+ + TOLEDO MAGAZINE toledoBlade.com THE BLADE, TOLEDO, OHIO SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2012 SECTION B, PAGE 6 So-called Mayan prediction lacks credibility, experts say A Mayan calendar. DOOMSDAY DEBUNKED

Looking skyward from the base of a temple pyramid at the Mayan ruins in , . BLADE PHOTOS/ANDY MORRISON By ERICA BLAKE to an end this year. theory started with the discovery of Ms. Marcus noted that contempo- BLADE STAFF WRITER According to popular culture, a stone tablet in the 1960s that de- rary interpretation of the end of the , Mexico — Standing at when the Mayan calendar concludes scribes the return of a Mayan god at cycle can be compared to Y2K, or the base of a centuries-old pyramid on Dec. 21, 2012, so does the world. the end of a 13th period. the year 2000, that we focused on 13 expertly constructed of limestone, It’s a doomsday theory that has Elizabeth Bell, a senior lecturer in years ago. Just as chaos was predict- it’s easy to see why more than a mil- gained such momentum that a poll Ohio State University’s department ed at the change of the millennium, lion visitors each year seek out a qui- commissioned by Reuters conduct- of Spanish and Portuguese, said the so are fears of the unknown taking et walk among Mexico’s many Ma- ed earlier this year showed that 15 December date was chosen because hold again. yan ruins. percent of the worldwide population it was 13 Baktuns after the Mayan As I peered up the length of steps Whether in the jungle, like the ru- believes that the world will end dur- calendar’s beginning of creation on leading to the temples at the top of ins at Chacchoben, or along the cliffs ing their lifetime and one in 10 peo- Aug. 11, 3114 B.C. the pyramids, the mystique of the of the coast like Tu- ple think that it could be this week. “The reason we got that [creation] Maya settled over me. Noted for their lum, these complex and long-lasting But according to experts in Latin date is not necessarily from the Ma- architecture, mathematics, and hi- structures command respect. American culture who have stud- An antique Mayan mask on yans but from archeologists, from eroglyphic writing system, the Ma- So, on a recent visit to the Yucat- ied the Mayan population and their display at the Maya Palms their interpretations of engravings ya are not simply an ancient civiliza- an Peninsula in Mexico, I was sure to calendar, this belief is just plain Resort in , Mexico. and carvings,” Ms. Bell said. tion but also a modern-day segment spend time among the last of the cit- wrong. “You have two factions now talk- of society still inhabiting southeast ies inhabited and built by Mayans. “The Maya never predicted the ing about this. You have the Maya Mexico, , and . And of course, while taking in the end of the world,” said Joyce Marcus, ginning of the next cycle, which the populations who are saying that this And on Dec. 22, they plan to still beauty and serenity of my surround- an archeologist and professor of an- Maya called Baktun 1.” is not an ending but a new beginning be around. ings, I couldn’t help but think that thropology at the University of Mich- A Baktun is about 400 years, she and you have the people who are say- Contact Erica Blake at: it’ll be a shame when these magnifi- igan. “Dec. 21, 2012, merely marks added. ing it’s a doomsday,” she said. “But [email protected] cent structures — as well as the rest the end of the 13th cycle, which the Experts say that the doomsday these people are not Maya. They’re or 419-213-2134. of the world, for that matter — come Maya called Baktun 13, and the be- Hollywood.”

A temple pyramid. e God of the Winds Temple at the Mayan ruins in Tulum, Mexico.

e ruins at Chacchoben indicate a sophisticated society. Temple of the Frescos. A tourist enters the ruins through a hole in the wall.

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