For the first time, researchers have identified the name of an ancient Maya mathematician and astronomer thanks to a remarkable set of writings discovered on a wall in Guatemala.
The finding gives historians a rare glimpse into the people behind the advanced mathematical and astronomical knowledge of the Classic Maya civilization.
The discovery comes from the ancient Maya city of Xultun in northern Guatemala. During the Classic period, which lasted from about 250 to 900 CE, astronomy and mathematics played a central role in Maya society.
Skilled scholars carefully tracked the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Their calculations helped determine important dates for ceremonies, the construction of monuments, and the coronation of kings and queens.
Although many Maya artworks include the names of the artists who created them, no known mathematician or astronomer had ever signed their work. As a result, the people responsible for these impressive calculations remained anonymous for centuries.
That has now changed.
The study, published in the journal Antiquity, focused on more than 50 tiny mathematical and astronomical writings found on the wall of a small building at Xultun. These inscriptions appear to have been working notes or rough drafts rather than formal public texts.
Researchers compared them to finding an early draft of a famous manuscript or a sketch made by a great artist before completing a masterpiece. Such discoveries offer a rare look at how Maya scholars actually worked and developed their ideas.
To study the faded writings, the research team created detailed drawings, photographs, and digital scans. They also used advanced image-enhancing techniques to make the damaged text easier to read. This allowed them to reconstruct and decipher 11 hieroglyphs that had previously been difficult to identify.
Among these symbols, the researchers found not only a mathematical formula but also a signature.
The text credits the work to a man named Sak Tahn Waax, whose name can be translated as “White-chested Fox.” This is the first known example of a Classic Maya mathematician or astronomer being directly identified by name.
The mathematical formula itself is just as fascinating. It combines several important Maya timekeeping systems, including the 260-day ritual calendar, the 365-day solar year, and the movements of planets such as Venus and Mars. While these calendars and planetary cycles were already familiar to Maya scholars, the way Sak Tahn Waax linked them together is unlike anything previously found in Maya writings.
Researchers say the calculations reflect his own creative approach to understanding patterns in time and the heavens, revealing that Maya scholars were not simply copying established knowledge but developing original mathematical ideas.
The discovery also places Sak Tahn Waax alongside famous scientific thinkers from other ancient civilizations. Around the same time, scholars in India, China, Mesopotamia, and Greece were also studying planetary motions, predicting eclipses, and creating calendars.
More than 1,200 years after he recorded his calculations on a plaster wall, the name of Sak Tahn Waax has finally reappeared, offering a rare personal connection to one of the brilliant minds behind the Maya civilization’s extraordinary achievements in mathematics and astronomy.
