The tzolkinex at the extremes of the eclipse intervals in the Eclipse Table of the Dresden Codex
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24215/26840162e028Keywords:
Maya astronomy, intervals between eclipses, tzolk'in, tzolkinexAbstract
Despite recent interpretations by Bricker and Bricker (2011) and Justeson (2017), the methods used by the Maya in constructing the Dresden Codex Eclipse Table continue to elude us. We assume that the Maya could predict solar eclipses in a similar way to lunar eclipses and that the information from the Espenak and Meeus (2009) eclipse catalog remedies the lack of observational data. Following Justeson (2017), who identified the eclipse cycle of 88 synodic months, equal to almost 2600 days, called tzolkinex, in this work, several families of tzolkinex were identified. When comparing these with the dates of lunar eclipses observed from Copán during the Early Classic (300 – 600 AD), it is noted that the codex data were reorganized. Most of these families have a short lifespan and rarely last more than three turns (3 x 2600 = 21.36 years).
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