yrs,  25,960 years, and 25,771 years (see e.g. A Savvy Ecocosmological Earth Calendar,  2; On The Origin and Future of Nomads).

Fig. 2 Evolution of July

It dawned on me that the axial precession is changing, albeit very slowly, like the Earths daily rotation rate is changing.

My suspicion is that when the Mayan Calendar was developed they used knowledge "from somewhere" indicating that the axial precession rate was 26,000 years.

Currently some scientists say that the axial precession rate is now 25,771 years, which is a decrease of 229 years (26,000 - 25,771 = 229).

Fig. 3 January - July temps over time (deg. C)

That is less than a 1% change (0.88% to be more precise).

For comparison, the Earth's rotation rate has changed about 4 hrs. in the past few thousand years (Mitrovica 2015), which is about a 17% change (16.7%).

The Mayan Calendar suggests that it is based on the axial precession, because it is based on a 26,000 year cycle as the axial precession once was, and still is very, very close to what it was:

1 Day = Kin (keen)

20 Kin = 1 Uinal (a.k.a. Winal)

360 Kin or 18 Uinals = 1 Tun (toon)

20 Tuns = 1 K’atun (k’a toon)

20 K`atuns or 400 Tuns = 1 Baktun (backtoon)

13 Baktuns or 5,200 Tuns = 1 Great Cycle

5 Great Cycles = 26,000 Tuns (~26,000 yr. axial precession)

(A Savvy Ecocosmological Earth Calendar). My guess, based on Heyerdahl et. al, (Heyerdahl, History) is that the Incas, Mayans, etc. had "inherited" the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, etc. astronomical understanding ... but who knows where those non-Mayans got it.

The calendar's implication (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3) is that natural climate change is mild enough to give flora, fauna, and human civilization sufficient time to adapt.

Another useful take away is that it evinces a true cycle that returns back to the older temperatures as the cycle completes its circuit and restarts anew (Fig. 3).

Not so with Oil-Qaeda induced climate change, which is a one way street (Humble Oil-Qaeda, Oil-Qaeda: The Indictment, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).