Page 5 - 201205 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May 2012

The Mayan Calendar Myth Hoax Whew! Recently discovered Mayan calendar goes beyond December 2012 (CNN) — Nestled in the deep trenches of the Guatemalan rain forest, at the largest-known Classic Mayan site, Xultún, scientists have uncovered the remnants of what appears to be the earliest known Mayan calendar and murals. Contrary to popular myth, Mayan experts have known for a long time that this calendar is not a countdown to the end of the world on December 2012, the study researchers said in a press conference to reporters. The Mayan used a series of cycles to track time in which there were 13 baktuns each representing a 400-year chunk. Researchers of the study say rumors markings tipped the researchers off, suggesting early societies, the Maya lived for centuries in surrounding a projected apocalypse on that on top of the wall murals was actually a parts of Mexico and Central America. Many of December 21, 2012, is a misconception. It is calendar. their iconic pyramids and other city remnants just the benchmark when a cycle of 13 baktuns “All around us were paintings, we saw still stand in places like Copan, where 16 Maya will be complete and a new cycle begins. many life-size human figures painted in black kings ruled for about 400 years. “There was a lot more to the Mayan and red hieroglyphs,” said Saturno. As early astronomers, the Maya devised calendar than just 13 baktuns,” said Despite the remarkable findings, this various types of calendars by observing celestial archaeologist David Stuart of the University of team of researchers says they have only movements. Their "Long Count" calendar Texas, who worked to decipher the scratched the surface. begins in 3114 B.C. and marks time in roughly hieroglyphics found on the walls of a house, “We have 99.9 % of Xultún left to 394-year periods known as baktuns. Thirteen dating back to the early part of the 9th century explore,” said David Stuart. was a sacred number for the Maya, and some (813 A.D.-814 A.D.). “Its actual boundaries have yet to be scholars believe the 13th baktun ends on Dec. “The Mayan calendar is going to keep determined and we are going to be working on 21, 2012. going for billions, trillions, octillions of years it for many decades to come,” said Stuart. Penn Museum experts say it ends Dec. into the future,” added Stuart. The findings, supported by the National 23, but that then another calendar cycle will Archeologists working in the region Geographic Society, are set to be published in a begin - not Armageddon. stumbled upon these ruins back in 2010, while forthcoming article in the journal Science on Traxler said while it's hard to trace the exploring the site of Xultún. They say the Friday. [] origin of the apocalypse prophecy, she artifacts were well preserved in a never before described it as "a conflation of a lot of different seen house-like structure, which appears to be a Maya exhibit in Philly ideas," including Aztec lore, Judeo-Christian workspace for Mayan scribes. end-of-days rhetoric and millennial hype. “It was actually my student, Max seeks to dispel 2012 myths (Remember Y2K?) Chamberlain, who discovered to the Mayan Honduran officials don't seem house, while poking around a looters’ trench,” PHILADELPHIA (AP) - If the world ends on concerned. Norma Cerrato, minister counselor said William Saturno, lead author and of legal affairs for the country's U.S. embassy, archeologist at Boston University. Dec. 21, 2012 - as some believe the Maya said during a recent exhibit preview that she Due to the fluctuations in the wet and predicted - that leaves plenty of opportunity to hopes it encourages people to visit the actual dry climates of the tropical regions in the rain see a new exhibit that examines the ruins. The show includes replicas of large stone forest, scientists did not expect these artworks civilization's ancient kingdoms, intricate carvings too delicate or unwieldy to leave calendar systems and current culture. to preserve well. At first glance, Saturno and his Copan, designated a world heritage site by the research team did not think their findings would Experts at the Penn Museum in United Nations' cultural agency. amount to anything. Philadelphia apparently give little credence to "Regardless of what some may say “Initially, when we went to verify this as the apocalypse myth, considering the show runs about the December 2012 phenomenon, the a Mayan painting, all we could see at the time through early 2013. But they say the legend, people of Honduras are certain that this year which has been perpetuated in pop culture was a single red line on a really moldy, provides us a unique opportunity to share a part dilapidated piece of stucco that had been through disaster movies and sensational tabloid of our history and culture with the world," uncovered by looters about 30 years earlier,” headlines, offers a chance to engage people Cerrato said. said Saturno. about ancient and modern Maya society. Mexico, too, has designed a tourism “In order to gain a better understanding "Maya 2012: Lords of Time" features campaign around the 2012 date. It's expected to of the dimensions of the house, I began artifacts excavated from the historic Maya ruins bring an extra 12 million visitors to the country, excavating the looters’ trench to the back wall, I of Copan in Honduras, including burial jewelry, possibly boosting tourism revenue by $14.6 was shocked to find a beautifully preserved food vessels and ceramic figures. Honduras billion, according to officials there. President Porfirio Lobo Sosa is scheduled to cut image of a Mayan king on his thrown, with a Though the last independent Maya city great blue feathered head dress streaming off his the ribbon when the exhibit opens on Saturday. was conquered by the Spanish in 1697, Traxler head,” added Saturno. The show also uses interactive displays said about 7 million people currently identify as Preserved paintings were found on the to explain the culture's glyph writing and Maya. The exhibit ends with translated video ceiling and on three of the four walls, covering sophisticated timetables. The upshot is that interviews with a half-dozen Maya, some of while it's human nature to seek ancient insight the west and north walls of a small 6.6-foot-by- whom are bemused by the hype.Jose Huchim 6 foot room, with a vaulted roof. On the east into the current world, people should not Herrera, a Yucatec Maya and archaeologist, said wall, someone had painted a series of small, interpret the Maya calendar as predicting a in a video that anyone talking about a 2012 complex hieroglyphics. The newly discovered cataclysmic event. catastrophe is clearly an outsider. "It's just a turn of a cycle," said curator calendar, features bars and dots recording lunar Loa Traxler. "The Maya say nothing," he said. "The cycles in six-month chunks of time. The Maya are very peaceful. They are not worried." Regarded as one of the world's greatest