Maya Astronomy

Practically all ancient civilizations – from the Egyptians to the Babylonians, and the Greeks to the Chinese – stared into space looking for answers. Celestial objects became associated with gods and spirits, and their movements were linked to phenomena such as rain, drought, seasons, and tides.

While most ancient astronomical concepts were crude and primitive, many others were elegant and sophisticated, and pre-empted modern theories. In some regards, the Maya civilization of Central America – which at its peak, from 250-900 AD, was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world – were the most advanced astronomers of their time. From the few surviving written codices they left behind, to the way in which they seem to have aligned their world around the stars and the planets, we can learn much about the Maya’s understanding of the heavens.

Venus

Thanks to the Dresden Codice (more on that later), we know that Venus was all important in the Maya mind – more so even than the sun. They called Venus Noh Ek (“the Great Star”) or Xux Ek (“the Wasp Star”) and embodied the planet in the form of the god Kukulkán (also known as, or related to, Gukumatz and Quetzalcoatl in other parts of Mexico).

The Maya courts employed skilled priest astronomers. Making up for what they lacked in instruments with sheer patience and dedication, from specially constructed observatories such as El Caracol at Chichen Itza, Mexico, they calculated the cycle of Venus and other planets with extreme accuracy. By their estimation it took Venus 584 days to orbit the sun, which is incredibly close to the actual period of 583.92 days.

A number of important Maya structures are believed to have been oriented toward the extreme risings and settings of Venus (at Chichen Itza there are two Venus platforms, probably used as podiums for rites, ceremonies or dances in honour of the planet). Venus was also the Maya patron of war, and many recorded battles are believed to have been timed to coincide with its motions by this very war-like people. It may also have divined the timing of other important occasions, such as coronations.

The Sun

Venus was all powerful, but that’s not to say the sun wasn’t important to the Maya too. Its god was Tonatiuh, a red eagle with a large and all-seeing eye. Just like Venus, the Maya accurately calculated the sun’s cycle, incredibly to the point of even determining the length of the solar year to be 365 days. A tropical year is actually 365.2422 days long, and their calendars would have gradually become less accurate over time, but there is evidence to suggest that the priest astronomers continually updated their records and predictions so that the calendar remained true for generations. Esteemed American researcher and contributor to the field of Mesoamerican studies John Teeple proposed that the Maya calculated the solar year to greater accuracy than even the Gregorian calendar.

Further proof of the accuracy with which Maya priest astronomers understood the movement of the sun – and were able to apply it to complex mathematical calculations – can be seen in the shadow-casting devices they built, by aligning ceremonial pyramids with compass point directions. One very famous example is El Castillo at Chichen Itza, where on the equinoxes, the sunlight slowly illuminates the stairs to the top of the pyramid and the stone snake head at its base, creating the illusion of a snake slowly slithering down to earth.

And the Maya weren’t just fascinated by the star closest to them. The Milky Way was crucial in their cosmology (they called it the “World Tree”), and there is even significant evidence that the Maya detected diffuse areas of the sky contrary to the pin points of stars centuries before the telescope was invented. Many pre-Classic sites are oriented with the Pleiades and Eta Draconis clusters, such as La Blanca, Ujuxte, Monte Alto, and Takalik Abaj.

The Dresden Codice

Because of astronomy’s close ties to religion in Maya society, the invading Spanish purged Mayan astronomical records in the 16th and 17th centuries, as part of a wider endeavor to destroy all trappings of their faith. Only a few examples of Maya codices survived, perhaps after being snatched and smuggled back by curious Conquistadors. These codices are now named after the European cities where they eventually reappeared – the Madrid Codice, the Golier Codice, the Paris Codice, and most importantly, the Dresden Codice.

The Dresden Codice contains the highest concentration of astronomical phenomena observations and calculations of any of the surviving texts (it appears that the data in this codex is primarily or exclusively of an astronomical nature). As well as the above-mentioned information it yields on the knowledge the Maya had of Venus – and the importance ascribed to that planet in Maya society – it also reveals a detailed eclipse table that predicts times when eclipses may occur (a useful thing since eclipses could spread panic), and a Mars table that records not only the planet’s motion along the elliptic, but even the times when it goes into retrograde motion.

Death From Above?

Stonehenge – which has an alignment with the sun and the moon at solstice – is said to have been built to anticipate astronomical phenomena, or maybe even act as a landing spot for UFOs. The Giza Pyramids – which astronomically are oriented north-south and east-west within a small fraction of a degree – are said to represent the Orion constellation in the Orion Correlation Theory, and could possibly have been constructed with assistance from friendly extraterrestrials.

So too are the Maya and their astronomical interests subject to eccentric conjecture from modern day theorists – a fair quantity of them certifiable nuts. The idea that Maya had actual contact with aliens is a common one in popular culture – you need only look so far as the latest Indian Jones film, with its CGI-rendered flying saucers emerging from under Mesoamerican temples, for proof of that. Just beyond the realm of fantasy, various groups and individuals, in particular New Age philosophers, claim that the Maya Long Count Calendar and its perceived end date in December 2012 will herald the destruction of the world by some cataclysmic celestial phenomenon, or alternatively a righteous new dawn for mankind.

It’s worth noting that no Maya text makes any specific allusion to such a doomsday event – they’re entirely modern constructions. The Maya had some crazy ideas based on the stars and the planets for sure – such as waging whole wars when Venus told them to. But astronomy also had deeply rational and practical applications in their civilization that stand firm many centuries on. You have to wonder, if a Maya priest astronomer were around today, whether even he would laugh at some of the apocalyptic theories that currently abound about their understanding of the heavens.

El Caracol picture (top) by Thomas Christensen; Venus platform steps picture (bottom) by pushdwnstairs. All rights reserved.

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About The Author

Malcolm Jack

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University of Sussex Cutbacks: Protests, Riot Police and Strike Action | Anglo-Saxon CSI: Archaeologists Stumped by Mystery Saxon Find | Latin Lovers: Bettany Hughes Helps Boris Johnson Launch 'Classics for Schools'

Malcolm Jack is a freelance arts and entertainment journalist based in Glasgow, Scotland. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2004 with an MA Honours Degree in History.