jimroznowski.net > travels > Guatemala

Images from the Chautauqua Course #24
Ancient Maya Mathematics in the Highlands of Guatemala
July 15 - 22, 2006
Dr. Ed Barnhart & Christopher Powell
Maya Exploration Center - www.mayaexploration.org
Patio de la Paz
Palacio Nacional de la Cultura
Guatemala City
I arrived a day early on July 14 and had an opportunity to tour Guatemala City including the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura. We then traveled to the colonial city of Antigua and the ruins of El Baul, one of the oldest known Maya cities. From there the course moved to Lake Atitlan, where we visited Panajachel and Santiago Atitlan. While in Santiago Atitlan we visited the shrine of the deity Maximon. The course’s final destination was Chichicastenango, the place where Spanish priests of the 1600’s first wrote down the Maya creation story, the Popol Vuh. We were in Chichicastenango during market day and visited the shrine of Pascual Abaj.

The travels through the highlands of Guatemala were the setting for a series of lectures on the mathematics (a base 20 system using bars and dots) and geometry (utilizing the geometry and proportions found in nature) used by the Mayans. The ancient Maya of Mexico and Central America were the most advanced mathematicians in the entire New World. They were only culture in the Pre-Columbian Americas to create the concept of “zero”, essential to higher math.

We also learned about their complex calendar system. With it, the Maya were able to calculate astronomical events thousands of years into the future or the past. We were fortunate to participated in a ceremony related to the special day of the 260-day calendar.

Images of
Antigua		 Images of
El Baul		 Images of
Panajachel		 Images of
Chichicastenango