Archaeologist in 2010 David Stuart and colleagues fled to a painted room in Xultun, a Mayan ruin in modern-day Guatemala. Then the team noticed that many mathematical and astronomical formulas were attributed to someone – a person who has now been named.
a paper A research group published today in Antiquity reports on Saktahnwaax (“White-breasted Fox”), the first known Mayan mathematician-astronomer, who probably lived in the 800s AD. According to the paper, an inscription on the wall of the chamber reads “Thus says Saktahnwaax,” indicating that either the person himself or someone else “signed” the work and attributed the formulas to Saktahnwaax. In addition to the name of the alleged scientist, the team shared a never-before-seen formula that demonstrates the Mayans’ “unique and elegant” understanding of time and astronomy, Stewart of the University of Texas at Austin told Gizmodo.
The Maya “were very keen observers of nature, and they were always looking at patterns and connections (like any scientist),” said Stewart, first author of the paper. “This is the first scientist from the Americas before Columbus. I think it’s incredibly important to see the Mayans as a culture steeped in scientific research and sophistication.”
Convergent evolution, science
As Science in 2022 noted, in the 19th century, Western science gave a “late” appreciation to the development of Mayan science. essay.
Stewart explained that the Maya adopted scientific traditions completely independent of the “Old World.” Still, the Maya paid close attention to the same celestial events as everyone else and carefully “integrated their states into a single vision of time.”
So far, archaeologists have only identified the names of Mayan kings, queens or other political figures, Stewart said. In this sense, the findings finally put the name of a Mayan mathematician or astronomer – probably the same in Maya society – who was added to the list of great scientific thinkers of the ancient world.
Deciphering ancient wisdom
Stuart admits the initial discovery was unexpected, so there wasn’t a clear research question for the team at first. Earlier looting had uncovered part of the painted wall, so the team began excavating there, uncovering about 50 paintings and written texts, most of them related to astronomical and mathematical observations. Next, the team produced scale drawings and digitally enhanced photographs to decipher the ancient messages.
When researchers first got a good look at Saktahnwaax’s “signature,” they were careful not to jump to conclusions. Above all else, the team wanted to rule out “all other possibilities,” Stewart recalled. Once they were confident in their interpretations, they were amazed at the sophistication of the ancient thinker’s work.
For example, Stewart explained that the formula attributed to Saktahnwaax is “a sequence of glyphs representing a sequence of dates spanning a span of 2,920 days.” “We knew it was an important number because it is the approximation of 8 solar years (365 days) and 5 Venus years. The formula also uniquely includes other periods, which suggests that the interval also includes other divisions of time that the Maya followed.”
“It’s like finding the blackboard of an ancient scientist’s office and checking every scribble, note, and formula on it,” Stewart concluded. “Some of it is still obscure and we still have to learn.”
