The meaning Oxlajuj Baktun cycle for the Maya was not the most prominent, but the short account or Katun, according to archaeologists and historians said domestic and foreign, who gathered last weekend at the Fifth Convention of Mayan Archaeology in Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez.
The speakers agreed that the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, known as Oxlajuj Baktun, which will occur on 21 December and is equivalent to five thousand 125 years, was a time of transition and objective in the past or future was not to predict events, but acquired a mythological significance.
Tomas Barrientos, director of the Department of Archaeology at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, said that the calendar system became the territorial and socio-political axis of the Mayan cities. However, the expert explained that “the change of baktun was not a priority for residents, but the record of the katun, a period of seven thousand 200 days or 20 years.”
In Tikal, for example, the rulers built pyramids to commemorate the end of the katun, while in Yucatán shifted the center of power, so it came to be up to 13 cities. “His life revolved around this schedule,” said Barrientos.
Archaeologist presented a long list of Mesoamerican ruins in which baktun is mentioned. The oldest and most complete appears on Stela 2 from Chiapa de Corzo archaeological site, Mexico, dating from 36 a. C.
The Mexican archaeologist Alejandro Garay coincided with the baktun proliferated in the Classic period as “a system of legitimation of Maya rulers, who were considered gods.” The expert added that the Long Count, whose origin is mythological, declined when the Mayan cities began to be governed by different systems, such as the katun.
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