by Richard
So, it turns out that it’s not really the end of the world as we know it. And, really, I feel pretty fine about that.
Okay, yes, I’m sure you feeling a bit lost. Please, allow me to throw you a compass, GPS device, map and two hands so you can find your. . . Ah, never mind about that last one.
What I’m talking about is the supposed end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012. According to the Mayans, anyway. Right. The Mayans did say the world would end then, when their calendar apparently stopped. I mean, it must be true. There’s a Dean Devlin movie coming out about it. And he’d never do something outlandish, based on flimsy evidence. Of course not.
Well, maybe this one time. See, the Mayans didn’t really think the world was going to end within three years.
Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.
A significant time period for the Mayas does end on the date, and enthusiasts have found a series of astronomical alignments they say coincide in 2012, including one that happens roughly only once every 25,800 years.
But most archaeologists, astronomers and Maya say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, Internet doomsday rumors and TV specials.
The reason for all this kerfluffle, aside from the inherent gullibility of most humans, is Monument 6. The stone tablet was found in an obscure ruin in southern Mexico while a new highway was being paved in the 1960s. Part of the tablet was paved over, while age and erosion make part of it unreadable.
Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico’s National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, “He will descend from the sky.”
Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.
And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.
“If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn’t have any idea,” said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. “That the world is going to end? They wouldn’t believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain.”
The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy
Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.
“It’s a special anniversary of creation,” said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. “The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they’re just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six.”
So, there you go. Even Mayans don’t believe the Mayans said the world would end in 2012. That’s good to know because I just bought a new car and I’d hate to see the world end before I’d even paid off the loan for it.
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