Meteor Showers in the Ancient Maya Hieroglyphic Codices

Researchers of the ancient Maya culture have long been fascinated with the Maya obsession concerning cyclical calendars and precise visual observations of astronomical bodies and phenomena, in particular the Sun, Moon, visible planets, and solar and lunar eclipses. Although considered possible, heretofore no record of specific sightings of comets or meteor showers in the Maya inscriptions has been firmly established by scholars. Besides difficulties with decipherment of the hieroglyphic script, investigators have had to grapple with an ancient Maya calendar that has not been accurately correlated to the European calendar. Recent examination by this researcher has found that it may be possible to recognize written accounts of meteor showers embedded in the hieroglyphic corpus, especially the codices, the screen-fold books that were the tools of the astronomerpriests of that day. By proposing an alternative decipherment of an astronomical sign and using the accompanying hieroglyphic texts and illustrations with appropriate dates, this researcher believes it is possible to demonstrate that the Maya may have recorded meteor showers occurring in the seventh through the tenth centuries AD.