Mayan calendar has fascinated not only scholars and archaeologists, but also others interested in its mystical and esoteric dimensions. Because the Mayan calendar and associated hieroglyphic texts refer to an "end date" corresponding to 2012 in the Gregorian system, many people believed that the Mayans had predicted the end of the world (Lorenzi, 2012, p. 1). Yet recent archaeological evidence shows that the Mayan concept of an "end date" did not necessarily imply a "doomsday" scenario (Lorenzi, 2012, p. 1). Although the apocalyptic vision never did come to pass and has been disproven, the Mayan calendar continues to captivate and fascinate because of the mystery surrounding its use and its level of sophistication. One of the most intriguing aspects of the Mayan calendar is its level of sophistication and accuracy. According to the Canadian Museum of History (n.d.), the Mayan calendar originated in the first century BCE but is actually "more exact than the standard calendar the world uses today," (p. 1). Indeed, it is difficult to believe that the imperfect Gregorian calendar has become the global standard instead of the Mayan calendar. The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (2014) offers an online conversion application allowing users to input any date from the Gregorian calendar and have it converted into Mayan terms. This shows that it may still be possible to use the Mayan calendar in the modern world. Indeed, Mayan shamans continue to use their ancient calendar system in specific contexts such as for determining the dates for ceremonies (Canadian Museum of History,...
One of the systems is based on a 260-day cycle, and the other, on a 365-day cycle. It is unclear whether these two systems evolved simultaneously or separately and then later combined (Rice, 2009). Time is an inherently mystical concept, but the Mayans seemed to have discovered a means by which to unify the different functions of a calendar. For example, the Mayan calendar is in part based on the harvest seasons corresponding to changes that occur throughout the year and repeat annually. Yet solar and other celestial phenomena like solstices and equinoxes, as well as moon phases, also help to demarcate blocks of time (Rice, 2009). The calendar was also used to mark important ritualistic or social events (Rice, 2009). For this reason, the dual nature of the Mayan calendar is highly complex. Its admission of non-linear as well as linear time becomes another reason the Mayan calendar remains more appealing than most ancient or even modern calendar systems.
A date carved in stone throughout Mayan lands is 9-9-2-4-8 (July 29, 615 AD) when Lord Pakal, the great King of Palenque, ascended to his throne. The numbers are read from the bottom up (as the corn grows from the earth up to the sky). 9-9-2-4-8 would thus be understood as: 9 baktuns -- 3600 years; 9 katuns -- 180 years; 2 tuns -- 730 days; 4 uinals -- 80
Art History Sacred Spaces The Architecture of the Maya Deep in the tangled rainforests of Guatemala and the Yucatan, the Maya made some of the greatest contributions to world architecture. Their stone cities complete with temples, palaces, tombs, and ball courts are fitting monuments to the complex, and highly sophisticated civilization that existed in these regions many centuries before the arrival of the Spanish. Mayan priest-astronomers made elaborate calculations to catalog the passage
Important ceremonies required that the sacrifice be held down at top of a pyramid or raised altar "while a priest made an incision below the rib cage and ripped out the heart with his hands. The heart was then burned in order to nourish the gods" ("Mayan Religion"). Though only captives were sacrificed to the gods, bloodletting was also common practice among the Mayan aristocracy. Blood was drawn from
Ancient A Brief History of the Mayan Civilization The Maya are a group of people of southern Mexico and northern Central America with some three thousand years of loaded history. The Maya were a division of the Mesoamerican Pre-Columbian civilizations. Dissimilar to popular belief, the Maya people never vanished completely, there are millions that still live in the area, and a lot of them still speak one of the many Maya languages
Seafloor Sediments Mayan Mysteries the Mystery What caused the collapse of the Mayan Civilization? In 800 A.D. The Mayan Civilization was thriving in a region from southern Mexico to northern Honduras. These indigenous people (numbering over two million) were competent astronomers, they were successful farmers -- they converted hillsides into fertile fields for crops like maize (corn) and squash -- they built impressive facilities, created an accurate calendar and discussed philosophy. And they
It is through these inscriptions that the significance of human torture and sacrifice could be detected in the Mayan Culture. One of the greatest rulers of this civilization was seen in the shape of Lord Pacal or Lord Pakal the Great, K'inich Janaab' Pakal (23 March 603-28 August 683). He took over the reins at the age of 12 on July 29th, 615 a.D., a mature age for the
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