Overview
- The Science Advances paper by John Justeson and Justin Lowry reinterprets the Dresden Codex’s eclipse table as a layered, predictive model rather than a purely ritual guide.
- Researchers show the table’s 11,960-day span of 405 lunar months aligns exactly with 46 cycles of the 260-day Tzolk'in, producing recurring windows when solar eclipses were likely.
- The model uses overlapping sequences with resets at 223 and 358 lunar months, analogous to saros and inex cycles, to remove accumulated error and sustain accuracy from roughly 350 to 1150 CE.
- Comparisons with historical observations indicate the method could have anticipated every solar eclipse visible in the Maya region during that period, with accuracy sufficient for continued use today in parts of Mexico.
- Evidence suggests the table began as a lunar calendar and was later adapted for eclipse tracking, reframing the codex as a hybrid ritual–computational almanac with stations spaced about 177 days apart to mark eclipse-prone intervals.