Experts: Mayas prophesized, but not end of world

MEXICO CITY (AP) _ As the clock winds down to Dec. 21, experts on the Mayan calendar have been racing to convince people that the Mayas didn't predict an apocalypse for the end of this year.

Some experts are now saying the Mayas may indeed have made prophecies, just not about the end of the world.

Archaeologists, anthropologists and other experts met Friday in the southern Mexico city of Merida to discuss the implications of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is made up of 394-year periods called baktuns.

Experts estimate the system starts counting at 3114 B.C., and will have run through 13 baktuns, or 5,125 years, around Dec. 21. Experts say 13 was a significant number for the Mayans, and the end of that cycle would be a milestone _ but not an end.

Fears that the calendar does point to the end have circulated in recent years. People in that camp believe the Maya may have been privy to impending astronomical disasters that would coincide with 2012, ranging from explosive storms on the surface of the sun that could knock out power grids to a galactic alignment that could trigger a reversal in Earth's magnetic field.

Mexican government archaeologist Alfredo Barrera said Friday that the Mayas did prophesize, but perhaps about more humdrum events like droughts or disease outbreaks.

``The Mayas did make prophecies, but not in a fatalistic sense, but rather about events that, in their cyclical conception of history, could be repeated in the future,'' said Barrera, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Experts stressed that the ancient Mayas, whose ``classic'' culture of writing, astronomy and temple complexes  flourished from A.D. 300 to 900, were extremely interested in future events, far beyond Dec. 21.

``There are many ancient Maya monuments that discuss events far into the future from now,'' wrote Geoffrey Braswell, an anthropologist at the University of California, San Diego.  ``The ancient Maya clearly believed things would happen far into the future from now.''

``The king of Palenque, K'inich Hanaab Pakal, believed he would return to the Earth a couple of thousand years from now in the future,'' Braswell wrote in an email to The Associated Press. ``Moreover, other monuments discuss events even before the creation in 3114 B.C.''

Only a couple of references to the 2012 date equivalency have been found carved in stone at Mayan sites, and neither refers to an apocalypse, experts say.

Such apocalyptic visions have been common for more than 1,000 years in Western, Christian thinking, and are not native to Mayan thought.

``This is thinking that, in truth, has nothing to do with Mayan culture,'' said Alexander Voss, an anthropologist at the University Of Quintana Roo, a state on Mexico's Caribbean coast. ``This thing about looking for end-times is not something that comes from Mayan culture.''

 Braswell compared the Mayan calendar, with its system of cycles within cycles, to the series of synchronized wheels contained in old, analogue car odometers.

``The Maya long count system is like a car odometer,'' Braswell wrote. ``My first car (odometer) only had six wheels so it went up to 99,999.9 miles. That didn't mean the car would explode after reaching 100,000 miles.''

<관련 한글기사>


"마야 달력, 세상 종말 뜻하는 것 아니야"


마야 달력에서 세상의 종말이라 예언하였다는 12월 21일이 가까워 지면서 많은 이들이 혹시나 하는 불안감에 휩쓸려 있으나, 멕시코에 학자들이 모여 토론한 끝에 걱정할 필요가 없다는 결론이 났다.

그들이 예언을 했으나 세상의 종말이라기보다는 새로운 역사가 시작되는 날이라고 보는 견해가 크다는 것.

고고학자과 인류학자들이 멕시코의 메리다에 모여 토론한 결과 13은 마야인들에게 매우 중요한 숫자였고 이를 바탕으로 계산한 달력의 끝이 12월 21일을 가리키고 있으나, 이것이 세상의 종말을 의미하는 것은 아니라는 견해를 내놓았다. 이 달력과 설화에 따르면 엄청나게 강력한 태양 표면의 소용돌이가 지구의 자기장을 뒤흔들어놓아 재앙을 초래하게 된다는 것.

"마야인들은 예언을 하였으나, 정말 죽을만큼의 공포를 심어주려했다기 보다는 역사의 순환 개념으로 이해하면 될 것 같습니다," 멕시코정부와도 일을 하고 있는 고고학지 알프레도 바레라가 말했다.

캘리포니아 대학 교수 제프리 브라즈웰은 AP통신에 마야인들이 미래에 대해 많은 것들을 예측한 것은 맞다고 이야기 했다. "고대의 왕들은 몇천년 후 지상으로 다시 돌아올 것이라 믿었습니다. 그러나 들여다보면 마야 달력이 시작한다는 기원전 3114년 전 이야기들도 언급하고 있습니다," 그는 말했다.

"자동차 계기판이라고 생각하시면 됩니다. 제 차가 99,999.9 마일을 달리고 나서 100,000 마일을 찍게 되었을 때 폭발하는 것도 아니잖습니까," 그는 덧붙였다.

(코리아헤럴드)