Roanoke Rapids herald., 1924-01-11
i. S. Savants Win
Calendar Row

"On the second date December 10.
$50 B. CD. the perfected calendar of
the Mayas was formally inaugurated,
according TO an inscription at the
ruined Mayan city of Copan in west
ern Honduras. This perfected ca.en-
dar functioned without the loss of
single day for 1000 years only to
break down and pass out of use when
Mayan books we're destroyed by the
Spanish inquisition in Yucatan in A.
D. 1861"
Discovery of the key to the ancient
calendar of the Central American In
dians reveals that surprising intellect
ual power existed in the western world
before the coming of Columbus the re-
port declares, and adds:
Doctor Spinden Solved Mystery.
+ "The inauguration of the perfected
Mayan calendar on December 10, $50
B. c., means the invention before this
date of symbol for zero-or compile
tion, according to the Maya mind-as
well as figures for entire numbers. 1t
means place value rotation in the
WTltlng OF numbers.
Nov place value notation was un-
known to the Greeks and the Romans
and Its Introduction into western Eu-
rope was accomplished by the Arabs
This was the Arabic decimal system
upon which modern mathematics de-
pend
1.-THE Mayan system was arranged
on modified base of twenty and there
fore does not exactly parallel the Ara
bic system. The Inauguration of the
Mayan calendar at this early time
means that the hieroglyphs of the
twenty days Of the month, the eight
cen months Of the year. etc.. had al
ready taken FORM"
Doctor Spinden, VINO is given credit
for the solution of mystery that
puzzled scientists for many years.
worked out a day-for-day correlation
of the Mayan and Gregorian calendars
and corroborated his findings by using
dates on monuments in ancient cities
such as Copan, Tikal and Palenque, in
connection with absolute astronomical
events. Tables have been formed
whereby Mayan dates can be trans
ferred easily into Christian dates and
vice versa.
Told Farmer What to Do,
"The most dramatic proof is the dis
| covery that a series of monuments at
Copan deal with an ancient congress
of astronomy in SOB A. d." the report
says. ut appears that in 1872 A. D., two
monuments were set up on hills on
either side Of the valley of Copan. the
! western one showing clearly on the
skyline.
'These monuments are between four
and five miles apart and person
standing before the eastern one, or at
some spot in the cit.' on the line con-
Meeting the two monuments, would see
the sun set directly behind tn, west
ern monument two times in the course
of the year, namely, April and Sep
tember 2 in the average Gregorian
year.
Both of these dates are recorded
at Copan on various monuments and
they appear prominently at her
cities. They are connected with cal
culations leading directly to the days
of the equinoxes and solstices The
astronomical congress at Copan cele-
brated a common acceptance of cer-
tain features of the calendar and a
shift In the base line which involved a
concept of relatively too complicated
for easy explanation.
= "The Mayan year was of 1855 days.
and, while the Mayas did not inter.
polate leap year days. they knew just
how many to allow for the accumulat-
ing differences for any given number
Of years."