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.

[blam]

We're all gonna die!!

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Professor says Mayan calendar does not portend Earth’s doom

That's a relief.

[Prodigal Son]

We have but 9 yrs to conquer the globe ;-)

[KneelBeforeZod]

they mayans supposedly moved every few hundred years or something....Chichen Itza was the last place, with a trail of places behind them to the south. I always figure that 2012 was their next moving date.

I've been hoping to run into a joker in person who believes the end of the world thing...so I cold test them on this bit of history but luckily I never have.

[Dog Gone]

“It’s kind of hard to say exactly what they meant,"

It's kind of hard to take any culture seriously who murdered the winning team as a sacrifice in their version of basketball.

[Congressman Billybob]

Several years ago, there was a shaggy-haired, very ernest young man outside a Metro station in D.C. with a sign that said, "The world will end on September 18." Starting on 19 September, I never saw this young man again.

Congressman Billybob

[Sparta]

[Semper Paratus]

The Mayans couldn't predict the end of their civilization, I doubt they would have a clue about the rest of the world.

[Oberon]

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.

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

[Mr. Mojo]

I know.....What exactly does "the Milky Way galaxy will align with the sun" mean? The sun is within the MW galaxy, just one of countless millions of stars situated on one of its spiral arms.

[IronJack]

It's always amazing how many people who reject Christianity as too mystical and complicated willingly accept the rantings of a bunch of cannibalistic savages who scratched crude drawings into stone. It's like the Steve Martin routine where he said "If I didn't have my lucky astrology mood watch, I'd have nothing to believe in at all!"

[Bob]

It's worse than you think. I just checked my new calendar and it'll happen December 31st, 2003 not in 2012.

We're doomed, doomed, I say!

[LibWhacker]

. . . and on that date the Milky Way galaxy, on which the Mayans placed great significance, will align with the sun.

Huh? We're IN the Milky Way, more specifically, in the Orion arm of the Milky Way. So in what sense are we "lining up" with it? Astrology columnists shouldn't be allowed to write on science!

[gcruse]

It's kind of hard to take any culture seriously who murdered the winning team as a sacrifice in their version of basketball.

I don't know.  The winner of the Super Bowl  has lousy draft picks and used to
play a tougher schedule the next year.  Of course any culture that elevates basketball
is in deep doodoo, anyway.

[FITZ]

I always figure that 2012 was their next moving date.

It's probably the date of the last Mexican heading out of Mexico --to the US.

[gcruse]

It's ironic to me that people who cast aspersions on literate, pyramid-building, successful cultures as 'savages' turn around and swallow whole the invisible-man superstitions of desert dwellers from thousands of years ago.

[FITZ]

the rantings of a bunch of cannibalistic savages who scratched crude drawings into stone

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

[AnAmericanMother]

Several years ago, there was a shaggy-haired, very ernest young man outside a Metro station in D.C. with a sign that said, "The world will end on September 18." Starting on 19 September, I never saw this young man again.

LOL! Sorta like this guy:

William Miller (1782-1849). Predicted the world would end on at least three separate occasions in 1843 and 1844.

What's really odd is that his church not only survived the failure of the prophecy, but prospered. Go figure.

[VOA]

That's a relief.

Jeez, having a university academic assure me that the world won't end in 2012 is
about all I need to convince me that 2012 could be the end of the world as we know it today...

[Billthedrill]

Nuts. Looks like I gotta return those library books after all...