Baktun
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A baktun is 20 katun cycles of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar. It contains 144,000 days or 400 tuns or nearly 400 tropical years. The Classic period of Maya civilization occurred during the 8th and 9th baktuns of the current calendrical cycle. The current (12th) baktun will end on December 20, 2012 (using the GMT correlation). The 12th baktun will be completed (13.0.0.0.0 in Long Count notation) on December 21, 2012, which also marks the beginning of the 13th baktun, as such a term is usually used among Mayanists.
J. Eric S. Thompson states that when a Long Count of say 9.15.10.0.0 is placed in the 9th baktun, we are almost certainly committing an error. However, that practice is so well established among Maya epigraphers and other students of the Maya that to change it would cause more harm than its perpetuation.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ J. Eric S. Thompson, Maya Hieroglyphic Writing (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971) p.149
[edit] See also
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