Characteristic of this system is the cyclical nature, with the Mayan calendar featuring three common cycles: the Long Count, Tzolk’in (260-day) and the 365-day, solar-based Haab’.

Characteristic of this system is the cyclical nature, with the Mayan calendar featuring three common cycles: the Long Count, Tzolk’in (260-day) and the 365-day, solar-based Haab’.

And on 21 December 2012, the Mayan Long Count calendar will read 13.0.0.0.0. Now here's how it works. Our numbering system is based on 10. But the Mayans had a counting system based on 20, ...

An article describing the findings, ‘The Maya 819-Day Count and Planetary Astronomy’, is published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica. More about Mayan. Join our commenting forum.