Center presents ‘Maya Prophesies of 2012’

From Sopux City Jourmal:  Center presents ‘Maya Prophesies of 2012’

The Betty Strong Encounter Center will present “Maya Prophesies of 2012” with Dr. Gail Ament at 2 p.m. Nov. 4. Admission will be free.
The program will explore popular culture predictions, including the end of the world, based on a system of calendars developed by the Maya more than 2,300 years ago.
Ament specializes in contemporary Mayan literature, language and culture and has published extensively on the subject. She served as one of several consultants to the Center’s cultural encounter exhibit, “Maya People in Siouxland.”
Ament is professor of Spanish and chair of the Modern Languages Department at Morningside College. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Guatemala from 1995 to 1996. In 2000, she was one of 25 U.S. scholars selected to participate in a study tour of “The Maya World,” including Guatemala, Honduras, and Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
The Center is located on the Missouri Riverfront, exit 149 off I-29. For more information visit www.siouxcitylcic.com or call (712) 224-5242.

 

Mayan Apocalypse: Houston Exhibit Debunks End of World Myth

From FoxNewsLatino:  Mayan Apocalypse: Houston Exhibit Debunks End of World Myth

As the supposed End of the World is fast approaching, at least on the Mayan calendar, an exhibit in Houston is setting out to prove the Apocalypse isn’t just weeks away.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is launching an exhibit to demystify the Mayan myth that doomsday will arrive Dec. 21, 2012.
Visitors will walk darkened halls lined with pottery, jade carvings and black-and-white rubbings of jungle monuments, all tied in some way to the sophisticated Maya calendar. They'll sit in replicas of large, mural-filled buildings that still grace the jungles of Mexico. And they should come away with at least one thought: The sun will rise on Dec. 22.
"The calendar is there, and it will continue, so nobody ought to be afraid of what Dec. 21 will bring because there will be a Dec. 22 and, yes, there will be a Christmas," said Dirk Van Tuerenhout, curator of the "Maya 2012 Prophecy Becomes History" exhibit opening Friday.
Nearly every item on display circles back to the Maya calendars: complex, cyclical countdowns that helped an ancient people who dwelled in the jungles, mountains and coastal regions of Central America track crucial events — especially the rain — and build large cities, some with as many as 90,000 people.
The exhibit takes visitors back nearly 3,500 years. Murals carefully reconstructed by Yale University depict images in the jungle monuments in Bonampak in the Mexican state of Chiapas — such as the Maya celebrating the induction of a new heir to the throne — all on a blood-red backdrop. Stone carvings and rubbings depict anniversaries and special events. Replicas of large pyramids explain how the Maya tracked the sun's progress in the sky, giving ancient astronomers the power to know when the rainy season would begin and when to plant the corn.
The exhibit explains the calendars through videos showing the wheels introduced by Europeans to wed the Maya count with their own, as well as Maya inscriptions and writings. It shows how the Maya calendars — while advanced and complex — largely focused on the daily needs of a society by counting what we call days, months and years.
"So you could have time to get your festivals organized and your king ready to bleed and your sacrifices, so the astronomer actually controlled the time keeping of the Maya," said Carolyn Sumners, the museum's vice president for astronomy, who helped create a 3D movie to accompany the exhibit. "The power of that priest and the power of that king depended on feeding these people."
The Mayans did this with several calendars, each with a different count. The "ritual" cycle was 260 days long, the time between the planting of the corn, or possibly, the time from human conception to birth, experts say. They also had a 365-day calendar, similar to our own, and the two met once every 52 years, which also matched the average life expectancy of a person living at that time, said Rebecca Storey, an anthropologist at the University of Houston.
The king, however, needed a "long count" to create a legacy, Sumners explained.
It is this count, which begins with Maya creation and ends three days before Christmas Eve, that is the focus of the end-of-the-world beliefs. This count is broken up into 13, 400-year segments, or baktuns. The last one ends on Dec. 21, 2012, and the ancient Maya believed that on Dec. 22 they would start counting again from zero, Storey said.
The date coincidentally lines up with a rare event. In 2012, the sun will pass through the center of the Milky Way during the winter solstice, when it is at its weakest — an event that occurs every 26,000 years, Sumners said. This connection, experts believe, might be behind some of the doomsday scenarios; however, there is no evidence the Maya were aware this astronomical phenomenon fell on the same day as the end of their long count.
"Most of the Maya scholars think it comes from the Christian West where the whole idea of doomsday and apocalypse is an important part of Christianity," Storey said. "It's mostly outsiders that have made that link that somehow the end of a time cycle can be a time of destruction."
The Maya ended their long count at 13 because it is, for them, a sacred number, Storey said. They believe the end of a count is a time of renewal, and this will be the theme of many of the modern-day Maya celebrations to be held in Central American cities on Dec. 21, she added.
In reality, the Maya did suffer an "apocalypse," said Sumners, but it occurred around 900 A.D., when the classic Mayan civilization collapsed. It appears years of drought had stopped the rain.
"The reason it was such a catastrophe for them, such a collapse that they never really recovered from, it was that they overbuilt," Sumners said. "They did not create a sustainable culture if the rains didn't come, and that's what we face today."

 

Fast Class: The Mayan Calendar

From Santa Rosa Tows Press Democrat:  Fast Class: The Mayan Calendar

That date is the end of the Mayan calendar and Judith Dides can tell you all about it. Dides, who holds degrees in anthropology and linguistics, also pursued a doctorate in Mayan studies at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Dides will teach a class entitled “Maya 2012: End or Beginning?” at Santa Rosa Junior College starting this month. This is the sixth and last time she’ll teach the class, which she has offered through both SRJC and Stockton’s San Joaquin Delta College since 2009.
“The academics were not addressing the ‘issue’ at all,” said Dides, who felt her background in multiple disciplines gave her a unique perspective on the subject. “I have my own personal ideas about what is happening, but I don’t push my agenda on the students.”
Dides gave us a preview of some of the topics she’ll be addressing in her class:
1. I’ll explain the Mayan calendar and how it correlates with our calendar. Starting in 2008, I started reading all the sensational books coming out about 2012 and saw that none of the authors except one, knew anything at all about the ancient Mayan culture or the Mayan calendar.
2. I present the few texts that we have related to the end of a Great Cycle of 13 baktuns, including what the Maya said and didn’t say about this upcoming end date.
3. I teach strategies for deciphering texts, so that students can learn to read Maya hieroglyphs. I studied the material in my doctoral program, working on the decipherment of hieroglyphs and illustrating a text on hieroglyphs.
4. I present the data indicating that the Maya had a great deal of knowledge about astronomy and our place in the cosmos.
5. Last, but not least, I show that despite the level of sophistication and complexity of ancient Maya culture, their society collapsed probably due to environmental issues – over exploitation of the resources. No matter who we are, we still depend on Nature for our survival.
“I hope to inspire people to continue their own research on the Maya and not just take what others say as ‘the truth,’” said Dides. “I want people to be able to evaluate the information about 2012 for themselves.”

 

How have the 2012 doomsday myths become part of our accepted lexicon?

From PhysOrg.com:  How have the 2012 doomsday myths become part of our accepted lexicon?

 Did the Mayans really predict a doomsday event? The whole "December 21st, 2012 Doomsday" hype had pretty much fallen off my radar. I hadn't received an email from a concerned or fearful person for months and no one had alerted me to any new breathlessly hyped end-of-the-word videos for quite some time. Optimistically, I began to think that the Mayan-Prophecy-Pole-Shift-Nibiru (et. al) nonsense was just a passing fad.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-10-doomsday-myths-lexicon.html#jCp

But, somehow it seems, doomsday hype has made it into the public's psyche. I recently saw a local newscast that mentioned the world would be ending soon, albeit jokingly, and sometimes even well-meaning publications give the Mayan prophesies undue credence with unfortunate headlines. But a couple of recent polls say that 10-12% of people have doubts they will survive past Dec. 21st of this year. And a few conversations I've had with those who have been on the front lines of debunking the 2012 doomsday predictions reveal that an upcoming "end of the world" is somehow very real for a measurable segment of the population.

How has something that is steeped in nonsense with no scientific accuracy whatsoever managed to capture such attention?

Dr. David Morrison has been answering the public's questions on the 2012 predictions for over five years on NASA's "Ask and Astrobiologist" page on the Astrobiology website. Even after all the information Morrison and other NASA scientists have made available debunking the doomsday myths and providing real scientific reasoning, Morrison said he still steadily receives 5-6 emails every day from people asking if the world will end in December. "These are for the most part from people who fundamentally distrust science and the government," Morrison said in an interview for a podcast for the NASA Lunar Science Institute and 365 Days of Astronomy. "It is very hard to get through to them. These are people who… get their information from the internet," (and You Tube videos and History Channel documentaries, Morrison later added.) "And among the kids, the information just passes from person to person. I'd like to think that the things I've posted and the videos I've made help, but a lot of people just don't get it." And some people don't want to get it. "They are so invested this," Morrison said, "with their books and websites and videos," and when Dec. 22 rolls around, they may not want to admit they've either been part of the hoax or taken in by a hoax. They may end up changing the goalposts by saying they were off by a couple of months or years, like many of the failed end-of-the-word predictions have done.

Bill Hudson, who helps maintain the 2012Hoax website (http://www.2012hoax.org/) – a site that offers scientific information of why the world won't end and a forum for people to express their concerns – says he has seen a steady uptick in traffic to the website in recent months and he anticipates there will be a surge ahead of December 21st. "Most of the astronomical claims are easily dismissed, but a lot of our visitors have apparent anxiety issues, and the 2012 rumors set those off," Hudson said. "So they realize intellectually that it is bunk, but emotionally they struggle to get past it." For example one woman has written in for the past few years in a constant up and down cycle of first feeling fears for herself and her child, then feeling calm when reading information on the 2012Hoax site, but then falling back into fear if she watches a new You Tube video hyping doomsday, or if she sees a big star in the sky she thinks she hasn't seen before (it usually end up being Venus.)

Unfortunately, Hudson said, there are more people like this, who just can't get past their fears. Ian O'Neill producer of Discovery Space News and former Universe Today writer who authored a series of articles for UT debunking the 2012 doomsday myths says that he's also witnessed how the "Mayan doomsday" has worked itself into society's lexicon. As an example, O'Neill shared via email a story of a person next to him at the gym watching TV reports of the recent swarm of earthquakes south of LA: "The guy watching the TV next to me asked what was going on—I said that it was a USGS press conference to discuss the mini quakes.

He responded with 'Yeah, it's not long until the world ends, we're bound to be seeing more of this kind of thing.' A little taken aback, I questioned him on it (thinking he was joking) and he was positive that the world was really going to end and that he'd seen "videos on YouTube" about it. No matter what I said to him, his view was that he'd rather be safe than sorry—he'd stocked up on fuel and water." O'Neill said he's found that among the public, stories of doomsday are generally accepted. "Some people know that it's all crap, but others are totally convinced that it's real," he said. "It's really sad that, after I've written countless articles on the topic and appeared on several news shows and documentaries communicating the real science, people are still out there needlessly worried, happy to believe a badly edited YouTube video over science and reason."

The real unfortunate effect here is that children are being caught up by these doomsday predictions, whether by adults in their lives who are buying into the hype or by having access to websites and videos that purport to have the "real" truth and answers. Hudson says the 2012Hoax site has been receiving a constant stream of questions from children who are fearful, and Morrison said many of the emails he gets are from children. There are at least two documented cases of young people committing suicide from their fears of the world ending, and Morrison shared a story from a teacher he knows where parents of two children in her class have come to her saying the families plans to commit suicide so they don't suffer in the end times coming up. This is almost more than anyone involved in debunking these doomsday myths can bear.

Morrison called the people propagating the doomsday myths "evil." "These are evil people, whether consciously or unconsciously whose main effect is to frighten children," he said. "I think it is a terrible thing." Morrison, Hudson and O'Neill said they all hope Dec. 21 can come and go without anyone else taking drastic actions that are completely unnecessary. Asked what he will be doing on Dec. 22, Morrison said all he really hopes is that this whole subject will be dropped, never to be heard from again. "I've never dealt with anything like this before and I hope I never have to deal with it again," he said.

But, somehow it seems, doomsday hype has made it into the public's psyche. I recently saw a local newscast that mentioned the world would be ending soon, albeit jokingly, and sometimes even well-meaning publications give the Mayan prophesies undue credence with unfortunate headlines. But a couple of recent polls say that 10-12% of people have doubts they will survive past Dec. 21st of this year. And a few conversations I've had with those who have been on the front lines of debunking the 2012 doomsday predictions reveal that an upcoming "end of the world" is somehow very real for a measurable segment of the population. How has so

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-10-doomsday-myths-lexicon.html#jCp

Did the Mayans really predict a doomsday event? The whole "December 21st, 2012 Doomsday" hype had pretty much fallen off my radar. I hadn't received an email from a concerned or fearful person for months and no one had alerted me to any new breathlessly hyped end-of-the-word videos for quite some time. Optimistically, I began to think that the Mayan-Prophecy-Pole-Shift-Nibiru (et. al) nonsense was just a passing fad.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-10-doomsday-myths-lexicon.html#jCp

New book reveals the science behind the Mayan prophecies

From Examiner.com:  New book reveals the science behind the Mayan prophecies

The new book, Mayan Calendar Prophecies | Part 1: Predictions for 2012 and Beyond, takes a scientific approach to the often overhyped and sensationalized topic of the Mayan calendar and 2012 prophecies. The author begins by revealing that the ancient Maya believed in a 256-year cycle that governed the rise and fall of civilizations. The Maya divided this 256-year cycle into thirteen 20-year periods called katuns. They developed predictions for each katun by looking back through their extensive written histories and finding events that seem to repeat in each specific katun. They recorded these predictions in their "prophetic" books called the Chilam Balam, books of the Jaguar Priest.
The author argues that these "prophecies" were actually more like our modern scientific forecasts. For instance, scientists also look for repeating patterns in nature in order to make projections or forecasts about when such events may occur again. Unlike the prophecies of Nostradamus and others, the Maya did not claim their insights came from mystical or supernatural abilities to see the future. Instead they created a careful analytical system based on the simple idea that history often repeats itself.
The author notes that geologists have found a 250-year seismic cycle that governs earthquakes and volcanoes. Space scientists have discovered a 250-year solar cycle. Climate scientists have discovered that this 250-year solar cycle affects rainfall patterns which then led anthropologists to discover that Iron Age settlements seemed to expand and contract in sync with this solar cycle due to the rain/drought cycle. Biologists have noted that insect infestations and disease outbreaks both seem to be influenced by solar cycles. Other researchers have noted that even warfare seems to wax and wane according to solar cycles.
The author noted that most of the Mayan prophecies recorded in their books of Chilam Balam dealt with famines, disease and warfare. Thus the Mayan belief that such things are predictable and repeat on a 256-year cycle seems consistent with the latest scientific findings.
The second part of the book takes a look at the actual Mayan prophecies as recorded in various ancient versions of the Chilam Balam. Since these predictions are cyclical and repeat every 256 years the author spends a lot of time back-testing these prophecies to see if they can, in fact, predict known events from the past. The result of this testing revealed that these Mayan prophecies were amazingly accurate for predicting events going back a thousand years.
The final part of the author's research was to utilize these Mayan prophecies to make predictions about the future. The author compared the ancient prophecies to modern-day realities and created the most likely scenarios and forecasts for the future up to the year 2052 which is when the current 256-year cycle ends. The predictions seem amazingly realistic and plausible unlike many of the ludicrous and outlandish theories being propagated around the Internet and in the news media.
The most startling and apocalyptic Mayan prophecies appear to refer not to 2012 but for the time period between 2032-2052. Eerily, the author notes that NASA is currently tracking several asteroids that have a probability of impacting Earth during this twenty year time period.
Overall, Mayan Calendar Prophecies | Part 1: Predictions for 2012 and Beyond presents the most grounded and scientifically-based look at the Mayan calendar and its predictions for the future. It's not all bad nor all good but like the last 256-years a mixture of both. You can learn more by checking out the author's website, LostWorlds.org, or becoming a fan of his LostWorlds Facebook page. You can also subscribe to his free newsletter to be alerted to his latest research.

 

Toledo, OH: UT’s Ritter Planetarium explores Mayan civilization

From :aPrensa: UT’s Ritter Planetarium explores Mayan civilization

The newest Ritter Planetarium Program starts in October and runs through the end of the world.

Each Friday night at 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 21, 2012, the University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory will air “Tales of the Maya Skies” on its digital 6.5 million pixel SciDomeXD. The presentation will immerse the audience in a full-dome show studying Mayan astronomy, art and culture.

As many know, Dec. 21, 2012, marks the day some believe the Maya predicted the world would end and the film will touch on this phenomenon.

Given the importance of the Maya in Latin American culture, it is fitting that each Saturday through Oct. 27 a Spanish-narrated version of the same program will be offered.

Each evening program will be followed by observing, weather permitting, at the Brooks Observatory

Produced by Chabot Space & Science Center, “Tales of the Maya Skies” inspires and educates through its description of the Maya's accurate astronomical achievements and how astronomy connected them to the universe. Both versions are narrated by Latin Grammy Award winner Lila Downs and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City.

In an effort to reach the next generation of astronomers, Ritter Planetarium will screen “One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure” each Saturday at 1 p.m. through Nov. 9, 2012.

The full-dome planetarium show follows Sesame Street's Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky with Hu Hu Zhu, a Muppet from China. Together, they take an imaginary trip from Sesame Street to the moon, where they discover how different it is from Earth.

This program is a spectacle of light and color as the furry-friends watch the stars twinkle over Sesame Street. Children watching the show can participate by drawing constellations and counting the time it takes the sun to set. The show aims to nurture a child's natural sense of wonder about the night sky while forging cross-cultural connections, bringing together kids across nations through a common bond in learning about the sky together.

Afternoon programs will feature solar observing, weather permitting.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children 4 through 12, seniors, and UT students and employees. Children 3 and younger are free.

2012 Maya Calendar Prediction Inspires Bracelet

From FashionWorld:  2012 Maya Calendar Prediction Inspires Bracelet

gy Muse, Jewelry, Accessories


Los Angeles based jewelry company, Energy Muse, announced the launch of Maya, a bracelet that reflects the 2012 Maya calendar prediction. The release of this piece is in timely occurrence with the end of the Mayan calendar scheduled for the end of this year, December 21, 2012. While some view this as the day the world will end, professional Mayan scholars and anthropologists reveal otherwise. Instead of an apocalypse, the Maya used their calendar to promote continuity and stability. Thus, 12/21/2012 marks merely the end of a cycle, where all of earth’s inhabitants are subject to undergo positive spiritual and physical transformations. With every end comes a new beginning, which is what 2012 symbolizes.
Energy Muse's Maya bracelet capitalizes on the energy and momentum of the Mayan calendar as it prepares for this next cycle beginning 12/22/2012. The next phase reflects a time where actions, thoughts, and words manifest more quickly than they have before. We are increasingly empowered to create the life we want based on our perceptions and attitudes, and a fresh start will compel these thoughts into actions and results.
The colorful beaded bracelet pattern of the piece reflects the increased spiritual interconnectedness that humans will experience upon embarking on this fresh cycle together. Hand woven by indigenous Mayan women in Guatemala, Energy Muse’s “Maya” is a direct reflection of the culture it wishes to embody. The stunning Turquoise at the end of the clasp will help expand the mind in order to fully shape an ideal perspective on life that will manifest into reality.
Customers can acquire this piece at:
http://www.energymuse.com/store/maya-bracelet.html
About Energy Muse:
Energy Muse is the leader in conscious wellness energy, providing tools of empowerment, inspiration and hope. The company, based in Southern California, was founded in 2000 by native Californians Heather Askinosie and Timmi Jandro, best girlfriends for over 35 years. Seeking to educate and reconnect the world to the ancient wisdom and healing properties of crystals, each piece of jewelry combines energy and intention which create a desired outcome. Energy Muse transcends what one might think of jewelry and has instead become a lifestyle of wearable energy. For more information about Energy Muse Jewelry visit http://www.energymuse.com

Mayan Calendar Discovery Confirms 2012 'End Date' : Discovery News

From  Discovery News:  Mayan Calendar Discovery Confirms 2012 'End Date'


An ancient Maya text has emerged from the jungles of Guatemala confirming the so-called "end date" of the Maya calendar, Dec. 21, 2012.
Considered one of the most significant hieroglyphic finds in decades, the 1,300-year-old inscription contains only the second known reference to the "end date," but does not predict doomsday.
"The text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane University's Middle American Research Institute, said.

Carved on a stone staircase, the inscription was found at the ruins of La Corona, in the dense rainforest of northwestern Guatemala, by an international team of archaeologists led by Canuto and colleague Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

The archaeologists made the discovery as they decided to excavate in front of a building that had been heavily damaged nearly 40 years ago by looters looking for carved stones and tombs.
"We knew they found something important, but we also thought they might have missed something," Barrientos said.
Indeed, the archaeologists not only recovered 10 discarded hieroglyphic stones, but also something that the looters missed entirely -- an untouched step with a set of 12 exquisitely carved stones still in their original location.
Combined with the known looted blocks, the original staircase had a total of 264 hieroglyphs, making it one of the longest ancient Maya texts known, and the longest in Guatemala.
According to David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center of the University of Texas at Austin, who deciphered the hieroglyphics, the stairway inscription recorded 200 years of La Corona's history.
 
Bearing 56 delicately carved hieroglyphs, the stone referring to the year 2012 commemorated a royal visit to La Corona (which the ancient Maya called Saknikte’) by the ruler Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ from the great Maya capital of Calakmul on Jan. 29, 696 A.D

Also known as Fire Claw or Jaguar Paw, Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ had suffered a military defeat the year before, during a war with Calakmul's longstanding rival Tikal (located in modern Peten, Guatemala).
"Scholars had assumed that the Calakmul king died or was captured in this engagement, but this new extraordinary text from La Corona tells us otherwise," said Stuart.
In the wake of the defeat, the Maya ruler visited La Corona and perhaps other trusted allies to allay their fears after his defeat.
According to the archaeologists, the 2012 reference would have been a political move by the Calakmul king, who wanted to reassure the peoples of La Corona after the stunning defeat.
 
The key to understanding the reference to 2012 is a unique title that the king gave himself, said the archaeologists.
In the text, he calls himself the "13 K’atun lord" -- the king who presided over and celebrated an important Mayan calendar ending, 13 K’atun calendar cycle, in the year 692.
In order to vaunt himself even further and place his reign into an eternal setting, the Maya king connected himself forward in time to when the next higher period of the Maya calendar would reach the same 13 number -- December 21, 2012.

"This was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012," Stuart said.
The discovery is consistent with the only other reference to the 2012 date in ancient Maya inscriptions -- Monument 6 from Tortuguero, Mexico.
"What this text shows us is that in times of crisis, the ancient Maya used their calendar to promote continuity and stability rather than predict apocalypse," Canuto said.

 

Top 10 less-crowded Mayan ruins and sites

From Reuters:  Top 10 less-crowded Mayan ruins and sites


(Reuters) - Heard about the end of the world in December 2012 as predicted by the Mayans?
The members and editors of online travel consultants VirtualTourist (www.virtualtourist.com) have compiled a list of the "Top Ten Less Crowded Mayan Ruins and Sites" to help you explore the Mayan culture, but keep you off the heavily beaten path to Chichen Itza and Tikal before the impending doom. Reuters has not endorsed this list:
1. Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico
One of the most important cities of Mayan civilization, Calakmul was once home to more than 50,000 inhabitants. Though the city's timeline goes as far back as the Preclassic period (300 B.C. to 240 A.D.), its golden age was in the Classic period (250 A.D. to 900 A.D.), when it served as Tikal's main rival and battled for dominance of the central Mayan area. Many visitors might focus on the 6,000 structures within the city, but it's equally important to experience the surrounding Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which encompasses over 723,000 hectares (292,594 acres) of protected land and wildlife. While the reserve is a paradise for bird watching, the site itself is a hotbed of stelae, or stone monuments, often in the form of a high-relief sculpture, that were popular and characteristic of the Mayan civilization. 117 stelae have been discovered at Calakmul so far, more than any other Mayan site, and all of them from the Classic period.
2. Clenque, Chiapas, Mexico
Palenque was the most important city of the low western lands during the late Classic period, reaching its peak between 600 and 800 A.D. Along with Tikal and Calakmul, it was one of the most powerful Classic Mayan cities, as well as the seat of the distinguished Pakal dynasty. Much of the architecture (tilted facades on the buildings, stucco-sections) is unique and uncharacteristic of the time period; it has become a real hot spot for archaeological research interested in architecture and written language. One of the most notable aspects of Palenque is Temple XIII, where the Tomb of the Red Queen was found in 1994. This tomb is significant because it shares the same platform as the Temple of the Inscriptions, suggesting nobility; the remains found are referred to as "the Red Queen" because the tomb was entirely covered in red cinnabar.
3. Yaxchilán, Chiapas, Mexico
Located on the Usumacinta River, Yaxchilán is a great example of the Usumacinta style that dominated the Classic Mayan of the Low Lands from 250 - 900 A.D., with architecture adorned in epigraphic inscriptions and extensive relief sculpture. The city was allied with Tikal, and had a major battle with Palenque, which seems ironic according to a modern map since Palenque is in both the same state and nation as Yaxchilán and Tikal is across the border in Guatemala. The city exhibits strategic planning ,as it was built on a peninsula formed by a bend in the Usumacinta River. Even today, Yaxchilán can only be accessed by lancha (small boat) up the river.
4. Campeche's Edzná, Mexico
Despite being one of the most significant Mayan ruins, Edzná receives fewer visitors in a year than Chichen Itza does in a day. The city's architecture reflects an amalgamation of differing cities and influences, including roof styles and corbelled arches from Palenque and giant stone masks of the Peten style found in Tikal. Founded around 400 B.C., the city reached its peak during the late Classic period, with a gradual decline beginning around 1000 and its abandonment in 1450.
5. Ek Balam, Mexico
Ek Balam, which means "black jaguar" in the Yucatec Maya language, is one of the few Mayan settlements that remained occupied until the arrival of the Spaniards. While not the hardest site to get to (it's in the Yucatan), it is under active restoration, so visitors can get a great overview of the entire archaeological process. One unique aspect of this site is the 100-foot El Torre (or Acropolis) pyramid, which easily surpasses Chichen Itza's El Castillo; visitors can still scale El Torre today. Once climbers reach the top, they can see both Chichen Itza and Coba in the distance!
6. Quirigua, Guatemala
Quirigua (pronounced Kiri-gua) is a relatively small site, almost directly across the border from Honduras' Copan. Strategically located on the Montagua River trade route, which was important for the transport of jade and obsidian, it was also originally a vassal of Copan. However, Quirigua rebelled and defeated Copan, then allied itself with Calakmul, after which it erected elaborate stone monuments in a style similar to that of Copan. In fact, one of the monuments at Quirigua, known as "Stele E," is the largest known quarried stone in the Maya world, standing 35 ft (10.6 m) tall and depicting a Mayan lord over three times life size.
7. El Mirador, Guatemala
Deep in Guatemala's Petén jungle, El Mirador hides under 2,000 years' worth of jungle overgrowth. Though the well-known Classical Maya ruins in Tikal National Park are frequently visited, the largest Preclassic Mayan city is much more difficult to access. El Mirador is actually over twice the size of Tikal, with over 80,000 people residing at the site from 300 B.C. to 150 A.D. The grandeur and size of the site suggest that there were already complex state societies in the Late Preclassic period, contrary to the popular thought that the Preclassic period was a formative period. El Mirador is only accessibly by foot, horse, mule, or helicopter, lying over 60km from the nearest road.
8. Lamanai, Orange Walk, Belize
Lamanai, the Mayan word for "submerged crocodile," was aptly named. Not only do crocodiles appear in the site's effigies and decorations, but you are likely to see crocodiles while trying to get there. In order to reach the site, you must take a small boat up the winding New River through the tropical rainforest of central Belize. Lamanai was one of the longest continuously occupied cities, starting in 500 B.C. to 1675 A.D. or even later, probably due to its strategic location on the trade route of the New River. The most notable among this site's ruins is the Mask Temple at the northern end of the complex.
9. Caracol, Cayo District, Belize
Once you turn off the main road, it will take you over 2 hours by 4-wheel drive to arrive at Caracol, but VirtualTourist members promise it is worth the trip! Despite being located along the Guatemalan border and about 80 km (50 miles) from the nearest town of San Ignacio, there are 11 causeways into Caracol, signifying the importance of transportation routes throughout the site. Additionally, the excavation data collected in Caracol suggests that the social organization of the settlement included not only elites and specialists living in the urban centres with peasants living on the peripheral, but also a sizable "middle class." There is also evidence of artesian specialization, similar to the guilds found in the European Middle Ages, making this site a very unique find and of great anthropological significance.
10. Joya de Ceren, La Libertad Dept, El Salvador
Joya de Ceren is a Pre-Columbian site in El Salvador that preserves the daily life of the indigenous settlements prior to the Spanish conquest. Often referred to as the "Pompeii of the Americas," Joya de Ceren was buried under ashes of a violent volcanic eruption, therein preserving evidence of the lifestyle and activities of a Mesoamerican farming community around 6th century A.D. This site is unique in that it is still being excavated today, and since excavation was halted for much of the 1980's it is highly likely that middle-aged and older travellers have not had the opportunity to visit these ruins. Visiting Joya de Ceren can easily be combined with visiting San Andres, a nearby site whose findings suggest it had strong contacts with both Copan and Teotihuacan.

Discovered Mayan structures used to observe solstices

(A different take on the ballcourt report from yesterday:)

From USA Today:  Discovered Mayan structures used to observe solstices

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican archaeologists say they have determined that the ancient Mayas built watchtower-style structures atop the ceremonial ball court at the temples of Chichen Itza to observe the equinoxes and solstices, and they said Friday that the discovery adds to understanding of the many layers of ritual significance that the ball game had for the culture.
The structures sit atop the low walls of the court, where the Mayas played a game that consisted, as far as experts can tell, of knocking a heavy, latex ball with their elbows, knees or hips, through a stone ring set in the walls.
The bases of the structures — essentially, look-out boxes set atop the walls, each one with a small slit running through it —had been detected before, but archaeologist hadn't been sure what they were used for. Since the ball court was built around 864 A.D., the boxes and the stairs leading to them had crumbled.
The government's National Institute of Anthropology and History announced Thursday that the boxes had been 90-percent reconstructed, based on the stone footings that remained. Late last year and early this year, a team led by archaeologist Jose Huchim confirmed that the sun shone through the slit-like openings when the setting sun touches the horizon at the winter solstice.
The sun's rays also formed a diagonal pattern at the equinox in the slit-like openings, which are about tall enough to stand up in.
Huchim said he knew of no similar structures at other Mayan ball courts. "This is the place where we're finding this type of pasaje (structure)," Huchim said. He said a stone structure atop a ball court at the nearby ruin site of Uxmal appeared to have been used as a sort of spectators' stand for elite audiences.
Huchim said the slits may have been used to determine when ball matches were played, given that the ball itself, as it was knocked through the air by the players, may have been seen as imitating the sun's arc as it passed through the sky.
It may have also been used "like a calendar, to mark important periods for agriculture," like planting the core crop of corn.
Finally, Huchim noted that old descriptions of the ball courts sometimes depicted people atop the walls, and that they may have been acting as umpires in the game.
Huchim said Thursday that stairways to the structures are being restored so visitors can observe the phenomenon.
Boston University archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli, who was not involved in the project, said the solar sighting lines were part of "part of Maya architecture and cosmology."
"The fact that the sun rise can be observed behind a structure should be understood in that sense, as reverence to the sun or other star, not necessarily as an observatory in the technical sense," Estrada-Belli said. The orientation of the structures "emphasized the sacrality of the ritual space."

 

Mexico: Mayan ball court was celestial ‘marker'

From NewsOK.com: Mexico: Mayan ball court was celestial ‘marker' 

MEXICO CITY — Mexican archaeologists say they have determined that the ancient Mayas built watchtower-style structures atop the ceremonial ball court at the temples of Chichen Itza to observe the equinoxes and solstices, and they said Friday that the discovery adds to understanding of the many layers of ritual significance that the ball game had for the culture.


The structures sit atop the low walls of the court, where the Mayas played a game that consisted, as far as experts can tell, of knocking a heavy, latex ball with their elbows, knees or hips, through a stone ring set in the walls.

The bases of the structures — essentially, look-out boxes set atop the walls, each one with a small slit running through it —had been detected before, but archaeologist hadn't been sure what they were used for. Since the ball court was built around 864 A.D., the boxes and the stairs leading to them had crumbled.
The government's National Institute of Anthropology and History announced Thursday that the boxes had been 90-percent reconstructed, based on the stone footings that remained. Late last year and early this year, a team led by archaeologist Jose Huchim confirmed that the sun shone through the slit-like openings when the setting sun touches the horizon at the winter solstice.

The sun's rays also formed a diagonal pattern at the equinox in the slit-like openings, which are about tall enough to stand up in.

Huchim said he knew of no similar structures at other Mayan ball courts. “This is the place where we're finding this type of pasaje (structure),” Huchim said. He said a stone structure atop a ball court at the nearby ruin site of Uxmal appeared to have been used as a sort of spectators' stand for elite audiences.

Huchim said the slits may have been used to determine when ball matches were played, given that the ball itself, as it was knocked through the air by the players, may have been seen as imitating the sun's arc as it passed through the sky.

It may have also been used “like a calendar, to mark important periods for agriculture,” like planting the core crop of corn.

Finally, Huchim noted that old descriptions of the ball courts sometimes depicted people atop the walls, and that they may have been acting as umpires in the game.
Huchim said Thursday that stairways to the structures are being restored so visitors can observe the phenomenon.

Boston University archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli, who was not involved in the project, said the solar sighting lines were part of “part of Maya architecture and cosmology.”

“The fact that the sun rise can be observed behind a structure should be understood in that sense, as reverence to the sun or other star, not necessarily as an observatory in the technical sense,” Estrada-Belli said. The orientation of the structures “emphasized the sacrality of the ritual space.”

 

Don’t Forget Today’s Maya during 2012

From Yahoo News:  Don’t Forget Today’s Maya during 2012, Chaa Creek Says

It’s good news that the ancient Maya culture is getting more notice in the lead-up to the Winter Solstice of 2012, but it’s important that visitors to Belize and the Maya region don’t forget about today’s vibrant Maya culture, Chaa Creek’s resident anthropologist said today.

(PRWEB) October 02, 2012

It’s good news that the ancient Maya culture is getting more notice in the lead-up to the Winter Solstice of 2012, but it’s important that visitors to Belize and the Maya region don’t forget about today’s vibrant Maya culture, Chaa Creek’s resident anthropologist said today.

Joe Awe, who is Chaa Creek’s Mayanist at the eco resort’s Belize Natural History Centre, said he fears contemporary Maya culture is being overlooked as the spotlight is put on their ancestors during the 2012 Maya Winter Solstice celebrations taking part throughout the “Mundo Maya” or Maya world, as Belize and parts of Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador are known.

“It’s great that interest is building all over the world and so many people are finally discovering how incredibly rich and complex the ancient Maya culture was. Our guests at Chaa Creek are just amazed when they discover the beautiful Maya temples nearby and see how magnificent cities like Caracol, which had a population of some 180,000 people, were.

“People come back from our tours, whether to Caracol, Tikal, Xunantunich, the royal palace of Cahal Pech, the Maya sacred caves like Actun Tunichil Muknal, or even just walking around Chaa Creek’s 365 acre private rainforest reserve with a greater interest in Maya culture.

“And then when we tell them some 12% of Belize’s population is Maya, and they hear Mayan spoken among our staff, the interest grows and their experience gets richer. We encourage people to learn more about contemporary Maya life and meet today’s Maya. It can be a real eye-opener,” he said.
Owner Lucy Fleming said that members of the local Maya community have been an integral part of Chaa Creek since the days when it was a small family farm on the banks of the Macal River.
“Back when we were trying to get by as farmers, we learned so much from our neighbours, many of whom were of Maya descent. From organic farming to our earliest construction methods, with pole walls and thatch roofs all done in a traditional Maya style thousands of years old, we depended on local knowledge and skills, just as we do today,” she said.
The Lodge at Chaa Creek has a strong Maya cultural element with its Natural History Centre, Maya Medicinal Plant Trail, Maya Organic Farm and the over 70 Maya archaeological sites dotting the 365 acre property. A look at the eco resort’s 135 member staff shows an abundance of Maya surnames such as Tzib, Tun, Ku, Moh, Hob, Uck, Pech, Sac and other typical Maya titles.

Arcenio Itza, a celebrated Maya master stone carver is at work completing a large stela, a type of stone monument the Maya recorded their history upon, for the upcoming December 12 Maya Winter Solstice. The stela is carved with Mayan glyphs, one of the world’s oldest written language symbols.

“We’re hoping that as people discover more about this fascinating culture, they’ll take the time to learn about today’s Maya and their challenges, aspirations and contribution to society,” Mr Awe said, “As magnificent as the Mundo Maya’s temples and city-sites are, there’s even more to Maya culture just waiting to be discovered, and 2012 is the perfect time to do so.”

Larry Waight
The Lodge at Chaa Creek
8777098708

 

Gratis Hotel Rooms To Celebrate The End Of The Mayan Calendar

From Gradling:  Gratis Hotel Rooms To Celebrate The End Of The Mayan Calendar

It's the end of the world as we know it ... or at least the end of the Mayan Calendar. On December 21, 2012, the day the Mayan Calendar resets the date to "zero," Expedia has partnered with 11 Mayan area hotels to offer special $0 rates.

From the Grand Melia to the Intercontinental Presidente and Hyatt Regency in Cancun, some of these names are on the luxe side. The deals even extend to a few all-inclusives. We're sure the rates will go fast, so we'd suggest booking asap.

"The Mayan region has always been a fascinating destination, but interest is up this year for reasons that might be obvious. In fact, travel to this part of the world is up over 10% this year over last," said Joe Megibow, Vice President and General Manager, Expedia.com in a release.

Can't make it then? More than 100 hotels throughout Cancun, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Merida, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador are going to be around 40% off from today through March 2013 in celebration.