Econintersect: This article is being published at 3:12 am (New York Time) 21 December 2012. According to some interpreters of the Mayan calendar the world ended one minute ago. How do you feel?
We have posted news about recent archeological discoveries of a Mayan calendar workshop that proved the current calendar cycle end was not envisioned as the end of the world by the Mayans; they were working on future calendar cycles.
Click on caption graphic for larger image of Mayan Jaguar mask.
The following picture from GEI News 11 May 2012 shows archeologist William Saturno of Boston University (supported by The National Geographic Society). He is exploring the new “calendar workshop” excavations in the Peten region of Guatemala.
From the 11 May article:
Archaeologists have discovered what appears to be the workshop for the preparation of Mayan calendars and the markings on the walls show that the Mayan “time Keepers” had a view of time that extended far beyond the December 2012 end of the current calendar cycle.
A more complete accounting of the new Mayan calendar discoveries was published in Scientific American this week. From that article, quoting Susan Milbrath, curator of Latin American art and archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History:
“These are our first records that surely show astronomical tables in the Classic period, which is a major discovery, I think,” Milbrath says. “It’s just an amazing find—it really is.”
The following video produced by NASA was released to You Tube on 11 December 2012. It explains why there is no threat of the world ending any time soon, on December 21 2012 or any other day soon.
MSN has a another argument: the timing of the video release eleven days early actually indicates they (NASA) thinks the world will end. Here is what MSN said:
According to the blurb on YouTube, their reason for uploading the video early is their confidence in their claims. But any reasonable crazy person can only conclude that they know the world will end but due to budget cuts, NASA can’t let a nice video like this go to waste. Why would they care about what happens to Earth? They’ve got rockets! Nice try, NASA.
MSN had to write that – their tongue was too far inside their cheek to be able to speak.
Sources:
- ScienceCasts: Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday (Science at NASA, You Tube, 11 December 2012)
- Beyond 2012: Why the World Won’t End (NASA website)
- Relax: The World is Not Scheduled to End December 2012 (GEI News, 11 May 2012)
- NASA tries to convince us world won’t end, only confirms it (MSN, 13 December 2012)
- Ancient Time: Earliest Mayan Astronomical Calendar Unearthed in Guatemala Ruins (John Matson, Scientific American, 19 December 2012)