diff --git a/src/maya/core.py b/src/maya/core.py
index 8082675..2f05245 100644
--- a/src/maya/core.py
+++ b/src/maya/core.py
@@ -257,7 +257,10 @@ def datetime(self, to_timezone=None, naive=False):
         if to_timezone:
             dt = self.datetime().astimezone(pytz.timezone(to_timezone))
         else:
-            dt = Datetime.utcfromtimestamp(self._epoch)
+            try:
+                dt = Datetime.utcfromtimestamp(self._epoch)
+            except: # Fallback for before year 1970 issue
+                dt = Datetime.utcfromtimestamp(0) + timedelta(microseconds=self._epoch*1000000)
             dt.replace(tzinfo=self._tz)
         # Strip the timezone info if requested to do so.
         if naive:
diff --git a/tests/test_maya.py b/tests/test_maya.py
index a528309..fa4b63e 100644
--- a/tests/test_maya.py
+++ b/tests/test_maya.py
@@ -86,6 +86,28 @@ def test_issue_104():
     t = maya.MayaDT.from_struct(t)
     assert str(t) == "Wed, 11 Oct 2017 21:12:11 GMT"
 
+def test_before_1970():
+    d1 = maya.when("1899-17-11 08:09:10")
+    assert d1.year == 1899
+    assert d1.month == 11
+    assert d1.day == 17
+    assert d1.week == 46
+    assert d1.weekday == 5
+    assert d1.hour == 8
+    assert d1.minute == 9
+    assert d1.second == 10
+    assert d1.microsecond == 0
+    # Test properties for maya.parse()
+    d2 = maya.parse("February 29, 1904 13:12:34")
+    assert d2.year == 1904
+    assert d2.month == 2
+    assert d2.day == 29
+    assert d2.week == 9
+    assert d2.weekday == 1
+    assert d2.hour == 13
+    assert d2.minute == 12
+    assert d2.second == 34
+    assert d2.microsecond == 0
 
 def test_human_when():
     r1 = maya.when("yesterday")