[Aztlan] eclipse 13 ahau & burner almanacs

[ECOLING at aol.com]

Marcos Ramos-Ponciano writes:

<<I found an interesting annular eclipse that occurred on December 11, 847 
AD, 
and using a Maya calendar date calculator and Lounsbury's correlation 
[584285] ... 
I obtained the long count date of 10.0.18.0.0 13 ahau 13 k'ayab G9.
I know that this date marks the beginning of a new tun, 
but I believe that it is more important that just a new tun.>>

I have no idea whether such an eclipse is mentioned anywhere.
It might be in one of the codices or in a Chilam Balam, if so,
probably mentioned in some way we do not yet recognize.
The dates of the most important tables in the Dresden appear to be 
from the Classic period, not as late as this, even though the
physical copies of the codices which are preserved are from
much later.

One question astronomers of course ask is whether this annular eclipse
was visible in particular locations in the Mayan areas,
and where it was fully annular.

The G9 is automatic for any beginning of a new Tuun, 
because 360 is divisible by 9.   
In planetary astronomy, I see nothing esp. significant.   Evening stars 
first.
Saturn is just somewhere around 22 days past its 2nd stationary point,   
Jupiter somewhere around 60 days past its 2nd stationary point, which is 
far too long to be its first naked-eye visible departure from that point.
Venus is at around 18 degrees as evening star, long after its first 
visibility.
Mercury is around its maximum as morning star above 20 degrees.
Mars is around 70 degrees as morning star.

*

<<Also in the dresden codex there is a almanac called the burner almanac 
and all the dates start with a 13 ahau.>>

I think you mean that the (single) set of dates in that almanac start 
with a 13 Ajaw (the word "all" is odd in that sentence).

The problem is we do not know how to date most almanacs in the
Dresden codex, unless they have an elaborate preface which specifies
their start date.   There is hope for some Burner dates, if a hypothesis
I am tentatively working with can be supported, namely that Burner
dates were recorded only when an outer planet (specifically or preferably
Jupiter) is in its brightest phases, in retrograde from 1st stationary to
2nd stationary.   But this will still be very difficult, even if that 
hypothesis
works, which is not at all certain.
Perhaps some other methods of dating almanacs in the codices
will prove reliable, but no such method is yet a general consensus in the 
field.

For some discussion of Burner dates, 
please see the book by Victoria Bricker and Helga-Maria Miram, 
_An Encounter of Two Worlds. The Book of Chilam Balam of Kaua_
MARI Publication no.68, Tulane 2002
The index gives 12 places where Burner dates are mentiond
in text, tables, figures, or notes.   One of them is a 4-page section 
pp.54-58.

*

There are several Dresden almanacs whose base day is a 13 Ajaw,
and these are almost certainly not all the same point in time,
perhaps even no two of them begin at the same base date.
The ones marked with an asterisk * below have the structure 
4 x 65 days, which is sometimes relevant to Burners
(2 x 65 = 130, an approximation to the length of a Jupiter retrograde)
D18c-19c, D19c-20c, *D33c-39c, *D10c-11c, *D29a, D61b, 
D65a-73b, ?D82b 13 Etz'nab/Ajaw, D90a-92a, D91b, 
Also in Madrid with no parallel in the Dresden, M93b-94b,.
The above are most or all of the almanacs with 13 Ajaw lubs.

Best wishes,
Lloyd

Lloyd Anderson
Ecological Linguistics
PO Box 15156
Washington DC 20003
ecoling at aol.com
202-547-7683