The Mayan civilization, one of the most advanced ancient cultures of Central America, was famous for its achievements in astronomy and mathematics. They created accurate calendars and kept detailed records of celestial events, including solar eclipses. However, until recently, it was difficult for scientists to fully understand how exactly the Mayans predicted eclipses with such accuracy. New research helps shed light on this process, writes Phys.org.

In an article published in the magazine Science Advancesscientists analyze one of the most important sources of information about Mayan astronomy – the Dresden Codex. This ancient manuscript contains tables predicting solar and lunar eclipses. Previously, scientists could not understand exactly the structure of these tables and how they were used over the centuries. However, new research helps clarify these questions.

One of the important conclusions is that the table, which covers 405 lunar months, was in fact not intended only for predicting eclipses, as previously thought. Scientists have shown that the table was part of a lunar calendar that was synchronized with the sacred Mayan calendar. It was a calendar consisting of 260 days, which was used for predictions and solving various problems, including religious and agricultural.

The Mayans used this 405-month (or 11,960-day) calendar for accurate calculations and to predict solar eclipses, synchronizing them with the lunar cycle.

The secret to accurate predictions

One of the questions that remained unanswered for a long time was how the Mayans maintained such high accuracy of their forecasts. Previously, it was believed that once they completed one table, they simply started a new one.

But the latest research shows that the Mayans used a system of overlapping tables to maintain accurate predictions for more than 700 years. Instead of starting a new table, they updated the next table to the exact internal values ​​223 or 358 months before the end of the previous oneto correct small astronomical errors that accumulate over time.

The research team came to this conclusion by mathematically modeling the table’s predictions using a historical database of actual solar eclipses observed by the Mayans between 350 and 1150 AD. e. Updating the table in this way ensured that every solar eclipse could be predicted for centuries.