Professor Says Mayan Calendar Does Not Portend Earth's Doom (2012AD)

Tuscaloosa News ^ | 1-1-2003 | Steve Reeves

[blam]

Professor says Mayan calendar does not portend Earth’s doom

By Steve Reeves
January 01, 2003

TUSCALOOSA | Does our planet have only a scant 10 more years of existence left?

Some people believe the ancient Mayan calendar suggests the end of the world will come on Dec. 21, 2012.

But University of Alabama professor Enrique Gomez is not among them.

“The world won’t end in 2012," laughed Gomez, who teaches in UA’s astronomy and physics department. “I can assure you of that."

Gomez, a native of Mexico City, said he is much more interested in Mayan culture and how the Maya wove together ideas about creationism, astronomy and their calendar into a narrative about their view of the world.

He will talk about the Mayan civilization on Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. in room 227 of Gallalee Hall on the UA campus.

The Mayan civilization, which was located in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, began to crumble around 900 A.D., but its people left behind valuable contributions to art and literature.

They built pyramids and invented an elaborate system of writing, which they used to record significant events in their history.

“The Mayans were a very sophisticated culture, and they were a very literate culture," Gomez said.

Early Mayas, who had a keen interest in the stars, came up with two calendars ó the “Short Count" and the “Long Count." Each is intricate and relies on aspects of astronomical cycles. The Long Calendar used special symbols to signify each day, week and month.

The Mayans put their Long Count system in place more than 2,300 years ago, and for some reason made Dec. 21, 2012 the end of the calendar.

Some researchers believe that date is important because it coincides with the winter solstice, and on that date the Milky Way galaxy, on which the Mayans placed great significance, will align with the sun.

Many authors and scientists have said Dec. 21, 2012, is the day the Maya believed the world would end. Gomez said no one knows for sure if the Mayans intended to portend the end of the world on that particular day.

“It’s kind of hard to say exactly what they meant," he said. “We do not know exactly what person came up with the calendar and the significance of certain dates."

Gomez said what is really significant about the Mayan calendar is that it was in use for at least 26 continuous centuries.

“It was a calendar that was used by many different cultures and in many different languages," he said. “It’s part of our common heritage."

Reach Steve Reeves at steve.reeves@tuscaloosanews.com or 722-0208.

[thedilg]

Is it just me, or is this sentence entirely devoid of meaning
on that date the Milky Way galaxy, on which the Mayans placed great significance, will align with the sun.

How in the world could the Milky Way align with the sun?
Isn't the sun just one of about 100 billion stars within the Milky WAY?

Godspeed, The Dilg

[Precisian]

You got it exactly right, Jack.

Who says the Mayans have any insight into anything, especially the future! Did they see their own doom coming? Ha!

The New Agers have been hawking December 22, 2013 A.D. for over a century.

Heathen predictions are heathen. Doomed and damned.

[blam]

"True ---they had a good calendar but they never got around to inventing the wheel and had to drag or push everything."

They didn't have any animals large enough to pull a wagon.

[StriperSniper]

“The world won’t end in 2012," laughed Gomez, who teaches in UA’s astronomy and physics department. “I can assure you of that."

Now, I'm worried. ;-)

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

That's it! I'm hitting the shower!

[Light Speed]

The Precession cycle of the Zodiac....the 12 signs...the 12 ages.
12 x 1,260....26,000 yrs our time measure.
Some in the Catastrophist side of historical study believe that knowledge has been forwarded via astronomical math/symbolisms..indicating junctions..or crossing points.
Our Galaxy Porpoises up and down on the galactic plain...passing through areas which have comets of immense magnitude.
the "Crossing"..disloges some comets...they begin to spiral into our solar system ...this process can take millions of years..or less.
the comets become torn apart by gravametrics within our system...some drawn in by Jupiters gravity well..some by the Sun.
some will circle the sun..to be sling-shot out...becomeing comets of long and short period.
some comets will fragment..portions impacting planets..with remaining on ellipses of varied time interval.

An area science is looking into to understand..and may have been noted...mapped to some degree by the ancients..and passed on.
recently several comets have appeared...comets of long duration...unrecorded by man.
they appeared suddenly...the portent...more could be on the way.
Scientists were able to time move the continents on computer...the Chixilub impact that was said to have terminated the Dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous had infact not been the only impactor...3 more were mapped..hitting the earth in the equitorial region of that time.
The impacts were bigger than Chixulub.
This information supports the notion of giant comets being torn appart within our solar system by gravametrics...like a frieght train...like Shoe Maker Levy 9..they spiral in ..one after another.
Extinctions...Epoch ending realities could very well be caused by Catastrophism.....the catalyst for this....comets.

[blam]

I subscribe to the concept you stated in post #26.

Did Asteroids And Comets Turn The Tides Of Civilizations

[Alouette]

2012 could be the end of the world as we know it today...

Maybe that is the year that sha'ariah law will be proclaimed in the U.S.

[blam]

Disaster That Struck The Ancients.

[PoorMuttly]

Huh. I must have the wrong Mayan calendar.

I have the one with the picture of the kitten in the watering can.

[Light Speed]

Still a debateable topic....Mars.
The moons around Saturn and Jupiter are "Shot gunned" with impactors...some..due to their rotation interval are clobbered on one side...the opposite with hardly any impact sites.
Some hold to the notion that a planet exploded....some see a Giant comet which had been torn apart the culprit.
One scientist commented..."Mars looks like a Murder victim".
3 impactors tore into Mars in succession....they tunneled into Mars inner recessess...the gravametric waves going out the other side othe planet formed 2 huge mountains..Olympus Mons being one...I think it initself is the size of the USA.
The other impactor generated such gravametric energies that the shock wave split Mars open on the other side...Valles Marineris....Grandcanyon looks like a scratch compared to this.
On Mars is a feature..known as the "Line of Dicotomy"...its as though the top half of the planet bounced from the impact...the surface and its lower depths lifted up..and flung off the planet like a dog shaking off water.
Of note...several ancient Greek myths speak of a celestial battle..a war between the Gods..also linked to these stores are tremendous upheavels recorded by man .
Immanuel Velikovsky started to ..join the dots as they say back in the 1940's...his suspiscion of Catastrophism peaked by the mythology and cause effect dynamics revealed.
Some in the scinetific community believe Mars was impacted eons ago....some consider this event may have occured within mans collective memory....12,000 bce and earlier.
Velikovsky...Clube,Napier...jeered as lunatics by the scientific community..may find history writting a more complimentary note on their behalf.

[mrsmith]

"... By Steve Reeves "

Well, if Hercules ain't worried- I ain't either.

[G Larry]

>...swallow whole the invisible-man superstitions of desert dwellers from thousands of years ago. <

Does this mean that you're from the "We came from nowhere, we're going nowhere, for no purpose" crowd?

[blam]

Velikovsky's biggest problem was that he tried to explain everything. I think Clube, Napier, Bailey and Baillie are on the correct track.

Earth's Volcanism Linked To Meteorite Impacts.

[RightWhale]

Is it just me, or is this sentence entirely devoid of meaning?

Do you suspect you are entirely devoid of meaning? Some people worry about this kind of thing.

[gcruse]

No, it means I won't throw out the greatest gift next to life, rationality, because of fear of death. Are you among those who will believe anything that makes them comfortable?

[Light Speed]

The V was awesome though wasn't he...

Mocked that Venus was the passing body for the gravametrics recorded by mankind...he still has some in the scientific community saying.."Hey..wait a minute"..Venus has an orbit that is nearly circular...it does not fit the model.
Venuses surface and ejecta gas blanket surrounding the planet could have been caused by super heating...heating to values only movement alligned to gravametric energies could generate.
the comment..."Venus might have settled in just a while ago...and still be cooling off"
there is more peculiarities about Venus that have NASA ,JPL types scatchin their heads.

[RightWhale]

Many of Velikovski's conclusions have not proved out. But we can't fault his collection of data. There are still masses of mammoth and sabertooth bones, and hide, in the frozen muck around Fairbanks, Alaska. Perhaps he didn't nail the catastrophes exactly, but that there have been catastrophes is not in doubt.

[Tanniker Smith]

Obviously, that's the day that the UFOs are coming to pick up their great-great-great-(times-a-few-dozen)-grand-children. And when they don't find any, they're gonna be p*ssed.

TS

[G Larry]

Where does your "rationality" suggest your "gift of life" came from?

My faith is in Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
There is no comfort in knowing that I fall short every day.
It's a constant challenge.

There was no suggestion by the post your were responding to or mine, that there should be any fear of death.