Gary Daniels Wrote:
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> Mike's paper is about the possible origin of the
> Mayan long count calendar and how it was
> mathematically derived by someone in the past
> noticing a specific number of days had lapsed
> between two possible impact events (as revealed in
> ice core data.) There's not one mention of
> mythology or the Chilam Balam in Mike's paper.
The point is that it is widely accepted that the Mayan calendar is based, not on the meteorological phenomena suggested by Mike Baillie, but on mythical thought. So this is why I believe that comments about aspects of Mayan mythical thought are relevant. Wiki on the
Mayan Calendar, for instance, mentions how month names were transcribed in such books as the Chilam Balam.
What can happen when people with scientific backgrounds try to investigate the possibility that events described in ancient myth might relate to scientific and/or physical phenomena is that they sometimes fail to appreciate the importance of having a detailed knowledge of the culture and mythology in question.
Mike Baillie's work sounds interesting, and, if there do appear to be correlations between the meteorological data and the Mayan calendar, it might be worthwhile investigating them further. But such an investigation won't get anywhere if the role of Mayan mythical thought is simply pushed to one side.
Hermione
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