GC432C9 GB-01: 2012 (Unknown Cache) in Western Australia, Australia created by Geology Boy

This cache has been archived.

Geology Boy: Time to say goodbye to my first geocache placement, which lasted significantly longer than the theme suggested!

I understand that the cache coordinates are now inaccessible without damaging a planted area.

Thank you to those who helped maintain this cache in my absence, it was very much appreciated.

GC432C9 ▼

A cache by Geology Boy Message this owner

Hidden : 12/20/2012

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

CACHE IS NOT AT THE LISTED CO-ORDINATES!

This is intended to be an educational journey about how the Maya Calendar and numerical system is believed to have worked, so I have tried to make it more involved to encourage an understanding of the methodology. Hopefully it is not too difficult to follow...

As the name suggests, this is based on '2012'; the year many believe the Mayan predicted the world to end - on the 21st December 2012!

MAYA CALENDAR.

The Maya calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Tzolk'in. The Tzolkin was combined with a 365-day vague solar year known as the Haab' to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haab', called the Calendar Round. Smaller cycles of 13 days, the trecena, and 20 days, the veintena, were important components of both cycles.

A different calendar was used to track longer periods of time, and for the inscription of calendar dates (i.e., identifying when one event occurred in relation to others). This is the Long Count. It is a count of days since a mythological starting-point. [Wikipedia]
This 'creation' date has been calculated as 11th August 3114 BCE in our current dating system [see picture] and the 'reset' date at 21st December 2012 AD.

Inscription

[East side of stela C, Quirigua with the mythical creation date of 13 baktuns, 0 katuns, 0 tuns, 0 uinals, 0 kins, 4 Ahau 8 Cumku. Cyrus Thomas (1904) Mayan calendar Systems II.]

With the above picture, we would write this date as 13.0.0.0.0 (ignoring the Ahau and Cumku).

Our 'Western' counting system is base-10, the Maya system was base-20. This means that instead of resetting after '9', they reset at 20. As this system would not translate well to the solar year (of 365.24 days), the second-order unit ('Winal') was base-18 (18x20=360), rather than 20 (20x20=400). This can be thought of as an 18-month year, each of 20 days.

This table shows the units used in the Maya Calendar and how many days make up each.

Days	Long Count period	Long Count unit
1		1 K'in
20	20 K'in	1 Winal
360	18 Winal	1 Tun
7,200	20 Tun	1 K'atun
144,000	20 K'atun	1 B'ak'tun

The date '21st December 2012' is at Long Count 13.0.0.0.0 (or 0.0.0.0.0), the day that the calendar will go to the next b'ak'tun (rather than the 'end of the world')! An analogue of this can be seen as our 12am being the same as 00:00 in 24-hour format.

MAYA NUMERALS.

A dot was a value of 1, a horizontal bar represented 5, and a 'shell' represented 0, as shown below. Note how these symbols appear in the picture above (see if you can spot them!).

Maya Numerals

Your mission is as follows:

1) Translate the following Maya date into our numerical system (Hint: Format = 'xx.xx.xx.xx.xx').

2) Work out the number below (Note: this is a standard base-10 number written using Maya characters).

Question 2

3) Add this number of days to the date in Question 1 using the base-20/base-18 methods (you can actually add the number of days to the 'Gregorian calendar' if you prefer, but remember to convert it back to Maya Long Count afterwards).

4) You will arrive at a series of five numbers (Note the '13' below has been included to avoid confusion with the methods that reset it to '00'.):

13.A.B.C.D

5) The cache is located at:

[(A+B+D)xCx3]-3=YYY
[(BxD)+(C+2)]x9=ZZZ

S32° 14.YYY
E115° 48.ZZZ

Additional Notes:
- Cache is a mint tin with FTF certificate and the largest object I could fit in ('key to Australia'...)!
- Bring you own writing tool.
- It would be good if there was at least one small tradable item in there at all times, but please ensure the lid is snapped shut properly when leaving...
- Please be considerate of neighbouring houses and be aware that there is a school and various sport areas nearby.

This is my first official cache placement, so I welcome any feedback!

Congratulations to 'Chwiliwr' on the FTF!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Will be provided after FTF, if required]

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

MAYA CALENDAR.

MAYA NUMERALS.

Your mission is as follows:

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GB-01: 2012 Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

MAYA CALENDAR.

MAYA NUMERALS.

Your mission is as follows:

Attributes

Inventory

Bookmark Lists

Treasures