![]() In this dissertation, I examine the political organization of Maya states during the Classic period (AD 550-950) through the workings of an institutional order whose practices came to light in excavations at Xultun, Guatemala. However, the values calculated for precession within the Serpent Series are far more accurate than those of their contemporaries, surpassed only by Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler in the late sixteenth century. These observations can be compared to those of Hipparchus, who first recorded the precession of the equinoxes in ancient Greece. Namely, Maya astronomers recorded their observations of the sidereal position of total lunar eclipses at fixed points within the tropical year. Furthermore, the data contained within the Serpent Series can be used to reconstruct the means used by the Maya to calculate precession. The remainder of the dates in the Serpent Series strongly support this proposal, demonstrating not only repeating sidereal positions of the sun over tens of thousands of years, but also an extensive knowledge of lunar motion, eclipse cycles, and planetary cycles of Mars, Saturn, and Venus that are comparable to current measurements. ![]() Because it takes approximately seventy-one years for the annual sidereal position of the sun to shift by one day of precession, an accurate calculation of precession requires hundreds of years of recorded observations. Such an accurate calculation suggests that the Maya were observing and recording the precession of the equinoxes. This unique interval of more than 15,000 years is almost exactly a whole multiple of the sidereal year, returning the sun to precisely the same position against the background of stars, while the position in the tropical year shifts dramatically. This dissertation project examines the Serpent Series in detail, beginning with a new interpretation of the initial repeated distance number on pages 61 and 69. Beyer first named this sequence the Serpent Series because its component numerals are written within the coils of undulating serpents. Hermann Beyer (1943) first demonstrated that a sequence of unusually long intervals of time found within the Dresden Codex describe specific dates separated by intervals of over 30,000 years. The Postclassic Maya Dresden Codex contains extensive astronomical records in the form of calendrical and chronological intervals concerning multiple cycles of the sun, the moon, and several visible planets. Figure 1: Roys' chart of the Glyph X variants, as reproduced by Kelley (1976: Fig. Roys' chart of the forms Glyph X1 to X6 was published by Wyllys Andrews (1934), who tried to show that each form of Glyph X accompanies two consecutive coefficients of Glyph C (Figure 1). The different forms of Glyph X were first compared and numbered by Lawrence Roys. A few years later, John Teeple noticed that the forms of Glyph X co-varied with the coefficient of Glyph C (1930). Morley was able to show that Glyph X follows Glyph C and precedes Glyph B, and that Glyph B never occurs without the presence of Glyph X. One of the most mysterious components of the Lunar series is Glyph X, whose existence and placement within the sequence was pointed out by Sylvanus Morley a hundred years ago (Morley 1916). Although the significance of many of its elements has been discovered thanks to hundred years of research, there are still significant lacks of understanding. The Lunar Series of Classic Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions still presents intriguing mysteries to the scholar.
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