The hieroglyphics experts Stuart and Martin quickly agreed on the three dates associated with the panel. One represented the 9.14.0.0.0 k'atun ending, while the other two were exactly two and a half years on either side of this date.
Just as we think in terms of decades, the ancient Maya divided time into a twenty year period called a k'atun. They took special note of the endings of these twenty-year periods. Their calendar also numbered every day that had elapsed since a mythological starting point in the fourth millenium B.C. By this "long count" over a million days had gone by between the starting point and the dates on the stucco panel. Using a system of placeholders not unlike our own, the Maya expressed this as 9.14.0.0.0. |
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