David Stuart, one who wrote the report with William Saturno has
informed me that the press has the story wrong. This is not the
earliest calendar found. Here is what he wrote me;

"The Xultun tables do NOT represent the earliest Maya calendar(s). The
media has run with this meme, but it's not what we said at the press
conference. Just want to clarify."

William Saturno has found a very early Maya calendar in wall
paintings, dating to the 9th century, charting the motions of the moon
and Mars and Venus. The drawings were found at the site of Xultun in
Guatemala. The 360 day "tun", the 20 day "final" and the one day
"k'in" are represented. Lunar semesters of 177-178 days are
calculated. It looks like the lunar "semester" was calculated on the
calendar for 13 years. The finding is reported on in the May 11 issue
of Science. Another table represents the 18,980 days of the Maya
calendar round. It appears they were also notating the movements of
Jupiter in relationship to the moon.

Scientific American has the report here;
http://www.***.com/

And the NY Times added this bit of important information to the story;

"The principal scribe, who may have been related to the royal family,
also left his mark on the north wall, near the presumed kings
picture. Four long numbers there represent dates that stretch over
7,000 years. The scientists said this was the first place that seems
to tabulate all these cycles in this way. Another number scratched in
the plaster records a date that translates to A.D. 813."
http://www.***.com/

The Boston Globe has a slide show of the find here;
http://www.***.com/

And National Geographic adds that the murals were painted during a
time of intense drought at the site and folks may have been looking to
the scribes for answers.
http://www.***.com/

And the BBC adds that the dates written on the mural stretch 7000
years into the future, thus disproving the Maya end of the world
theme.
http://www.***.com/