Maya calendar. Diagram showing how one particular Maya calendar was based on a cyclic combination of 13 numbers (smaller wheel) and twenty day symbols

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Maya calendar. Diagram showing how one particular Maya calendar was based on a cyclic combination of 13 numbers (smaller wheel) and twenty day symbols (larger wheel) to produce a calendar that is 260 days long (large wheel partially seen at left). This is known as the Tzolk'in calendar. The Maya were an ancient Mesoamerican civilization that inhabited southern Mexico and nearby areas for thousands of years from the second millennium BC to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. The Maya had advanced astronomical knowledge and could predict solar and planetary events.

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Size: 3057px × 2894px
Photo credit: © CLAUS LUNAU/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: american, anthropological, anthropology, artwork, calendar, central, civilisation, count, counts, cycle, cycles, date, dates, diagram, haab, historical, history, illustration, interlocking, maya, mayan, mesoamerica, mesoamerican, pre-columbian, south, tracena, turning, tzolkin, veintena, wheel, wheels, year