Maya Civilization’s First Named Scientist Identified at Xultun

In 2010 archaeologists led by David Stuart uncovered a painted chamber at the Maya site of Xultun, Guatemala. Within the wall’s hieroglyphic texts the researchers identified a personal name—Saktahnwaax (also rendered Sak Tahn Waax, meaning “White-chested Fox”)—linked to a series of mathematical and astronomical formulas. The inscription “so says Saktahnwaax” is interpreted as a signature attributing the calculations to this individual, who likely lived around 800 CE.

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The chamber contains roughly 50 paintings and texts that record “rough drafts” of calculations concerning Earth, Mars and Venus cycles. Prior to this find, Maya inscriptions had only revealed the names of political elites; no personal name for a scientist had been documented. The murals are part of a small masonry building whose east and north-east walls display the formulas that scholars believe were used for predictive astronomy and ceremonial timing.

New Scientist

One highlighted sequence, designated Text 19, consists of 11 glyphs representing a span of 2,920 days—the convergence of eight solar years (8 × 365 = 2,920) and five Venus synodic cycles (5 × 584 ? 2,920). The formula also integrates the 260-day ritual calendar, the 365-day solar calendar, a 584-day Venus approximation, and a 780-day Mars approximation. Researchers date the sequence to 7 November AD 781 (Julian calendar), though its exact application remains uncertain.

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Stuart’s team employed scale drawings and digitally enhanced photographs to decipher the glyphs, treating the wall as a “whiteboard of an ancient scientist’s office.” The scholars emphasize the sophistication of the Maya’s independent scientific tradition and its relevance to understanding Classic Maya ceremonial and seasonal planning. Franco Rossi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology notes that the name’s appearance “demonstrates the importance of this kind of intellectual contribution for Classic Maya people,” underscoring the rarity of a personal scientific attribution in pre-Columbian America.

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• “This is the first named scientist from the pre-Columbian Americas. I think it’s incredibly important that the Maya be seen as a culture that was immersed in scientific inquiry and in a sophisticated way.” — David Stuart, University of Texas in Austin

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• “very keen observers of nature, and they were always looking at patterns and connections (like any scientist),” — David Stuart

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• “It’s similar to finding the whiteboard of an ancient scientist’s office and examining every scribble and note and formula on it.” — David Stuart

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• “This is the first direct mention of an ancestral Maya astronomer-mathematician by personal name,” — Franco Rossi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

New Scientist

• “Whether this is an instance of the scribe himself signing his own calculation or attributing the intellectual work to another, we have a formula and the name of its creator, which serves to demonstrate the importance of this kind of intellectual contribution for Classic Maya people,” — Franco Rossi

New Scientist

• “We think it is meant to concisely and meaningfully show the relationship between these two planets and human counts of time in ways that could then be applied to political ceremony, predictive astronomy and understandings of seasonality,” — Franco Rossi

New Scientist