The Mayan CalendarThe Mayan/Aztec Sunstone encodes the Mayan calendar system. This stone is 12 feet in diameter, weighing 24 tons, and was created with stone tools. Depicted in the center are representations of the four previous ages, and the catastrophic endings of each age. The Mayans believed they were living in the last or fifth age and that we would be destroyed at the end of this age. Why 2012? Well, Dec 22 of the year 2012 happens to be the year the Mayan Long Count calendar points to.
On this date, their calendar starts over, or begins a new age. Around this time: • The sun ends a 220 to 250 million year trip around the galactic center to once again line up with the spiral galactic arm -- the end of one galactic year, and the beginning of the next one. The last time we were in this position, 1 galactic year ago, corresponded to the mass extinction of 70% of all land species, 85% of all ocean species, and the rise of the dinosaurs. Two galactic years ago marked the Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction event. • The earth completes its 28,500 year precessional cycle of earth's wobble. • In the year 2000, we completed a 26,000 year cycle marked by the constellaion Orion reaching its highest point in the sky. • Also in this time frame, according to some (but not all), the Hindu Kali Yuga, or the Iron Age ends. The Mayan calendar is constructed of kin, uinals, tun, katun, and baktuns. It is thought that these divisions of time point to periods of change in the earths environment, human thought, and subsequently society. • A uinal is a period of 20 kin (20 days). We are now in the last half of the last katun of the age which began in 3114 BC. So what? Well, if the Mayans were right, we should see some evidence that historical periods are reflected in the structure of Mayan timekeeping. Here is a good graphic to illustrate that, from www.tortuga.com
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