The Mayan Calendar is equivalent to the Greek’s knowledge of the universe

Over several years we’ve been posting on the evolution of calendars over the past 6000+ years and in particular the sophistication of the Antikythera mechanism[1] in predicting the synodic periods[2] of the major planets. For these papers and articled see:

The Origins of Numbers, Calendars and Calculations.

It now seems the ancient Mayan civilization were equally sophisticated. Recently, researchers at Tulane University in Louisiana have solved the mystery of the 819-day calendar used by ancient Mayans from at least the 5^th century BCE – it matches the planetary cycles of all planets that might have been visible to astronomers of the civilization over a 45-year span!

• The synodic period of Mercury (117 days) is 1/7^th of 819.
• Seven synodic periods of Mars (780 days) exactly match 20 cycles of the 819 day calendar
• Venus needs seven synodic periods (584 days each) to match five counts of 819.
• Jupiter takes 39 synodic periods of 399 days to match 19 counts of 819.
• Saturn has 13 synodic periods of 378 days in six 819-day counts.

These correlations are too complex to be caused by random chance. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the ancient Mayans had created a large calendar system that could be used to predict the synod periods of all visible planets. The number of observations over multiple generations needed to develop a calendar of this sophistication is mind-blowing. But the fact similar processes occurred in the Middle East, Mesoamerica, and in all probability, the Indus Valley and China suggests a high level of organizational ability in these ancient societies.  If you can spend several hundred years accumulating the data needed to create this type of calendar, and then have the tools needed to interrogate the data and draw conclusions, building the odd pyramid, canal, or city is a relatively short-term endeavor.

For more on the history of project management and the tools we use see: https://mosaicprojects.com.au/PMKI-ZSY.php

[1] For more on the Antikythera mechanism see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

[2] Synodic period, the time required for a body within the solar system, such as a planet, the Moon, or an artificial Earth satellite, to return to the same or approximately the same position relative to the Sun as seen by an observer on the Earth.