The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar was a method used by several pre-Columbian cultures in Mesoamerica to track long periods of time. Unlike the more familiar Gregorian Calendar, which resets annually, the Long Count was designed to continue indefinitely, tracking the number of days since a mythological creation date.
The Long Count calendar was first developed by the Maya civilization around 355 BC, although its origins might go back further to the Olmec civilization. This calendar system was not just a tool for counting days but was deeply interwoven with religious, political, and historical narratives of the Mesoamerican societies.
These units were used to create a positional notation system similar to our decimal system, where each position represents a power of 20, except for the Tun which is based on 18, reflecting the 360-day count. For example, the date 13.0.0.0.0 corresponds to the completion of 13 Baktuns, marking the end of a cycle known as the Great Cycle.
The Long Count was used to mark significant historical and prophetic events, including the supposed end of the world or a major transformation, which was famously misinterpreted in modern times as predicting the apocalypse in 2012. In reality, it was a date of great cultural significance, often associated with renewal or rebirth in the Mesoamerican worldview.
The understanding of the Long Count calendar has been pieced together through the study of surviving inscriptions on stelae, codices, and architectural structures. Archaeologists, epigraphers, and Mayanists like Eric Thompson and Linda Schele have played crucial roles in deciphering these texts. Their work has not only helped in understanding the calendar but also in reconstructing the history and culture of Mesoamerica.