Long Count Calendar

The Long Count Calendar is an ancient timekeeping system developed by the Maya civilization to track longer periods of time. Unlike calendars that measure days, months, or years, the Long Count uses a base-20 numerical system to count days from a seemingly arbitrary starting point, believed to be August 11, 3114 BCE. It consists of five units: baktun (144,000 days), katun (7,200 days), tun (360 days), uinal (20 days), and k’in (1 day). This calendar is significant for understanding Maya history and cosmology, and it gained modern attention during the 2012 phenomenon when some misinterpreted it as predicting the end of the world.