The Long Count
A calendar counting days from a fixed beginning
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The Long Count is the Maya calendar for long spans: a running number of days counted from a fixed origin in 3114 BCE. The Long Count makes Maya history the only record in the Americas datable to the day from its own sources. Zero as a positional digit arose here independently of India, and earlier. The Venus tables in the Dresden Codex predict the planet's visibility to within two hours across five centuries. The cycle that ended in December 2012 was a calendar rollover, not a prophecy — the Maya's own inscriptions count comfortably past it.
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The Maya counted days continuously from a fixed starting date, as we count years from a fixed point. That let them write exact dates thousands of years backwards and forwards. They also used zero, independently of the rest of the world.
Sources
- Aveni, Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico (1980)
- Coe, The Maya (9. utg., 2015)
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