Mayan Calendar

Inventor: Ancient Olmecs, Epi-Olmecs and Izapans – 900 - 700 BCE

Developed by: Ancient Mayan Priest – August 11, 3114 BCE

What you can see right now is a Mayan Calendar which is

One of the most prominent discoveries and inventions made during the Mesoamerican
civilizations is the Mayan Calendar. It was invented by ancient Olmecs, Epi-Olmecs and Izapans during
the Olmec civilization way back 900-700 BCE. The calendar was also called “Calendar Round” and it
consists of two calendars which are Tzolkin (tsolkin) or Divine Calendar, a 260-day calendar that marks
religious and ceremonial events and Haab (hab) or Civil Calendar, a 365-day solar calendar.

The calendar round invented during the Olmec civilization was said to be poor in fixing events in
an absolute chronology or in measuring the relationship to one another over a long period since it just
measures days that is why an ancient Mayan priest devised an additional system in the calendar round
during the Mayan civilization and called it the “Long Count”, a system which can identify day by counting
forward from a fixed date in the distant past. According to some scholars, the base date of the use of the
Long Count system was August 11 or 13 in the year 3114 days BC.

The Mayan Calendar created a big impact on the lives of the people during the Olmec and
Mayan civilizations. It is used to determine days for sowing and harvesting, military triumphs, religious
ceremonies, and divination. Aside from that, the calendar predicted the future, as our astrological
zodiac does. For example, the Maya believed that a person's birthday or day-sign determined their fate
through life. The Mayan Calendar also predicted the exact date of the end of the world on the day
December 21,2012 which created a big controversy to a lot of people around the world and turned out
to be an inaccurate prediction.

The ancient Maya cycle still survives in southern Mexico and the Maya highlands, under the care
of calendar priests who keep the 260-day count for divination and other shamanistic activities.

https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc06eng.html

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/mayan-scientific-achievements