Collection of Articles

Hello Maya-Fans!

During the last years I have written a number of articles about different topics related to the Maya or Maya sites, often together with Mario Krygier, occasionally with other authors. I would like to mention that I never write an article without having discovered something. So, there is always something new in each articles, at least some interesting astronomical event I have found for a certain Maya date, which usually goes unnoticed for the Maya experts. Almost all my articles I upload to the websites www.academia.edu and www.researchgate.net, where other researchers have access as well. If somebody wants to read all articles, this is possible only after having uploaded an article of their own. Since most of the Maya fans have no access but would like to read about the Maya, I am offering now my articles on the website of the Lacambalam Academy. 

Those 26 articles contain quite surprising material.

The article “The last day of the New Sun or The day when the Maya invented the Long Count“ explains when the Long Count was invented and solves the mystery of the unusually high frequency of the month position 20 Yaxk´in. We also explain, why the month position of 7 Sip was still celebrated at times of Diego de Landa. All can be explained with the date of the invention of the Long Count.

The collection of Justin Kerr´s photos about Maya ceramics contains an unusual ceramic box with an inscription. In the article “Reconstructing the date of ceramic box K3801” I make a stylistic analysis and explain why the inscription contains two dates, not just one. 

The article “The calculation of the tropical year according to the Casa Colorada inscription of Chichén Itzá” contains very interesting material. For this information I was invited to a conference which has been postponed because of the Corona pandemic. As a matter of fact, there is an inscription in Chichén Itzá which allows us to conclude that the ancient Maya knew the length of the tropical year. Even though the inscription had been known for a long time, nobody had realized so far what the dates mean. 

The article “Planetary formulae in the inscription of stela N of Copán” explains why the apparent mistakes of the inscription are intentional and how they hide astronomical formulae for Mercury and Mars.

The article “The base date of the Maya Codex of Mexico” describes the amazing history of the discovery of the forth Maya codex, describes how it works as a Venus table and explains why its base date falls into the year 1129. By the way, I have made a complete reconstruction of this codex, formerly known as the Grolier Codex. 

Today, when visiting Kabah, we can see only one inscription with one date. Altogether there were found inscriptions with five dates, which are explained in the article “Five dates of Kabah“.

The article “Commentary on an article about an auctioned panel fragment supposedly from Lacanjá ” describes a fragment of an inscription with a date which cannot be precisely pinpointed in our calendar. However, with the help of an astronomical program it is possible to say which of the six possible dates is the likeliest one.

The article “The dates on the jade pendant of Nim Li Punit” explains why the calculation of the date offered by Christian Prager and Geoffrey Braswell is incorrect, mentions the connection of Nim Li Punit with Palenque and shows some interesting astronomical phenomena for the dates of the inscription, which strangely is read in lines instead of the usual double columns.

The article “The date on the Philadelphia capstone” explains why the date of the painted capstone of the Philadelphia University Museum falls into the year 1001 AD, which is one of the latest in the Maya area. The date coincides with a conjunction between Mercury and Jupiter.

The article “The dates on the Bishop jade pendant” describes a nice jade pendant, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is being exhibited with the label “Jade head pendant, Maya (Mexico or Guatemala), 6th – 9th century”. We argue that the dates on the pendant fall into the years 591 and 611 AD.

So far, nobody has ever tried to determine the date of the capstone over the tomb of the founder of the dynasty of Ek´balam, because it is quite damaged. The article “The dedication date of the Sak Xok Naah of Ek´balam” describes how the date can be reconstructed.

The article “The Scorpion king - last ruler of Machaquilá” discusses the last dates and moments of Machaquilá. The article elaborates on the work of Guido Krempel and Alfonso Lacadena.

The article “The dedication date of the Initial Series Vase” offers a reading for the unusual date of a Maya ceramic which was discovered in Uaxactún in 1931. A formula for Mercury hides here.

The article “The calculation of the tropical year according to the inscription of the drum altar from the area of Yaxchilán” corrects an error of calculation by Nikolai Grube and shows that the ancient Maya considered the length of the tropical year during Classic times.

The article “A New Reading Proposal for the Water Scroll Sign T579 as YAM (see Glyph Dweller R63)” suggests a reading for the water scroll glyph, which appears for example in the emblem glyph of Altun Há.

In the article “The coronation date of Muyal Chahk of Uxul and its astronomical significance”, we demonstrate why Nikolai Grube´s reading of the only known coronation date in Uxul is correct. We show the complicated way to calculate this date and indicate its astronomical significance.

In the article “The hurricane battle of Naranjo” we show that different researchers read the same dates in different ways. Who is right and wrong? The altar 1 of Naranjo contains dates of the longest ruling king of Naranjo, possibly of the whole Maya area. 

The article “The coronation of the monster of Palenque” presents the most surprising astronomical formula of the Maya. The discovery was possible thanks to the correct interpretation of the huge distance number between the coronation of the Mars monster and the coronation of Pakal. This distance number of 1.26 Million years is exact to the day! Nobody has ever been able to explain this number exactly to the day. The article also explains that the scribes of Palenque made the understanding of this passage deliberately more difficult. The other date, which is still in the future (year 4772 AD), by the way, also hides an astronomical formula. This article has already been published in a German magazine and was also the reason for inviting me to a conference which due to Corona has not yet taken place.