The Maya calendar is a complex intellectual achievment.
Scholars have puzzled over the 'Long Count' version, which counts each day in a hierarchy of sets as follows:
| 1 kin | = | 1 day | ||||||
| 1 uinal | = | 20 kin | = | 20 days | ||||
| 1 tun | = | 18 uinal | = | 360 kin | = | 360 days | ||
| 1 ka-tun | = | 20 tun | = | 360 uinal | = | 7200 days | ||
| 1 bak-tun | = | 20 ka-tun | = | 400 tun | = | 144000 days | ||
| 1 great cycle | = | 13 bak-tun | = | 1872000 days | = | 5200 tun | = | ~5125.257 years |
I have seen reference by many authors to the fact that the cycle in which we presently exist began in 3113 or 3314 BC, with Michael Coe pinpointing it as starting August 13, 3114 BC. This current cycle is scheduled to end December 23, 2012.
There has been much wonder and speculation as to why this cycle began in 3113/4 BC. I believe that I have found the answer.
The Maya elite were very preoccupied with time and the calendar, and with correlating it to astronomical events. In particular, they seem to have been very fascinated with the planet Venus.
On -3113.4.27 (April 27, 3114 BC), around 10:00 AM GMT, which was about 4:00 AM local time in Mexico, there was a conjunction in which Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon (with 11% illuminated in its last quarter, age 26 days 7 hours 43 minutes), the three brighest celestial bodies during the night, all rose together over the East-Southeast horizon, in the constellation Aries. (Look at the bottom of this picture, just above the horizon.)
For several days before and after the joining of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter remained very close to each other. This week-long show would have been an unforgettable sight, and arriving in the dark night sky just before the sunrise, this certainly must form a basis of Mayan mythology and cosmology.
