Determining the Historicity of Three Astronomical Almanacs in the Madrid Codex

An earlier version of this work was presented in two papers delivered at the Fourth Oxford Conference on Archaeoastronomy, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, 23–27 August 1993.

The two kinds of cycles are discussed by Closs Michael P. in his “Comment” on “Classic Maya prediction of solar eclipses”, by Bricker Harvey M. and Bricker Victoria R. , Current anthropology, xxiv (1983), 19.

Edmonson Munro S. , “The Mayan calendar reform of 11.16.0.0.0”, Current anthropology, xvii (1976), 713–17.

Coe Michael D. , The Maya scribe and his world (New York, 1973); Carlson John B. , “The Grolier Codex: A preliminary report on the content and authenticity of a 13th-century Maya Venus almanac”, in Aveni Anthony F. and Brotherston Gordon (eds), Calendars in Mesoamerica and Peru: Native American computations of time (B.A.R. International Series 174; Oxford, 1983), 27–57.

Codex Tro-Cortesianus (Codex Madrid): Museo de América Madrid (mit Einleitung und Summary von Ferdinand Anders) (Codices Selecti, 7; Graz, 1967).

Codex Peresianus (Codex Paris): Bibliothèque Nationale Paris (mit Einleitung und Summary von Ferdinand Anders) (Codices Selecti, 9; Graz, 1968).

Codex Dresdensis: Sáchsische Landesbibliothek Dresden, Mscr. Dresd. R 310 (Faksimile-Ausgabe des Codex mit Kommentar von Helmut Deckert und Ferdinand Anders) (Codices Selecti, 54; Graz, 1975).

Bricker Victoria R. and Bricker Harvey M. , “The seasonal table in the Dresden Codex and related almanacs”, Archaeoastronomy (supplement to Journal for the history of astronomy, no. 12 (1988), S1–62.

Kluepfel Charles , Moon & Sun [an astronomical softwar (Bloomfield, 1986).

Liu Bao-Lin and Fiala Alan D. , Canon of lunar eclipses 1500 B.C. — A.D. 3000 (Richmond, 1992); Eagle David C. , A computer canon of lunar eclipses 1500 BC to AD 3000 [an astronomical softwar (Richmond, 1993).

Duffett-Smith Peter , Astronomy with your personal computer [an astronomical softwar (Cambridge, 1985).

Stuart David and Houston Stephen , Classic Maya place names (Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, 33; Washington, 1994), 44, 47.

Bricker V. and Bricker H. , op. cit. (ref. 8).

Förstemann Ernst W. , Commentar zur Madrider Mayahandschrift (Codex Tro-Cortesianus) (Danzig, 1902).

Bricker V. and Bricker H. , op. cit. (ref. 8).

Satterthwaite Linton , “Calendrics of the Maya lowlands”, in Wauchope Robert and Willey Gordon R. (eds), Handbook of Middle American Indians, iii: Archaeology of southern Mesoamerica (Austin, 1965), 603–31, pp. 609, 611–13.

For example, Bricker Victoria R. and Bricker Harvey M. , “A method for cross-dating almanacs with tables in the Dresden Codex”, in Aveni Anthony F. (ed.), The sky in Mayan literature (New York, 1992), 43–86.

Bricker V. and Bricker H. , op. cit. (ref. 8), S37–38.

Seler Eduard , “Die Tierbilder der mexicanischen und der Maya-Handschriften”, in Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Altertumskunde, iv (Graz, 1961), 458–758, p. 640 [reprint of the article originally published in 1909 and 1910 in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie].

Bricker Harvey M. and Bricker Victoria R. , “Zodiacal references in the Maya codices”, in Aveni (ed), The sky in Mayan literature (ref. 17), 148–83.

Bricker V. and Bricker H. , op. cit. (ref. 8), S41–42.

Hatch Marion P. , “An astronomical calendar in a portion of the Madrid Codex”, in Aveni Anthony F. (ed.), Archaeoastronomy in pre-Columbian America (Austin, 1977), 283–340, p. 286.

Milbrath Susan , “Astronomical imagery in the serpent sequence of the Madrid Codex”, in Williamson Ray A. (ed.), Archaeoastronomy in the Americas (Los Altos and College Park, 1981), 263–84, p. 268.

Kowalski Jeff K. , “A historical interpretation of the inscriptions of Uxmal”, in Robertson Green Merle and Benson Elizabeth P. (eds), Fourth Palenque round table, 1980 (Palenque round table series, vi; San Francisco, 1985), 235–47, pp. 246–7, note 15; Taube Karl A. , The major gods of ancient Yucatan (Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, 32; Washington, 1992), 19.

Rubio Barrera Alfredo , Official guide — Uxmal (México, 1991), 50.

Seler Eduard , “Die Ruinen von Chich'en Itzá in Yucatan”, in Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Altertumskunde, v (Graz, 1961), 197–388, p. 366 and p. 367, Abb. 243 [reprint of the article originally published in Verhandlungen des XVI. Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses, Wien, 1908, 151–239].

Eric J. Thompson S. , A commentary on the Dresden Codex, a Maya hieroglyphic book (American Philosophical Society, Memoirs, xciii; Philadelphia, 1972), 69.

Aveni Anthony F. , Skywatchers of ancient Mexico (Austin, 1980), 72–73.

Teeple John E. , Maya astronomy (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Contributions to American Archaeology, i/2; C.I.W. Publication no. 403; Washington, 1931), 29–116, p. 90.

Aveni , op. cit. (ref. 28), 72.

Bricker Harvey M. and Bricker Victoria R. , “Classic Maya prediction of solar eclipses”, Current anthropology, xxiv (1983), 1–23.

von Oppolzer Theodor , Canon der Finsternisse (Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, Denkschriften, 52; Vienna, 1887).

Duffett-Smith , op. cit. (ref. 11).

Bricker V. and Bricker H. , op. cit. (ref. 8).