NATS 1745 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Lunar Phase, Maya Civilization, Eclipse Cycle
3 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Lands of the maya span from northern central america to mexico. Mayan civilization have evolved completely in isolation from european civilizations so their achievements in astronomy are completely their own. Achieved a higher level of astronomy in a shorter period of time than any other civilization. Mayan sites and records reveal: the maya tracked celestial cycles in order to worship the mayan gods associated w/ celestial bodies. In order to worship the gods, the mayans learned to predict where and when the celestial bodies would appear in the skies so they"ll know when to perform their religious practices. Able to identify the long term celestial cycles. They developed their own language and wrote in bark books. Nearly 40 pages double sided worth of 400 months worth of eclipse predictions and over 100 years that track the disappearances/appearances of venus. They used the cycle of venus to determine when to perform their worshipping ceremonies.
