I have been asked many times whether there is any scientific basis for a significant 2012 event. A claim that there is no scientific corroboration is a mantra of 2012 deniers. However, there is evidence from geology and other physical sciences that provide a basis for a Maya belief in a 2012 cataclysm.
When I’m asked as to whether there is scientific evidence to support a 2012 cataclysmic event, I start with the history of global size disasters that the Maya would have knowledge of from legends and campfire stories, just as knowledge of the Trojan wars, Biblical events and so much other history was passed down as campfire discussions long before they were recorded in writing.
Going back to the fact that the Maya believed that their world was destroyed four times in the past and the 2012 date foreshadows what they believed is fifth and last destruction, is there any scientific evidence of four major globe shaking disasters the Maya could have had knowledge of through campfire history? The answer is yes and we can start with the most famous Biblical disaster—the Flood.
Ancestors of the Maya and other indigenous people of the Americas originated in Asia and came to the Americas by crossing the Bering Land Bridge.
The so-called “bridge” was a dry land mass about a thousand miles wide which connected what is now called Russia’s Siberia region with Alaska. It was the path that prehistoric peoples and animals used to migrate from Asia and populate the American continent. That the path opened and closed many times over the eons is found in the presence not only of humans, but of species of animals that are found in both Asia and the Americas.
The final closure was caused by rising seas and turned the land bridge into the shallow sea it is today.
The Bering Land Bridge was deluged because of a phenomena that is in the news now everyday—global warming. Higher temperature thousands of years ago caused that land bridge and many others around the world to disappear under the seas as the planet turned up the heat and glacial ice that covered at times almost a third of the planet melted.
It is evident that the Flood referred to in Maya legend as one of the four earth shattering disasters was the disappearance of the land bridge under water. We also have to keep in mind that the area wasn’t actually a “bridge” that connected the people of Asia and America but a land mass people lived on.
With this in mind, we started with question of whether there is scientific evidence of cataclysmic events the Maya would be aware of that could form their legend that their world has suffered destruction four times. The first is Flood. We will deal with the other three in the next blog before going on to discuss the one of most concern to us: the fifth one.
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There is no reason why the Maya would not have known about major physical upheavals that occurred thousands of years before they and their ancestors developed a written language --European-based cultures have had the tales of wars and upheavals that occurred in ancient Greece thousnds of years before the Greeks developed a written language.
ReplyDeleteThe fact we live in a dangerous world with supervolcanoes under our feet and asteroid coming at us with little warning is proof enough for me. The Maya and their ancestors would have been eyewitnesses to what happened in the Americas for thousands of years. If they saw something, I don't need to have a scientist confirm it with a test tube.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the world shattering events related in the Christian bible are based upon similar events in the Mediterranean and Middle East ares that the peoples of the America suffered and passed down.
ReplyDeleteToday's Mayan Elders (their representatives to the world) do not talk of 'Cataclysm'. That appears to be white man's interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThey also do not trace their origins to Asia or any version of a land bridge. They DO have a very detailed and rich account of their history, including where they received the information for their very intricate calendar.
Their teachings are very much in line with what we are taught from the Hopi, Dogon and the Inka (recent archeological findings in Guatemala also connect their traditions to other cultures going even farther back with the use of the same number system).
We must look to the teachings of the Maya themselves to hear the truth of their traditions, which just so happen to coincide with what science is catching up to teach us.
Great site!
ReplyDeleteFor those who are skeptical about 2012 or just interested in a great story about coming to an understanding about it, try Revelation 2012.
Revelation 2012 is full of weird goodness; mushroom death cults, a Hungarian count who worked for both sides in WW2, maybe a mayan curse and the thought that all this Apocalypse talk is bunk because the prophecy happened 260 years ago.
Check it out if you have the time, here is the link:
http://www.citypages.com/2011-04-06/news/revelation-2012/
Thanks for your time today, keep putting out the great stuff!