The Maya Civilization
Take a trip back to the ancient Maya Civilzation; a civilization that created the number 0, a fully developed written language, and accurately recorded the dates of astronomical events thousands of years into the future.
Collage of the Maya I made
What ancient civilization was able to determine astronomical events thousands of years into the future, is believed to be one of the first civilizations in the world to create a fully developed written language, and even invented the number 0? There’s only one: the Maya.
A civilization thriving on knowledge, the Maya were perhaps the greatest civilization of their time.Using their knowledge to do everything from designing pyramids that accurately showed solstices, to creating numerous calendars to date all that they predicted, the Maya accomplished all of this, simply by observation, and experimentation.
Possibly beginning as early as 3000 B.C. and not reaching their collapse until the mid 1500s, this Mesoamerican civilization [Mesoamerica: The term used for the area from Central Mexico to El Salvador. The cultures of the Maya, Aztec, and Olmec are thus called "Mesoamerican."-digonsite.com] flourished longer than almost any civilization on the planet. This is in fact, part of what helped them calculate such precise astronomical dates. By watching the orbits, cycles, and alignments of the universe, the Maya were able to determine when certain events would happen and how. They for example were able to determine that every 25,800 years, the center of the milky way aligns exactly with the sun. The Maya viewed this alignment as a new era, and some theorize that the Maya believed this to be a time when the world was destroyed, and then recreated. The next “rebirth”, the end of their calendar, and actually the next alignment is going to happen on December 21, (some less accepted theories believe the Maya calendar ended on December 22 or 23) 2012. One theory however, recommends that crystal skulls that may or may not have been made by the Maya can save us. In fact, this idea of crystal skulls is what the latest Indiana Jones movie: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, is based on.
The idea of the Maya predicting the end of their calendar as a rebirth, however, has brought up quite a bit of controversy, and is believed to be a misinterpretation by many mainstream Mayan scholars. Although it is a coincidence that it ended the same day as the alignment, and was probably on purpose, whether the Maya believed it as the end of time, a new age, or niether is what the debate really is about.
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Post CommentSirRoven3
On October 12, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Wow this is a good article, but i’m curious about the mayan doomsday prophecies, i want to know more
Allison Jae
On October 15, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I just loved this article. I a major history buff, so thanks for this article.
a person
On October 29, 2008 at 6:23 pm
i used this for my homework hahah x}
bob
On November 15, 2008 at 12:45 pm
blah
Annie
On March 4, 2009 at 11:08 am
I started off getting interested in this subject when i read M.G.Harris, Invisible city. it’s a really good book and i got curious about all the Mayan stuff they mention in the book, so i researched it and i glad i did. i mean i love history and learning about what happended in this world thousands off years ago. Here is a question thats bugging me, what really is going to happen on the 22nd December 2012? Whatever it is, it’s not far away…
jj
On March 12, 2009 at 8:45 pm
how did their civilization begin?
A Person
On May 3, 2009 at 7:58 pm
HEres the question: What did it mean to work in the Mayan civlization?
interested
On September 30, 2009 at 9:21 am
i would like to know more on what is going to happen on december 22 2012. i would also like to know how to look for the skull and why it is supposedly the only thing that can help us. other wise great articale!!
Mario
On February 12, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Very informative. Another theory about Maya origin is that they were survivors from Atlantis. It is possible that they survived a great disaster because it is written in the Popol Vuh, that the people wandered about in the cold (the sky was covered with a ‘nuclear winter’ type cloud, and the sun had not shown his face), and they sang a song called, ‘The Blame Is Ours”. By the time the sun shines through the clouds, the people have taken on destructive Gods into their pantheon, one who is called Tohil, who demands them to sacrifice in exchange for knowledge of harnessed fire.
The Maya are not from Egypt. That was a separate culture perhaps, if one believes, also an offspring of Atlantis. I believe they sprang up at the same time, just like you do (writer of article). 3000 BCE does not sound unreasonable considering the so called classic period keeps being pushed back. What once was stated as starting around 200 AD, is now being revised to at least, 400 BCE, due to knew discoveries in places like San Bartolo. When you consider the intricacy of the glyphs, etc., it is hard to come away thinking they were developed over such a short period of time.
I am beginning to suspect that we learned (probably through the Vatican) so much from all the books they supposedly burned, but probably took to Rome to be studied. They may have burned some of them, but most likely more than four survived, being studied secretly since the beginning of the age of enlightenment. One thing is for sure though, without the great bounty of food from the Americas, Human Progress would be not as dynamic! The Irish and the potato can tell you that!