Overview
A specialist study of names, terminology, and linguistic or cultural nomenclature associated with the Maya, aimed at readers interested in Mesoamerican history and scholarship.
This title is catalogued in Science, Space & Engineering. Its reading profile is Very short and Advanced, with themes including maya calendar, numeration, timekeeping, inscriptions, mesoamerica.
One-Page Summary
Mayan Nomenclature is Charles P. Bowditch’s focused study of the numerical and calendrical terminology used in Maya inscriptions and related texts. Bowditch examines the structure of Maya numerical systems and pays particular attention to the way large counts of days were represented. The important distinction is between an ordinary vigesimal counting system and the special sequence used for reckoning time, in which twenty units form one larger unit but eighteen of the next unit form the following one. That variation matters because it brings the resulting period close to the length of a solar year.
Bowditch also considers the debate over whether this system should properly be called a calendar or simply a method of counting days, connecting the numerical notation to fixed dates and inscriptions. The book is technical compared with popular histories of Maya civilization. Its interest lies in reconstructing how an ancient culture represented time mathematically rather than merely listing dates. By examining names, numerical units, and calendrical relationships, Bowditch tries to make the logic of Maya inscriptions intelligible to modern readers. The work is an artifact of early twentieth-century scholarship, so modern Maya studies have developed beyond some of its assumptions and interpretations.
Still, the underlying problem remains fascinating: when a civilization records time in a system radically different from modern notation, understanding the numbers becomes a way of recovering how that civilization organized history itself.
Key Themes
Maya calendar: This title is tagged with maya calendar as one of its main themes.
Numeration: This title is tagged with numeration as one of its main themes.
Timekeeping: This title is tagged with timekeeping as one of its main themes.
Inscriptions: This title is tagged with inscriptions as one of its main themes.
Mesoamerica: This title is tagged with mesoamerica as one of its main themes.