What is the Maya Long Count calendar?
Quick answer
The Long Count is a calendar used most famously by the Maya civilization to count the total number of days since a mythical creation date, which corresponds to August 11, 3114 BC. It was probably invented by earlier Mesoamerican peoples, but the Maya used it widely on monuments. Its cycles explain the 2012 “end of the world” rumors.
How the count works
The Long Count used a mostly base-20 system. Dates were written as five numbers, like 9.12.11.5.18.
| Unit | Maya name | Days |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | k’in | 1 |
| 20 days | winal | 20 |
| 18 winals | tun | 360 (about a year) |
| 20 tuns | k’atun | 7,200 (about 20 years) |
| 20 k’atuns | b’ak’tun | 144,000 (about 394 years) |
So 9.12.11.5.18 means 9 b’ak’tuns, 12 k’atuns, 11 tuns, 5 winals and 18 days since creation, a date in AD 683, when the famous ruler Pakal the Great of Palenque died.
The 2012 myth
On December 21, 2012, the count reached 13.0.0.0.0, the end of the 13th b’ak’tun. Popular books and films claimed the Maya had predicted the end of the world. Experts explained that the Maya saw it as the completion of a big cycle, like a car’s odometer rolling over, and some inscriptions mention dates far beyond 2012.
Other Maya calendars
| Calendar | Length | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Tzolk’in | 260 days | Ritual and divination |
| Haab’ | 365 days | Solar year |
| Calendar Round | 52 years | Where the two cycles realign |
| Long Count | Open-ended | Historical dates |
Master astronomers
Maya astronomers tracked the cycles of Venus, predicted eclipses and calculated the length of the solar year with impressive accuracy, without telescopes. Many of these calculations survive in the Dresden Codex.
Long Count dates were carved alongside glyph texts; see what writing system the Maya used. For a Mexican city even older than many Maya sites, see who built Teotihuacan.
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