Talk:Maya
Only Precolumbian civilization to have writing?
I'm pretty sure that's wrong. Didn't the Aztec have writing? I also think the Olmec has an early hieroglyph writing system that hasn't been translated yet.
The numbering system doesn't match. 1 = 1, 2 = 40, 3 = 1200, 4 = 32000, 5 = 800000, true? Learn together 22:48, 24 May 2007 (EDT)
Propose separate Mayan 2012 prediction article
2012 will be upon us in no time God, willing, and with renewed interest. The Astronomy sect. here provides a partial brief explanation of why this prediction is not apocalyptic, but in the interest of Googling for perhaps Mayan 2012 prediction, which should increase, i would like to see this expanded into its own article. No references are proved for this Astronomy section, or for the article itself, but if the person(s) who penned this section could be contacted maybe more could be added.Daniel1212 13:36, 4 October 2009 (EDT)
Here is what that article could consist of.
The Mayan 2012 prediction refers to a belief that the Long Count calendar (the modern term) of the ancient Maya civilization, foretells the end of the world on December 21 or 23, 2012, the date of the winter solstice, at the end of the Grand (or Great) Cycle, .
The Long Count calendar, which was discontinued under Spanish colonization, is also called the 13th baktun, and tracks more than 5,000 years, then resets at year zero. A “Grand Cycle” consists of 13 baktuns, each of which numbers 144,000 days, making for a grand total 1,872,000 days, equating to 5,139.44 solar years, and marking the number of days that have elapsed since the beginning of the present world, as determined an unknown priest in the year 236 B.C.[1]
On the winter solstice in 2012, at 11:11 p.m. (UT), the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years, which is expected to result in somewhat of a disruption of energy which usually streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way.
However, scientists greatly doubt that the Mayas foresaw any event of astronomical significance taking place on that date. In addition, the use of the Long Count among Mayan city-states was not uniform, and some evidence suggests that some of the pagan priests understood that the cycle would end after 20 baktuns.[2]
The general scientific consensus is that there is no evidence that the Mayans thought that the world would come to an end at the end of the Great Cycle.[3] Rather than an apocalypse being expected, research reveals that this day would have been a grand celebration, due to having made it to the end of a whole cycle, and construing Dec. 21, 2012 to be a doomsday is “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.”[4]
Daniel1212 17:42, 4 October 2009 (EDT)- ↑ Vincent H. Malmström, Professor Emeritus (Geography) Dartmouth College, The Astronomical Insignificance of Maya Date 13.0.0.0.
- ↑ by Mark Van Stone, It's Not the End of the World: What the Ancient Maya Tell Us About 2012
- ↑ Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History,
- ↑ Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, Florida.
