Cuenta larga

The Long Count was the Maya calendar system for recording dates over vast spans of time, counting the days elapsed since a mythical starting point in 3114 BC. Rulers used it on carved stelae to date births, wars, and accessions with precision.

It complemented two shorter cycles: the 260-day ritual calendar (tzolk’in) and the 365-day solar year (haab). The famous date in December 2012 simply marked the completion of one of its great cycles, not an ‘end of the world.’