Long Count calendar

E28874

The Long Count calendar is an ancient Mesoamerican timekeeping system, most notably used by the Maya, that tracks days in a linear count from a mythological starting point to record historical and cosmological events.


Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Mesoamerican calendar
calendar system
chronological system
allows absolute dating of events
appearsOn Maya stelae
codices
monumental inscriptions
associatedWith Maya Creation myth
bʼakʼtun endings
period-ending rituals
distinguishedFrom 260-day ritual calendar
365-day vague year calendar
Calendar Round
geographicRegion Mesoamerica
southern Maya lowlands
hasAlternativeCorrelation Lounsbury correlation
Spinden correlation
hasBaseUnit kʼin (day)
hasCorrelationConstant Goodman–Martínez–Thompson correlation
hasKeyConcept cycle of bʼakʼtunim
period-ending ceremonies
hasLargerUnit bʼakʼtun (20 kʼatun = 144,000 days)
kʼatun (20 tun = 7,200 days)
tun (18 winal = 360 days)
winal (20 kʼin)
hasStartingPoint mythological creation date
notationStructure vigesimal positional system with modified third position
primaryFunction commemoration of period endings
cosmological dating
recording dynastic histories
recording historical events
relatedCalendar Haabʼ
Tzolkʼin calendar
surface form: Tzolkʼin
startingPointCorrelation August 11, 3114 BCE (proleptic Gregorian, Goodman–Martínez–Thompson correlation)
September 6, 3114 BCE (proleptic Julian, GMT correlation)
startingPointInMayaNotation 13.0.0.0.0
studiedIn Maya epigraphy
Mesoamerican archaeology
archaeoastronomy
timeSpanCoverage multi-millennial
usedBy Maya civilization
Mesoamerican cultures
usedFor correlating Maya history with Western calendar
usedTogetherWith Calendar Round
usesNumeralSystem Maya numerals
vigesimal (base-20) numeral system
writtenWith dot-and-bar numerals
glyphs

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mesoamerica culturalTrait Long Count calendar
Maya civilization developed Long Count calendar