In reading an article from USA Today about the Mayan calendar 2012 situation, it is interesting to find out many peoples view on Will the world come to an end in the year 2012? This mystery stems from the ancient Meso- America tribe, the Mayans. Historical evidence seems to indicate the presence of the Mayan culture was in present day Mexico as far back as 1800 BCE, but their greatest influence was exerted between 200 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Among them were great achievements and advanced ways of culture which included; advanced writing skills as well as also being gifted mathematicians who independently developed the concept of zero. They also had astronomers who deduced that a solar year was slightly more than 365 days.They were a culture of great wisdom which is why many people today are worried that there calendar, which shows the end of the world in the year 2012, could be legitimate.
The Mayan calendar, discontinued by later Spanish culture, showed a 5,000 year cycle which then would reset at zero. It was big achievement for Mayan culture to make it through a whole cycle. This obviously never happened because the year 2012 marks that year. This whole mystery comes from there advances in astronomy and the starts. Its is estimated that on the winter solstice, December 21, 2012 at 11:11p.m. universal time the sun will be aligned with the center of the milky way. This basically means that the energy that usually in directed at the Earth will be redirected. Scientist predict that this will cause many changes in the Earth. However, it is important to note that, because it was so long ago that the Mayans flourished Mesopotamia, they could not have possibly known exactly what was going to happen, Scientists feel that the tools you need and knowledge you need to figure out these thing, even though this ancient civilization was very smart and advanced, they would not have had.
It is very interesting to think about that the world coming abruptly to an end. Many stem this from the bible and the Apocalypse. This environment scare, many think will either make people aware or connect them with the ongoing environmental issues. Garrett of USA Today states; "Part of the appeal of these earth religions is that notion that we need to reconnect with the Earth in order to save ourselves." This is a very interesting way of looking at the subject. I think that we should all take this issue a bit more seriously!
sources used:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm
http://www.mayacalendar.com/mayacalendar.html
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This topic seems to be coming up in many conversations lately, and a lot of people are very nervous about this day coming. As you mentioned in your article, the tools they would have needed to figure this out did not exist. If the Mayans could figure out the ending of the world, shouldn't we be able to figure it out now in the 21st century? It is a shaky topic, and i guess no one really knows for sure what is going to happen. But I liked your post, very informative.
ReplyDeleteI think it's incredibly fascinating that this date happens to be the day the sun aligns with the Milky Way. I'd like to know what the chances of that happening are and the scientific consequences. Lucky for us, we'll be around to find out! (Hopefully)
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the statement that because they existed long ago, it would have been impossible to figure out. Perhaps they didn't know that the sun and galaxy would be in line, but I don't feel we should rule it out. There must have been some reason they chose to create their calendar the way they did.