At Xultun, researchers decoded a Maya astronomer's name from murals: Sak Tahn Waax ('White-Chested Fox')—the first identified by name in such a context. His formula condensed 8 solar years and 5 Venus cycles into 9 glyphs. Led by David Stewart and Heather Hurst with the San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project. 🌟
Name of Maya astronomer Sak K'an Wash deciphered from Xultun mural formula
GuatemalaEpigraphy
Key facts
- The San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project, led by David Stewart and Heather Hurst, has been working at Xultun for 25 years since discovering San Bartolo murals in 2001
- Xultun's dense settlement covers about 9 square kilometers and contains three major plazas surrounded by pyramids and a major palace, with monumental construction beginning around 400-300 BC and major growth in the 3rd-4th century AD
- A painted chamber was found in a small elite residential/palace area southwest of the main plazas, with murals dating to the late 700s/early 800s AD featuring a portrait of a king and later-added tiny hieroglyphs
- Using multispectral imaging and digital enhancement, researchers deciphered a mathematical-astronomical formula attributing it to a working astronomer named Sak K'an Wash (White-Chested Fox), the first time a Maya astronomer's name has been identified in such a context
- The formula represented 2,920 days, equivalent to 8 solar years (8 x 365) and 5 Venus cycles (5 x 584), and was broken down into subdivisions including 20 + 260 days and 2 Mars years, and expressed as 3 x 360 days, all condensed into nine glyphs
- The room contains over 50 micro texts, only a few of which have been deciphered so far, including a previously found lunar calendar
Site mentioned
Sources
Sak Tahn Waax - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
Sak Tahn Waax ("White-Chested Fox") was an 8th-century Maya astronomer and mathematician from Xultun (now in Guatemala). He is the only Classical Mayan ...
An ancient Maya astronomer finally has a name - Science Newssciencenews.org
A Maya calendar formula bears the name Sak Tahn Waax, the first known Classic Maya mathematician-astronomer directly credited for such work.
Archaeologists decipher the name of a Maya astronomer for the first timenationalgeographic.com
ancient Maya ruins of Xultun in Guatemala, archaeologists have decoded the celestial equations of the astronomer-mathematician Sak Tahn Waax. ...
Meet Sak Tahn Waax, a Maya Math Whiz Who ... - Smithsonian Magazinesmithsonianmag.com
The Maya were gifted mathematicians, famously using sophisticated calculations to chart the heavens and create various calendars.
Sak Tahn Waax: For The First Time Ever, The Name Of An ... - IFLScienceiflscience.com
Sak Tahn Waax therefore becomes the first known Maya mathematician, after the scholar's title was found on the inside wall of a building at the ...
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