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Friday, October 12, 2012

Mayans and Calendars and Doomsday!! Oh my!!

If you haven't heard already, It has been predicted that December 21, 2012 will be the end of our world as we know it. There is a great deal of speculation going on around the world about what might happen on 21.12.2012. According to the Mayan 2012 doomsday prophecy this could be the day that everything changes? There are those who doubt, and those who believe, in the possibility that the world will end in just two short months from now. There are many who thumb their nose and say this is just hype. Let's do some research and find out. out the week.

Answer the following questions in a post to this blog. Be sure to comment on other's post and participate through

1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?

192 comments:

UnknownOctober 12, 2012 at 4:05 PM
1.) The Mayans are people who believe that God has given them the power to give illusions or predict the future. Most of the Mayans live in Guatemala, Mexico.
2.) The Mayans have built a lot of pyramids and many tall temples. They have built roads and even created a writing system called codex.
3.) The Mayan’s day-to-day lives are much like the people from the early days. The women prepared the house and the food and the men hunted food.
4.) The Mayan Calendar is a very complex system as Ms. Strawn said above. The Mayan Calendar derives from the pyramid which the Mayans built in 1050. The pyramid has 4 stairways, 91 steps each, and a platform at the top of the stairways, making the 365 different stairs. The Mayans used the number 365 to represent how many days there are in each calendar year.
5.) The Mayans have predicted solar eclipses and astrological cycles all from their calendar system. I have not found a prediction that the Mayans have made that has actually come true.
6.) The Mayan calendar simply has an end to one of their cycles on December 21, 2012. Another cycle will begin the next day.
7.) I believe in the Bible; not “doomsday.” The Bible says that Christ is coming back one day to bring everyone who believes in Him back to heaven with Him. God says that no one will know when that day will be. I believe that fully. I do not believe the world will end of December 21, 2012 unless God wants it to. But I also do not believe that the world will end the way every predicts it to end; with a black hole “gobbling” up the earth. I do not believe that the Mayan calendar cycle has any impact on mankind by any means; it is just another calendar system.
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UnknownOctober 12, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Sorry, I forgot my question. My question is how did the Mayans set their calendar cycle to end on December 21, 2012? If their calendar system's cycle ended, will our's?
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UnknownOctober 14, 2012 at 1:13 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans are an ancient civilization who was one of the only that had a fully developed language, they are largely known for their art and structural innovations, but what gives them there true name is there calendar system. The Mayans have spread around South America, but they are centered on Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayans had many great achievements, to this day archeologists question how the Mayans built there temples and pyramid like structures. With today’s technology sculptures have trouble mimicking the Mayan way of art. The Mayans people where one of the first ancient people to have a written language that was fully developed. The Mayans also are famous for their calendars, especially the one that predicts the end of the world.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
Mayans had a very simplistic way of life them women cooked and took care of the children, while the men where the ones who would support the family. The Mayans where very known for their sacrifices to their gods as well, sacrificing was almost second hand to the Mayans whether it be goat or human sacrifice.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
There were 2 main calendars in the Mayan system. One Mayan calendar was based on the solar cycle and the other was based on the religious Mayan cycle. When the two calendars combined it would give them a 52 year cycle. So there sense of time was not altered it was just that there dates where more set and specific.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
They have made predictions about earthquakes planetary and solar alignment’s and about 90% have come true.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
The texts specify that the planets will align, from what I have found it does not say anything about the world ending but it does say that the calendar cycle will end. The Mayans had many calendars and cycles.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I do not believe that the world will end, although I do believe that there will be some change a major change in the earth because of the planetary alignment that will change something in the earth whether it be gravitational pull or something else.
The only question I have is why does the calendar stop there what was the real reasoning if there was any or is it really the end of the earth.
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Destiny TateOctober 15, 2012 at 6:49 AM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
• The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization that lives in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
• The Mayans were known for their calendar, their building of pyramids, temples, their writing system called Cortex, their mathematical system based on the number 20, and their road system.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
• The Mayans had farmers who grew food, the women took care of the house hold, children, and men, their believed in Priest, rulers, and kings, and the men worked.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
• The Maya calendar is based off a system of their perception of time where events can be recorded in a linear relationship to one another. The 365 day Mayan year contained five straight days of bad luck. It was considered unlucky to do anything during this time
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
• The Mayans knew how to predict solar eclipses, they used astrological cycles to help them plant, and they developed two calendars. The Mayans predictions about solar eclipses were said to accurate.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
• The Mayans calendar simply says that December 21, 2012 is the ending of the cycle. It’s the last recorded day that the Mayans wrote.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy? Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
• My opinion is that it’s not real. I feel that people may be interrupting it incorrectly. Maybe after recorded up to 5000 years of life, the Mayans just got tried and stop predicting that someone in a later generation would continue it on. 

http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/social/index.html

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James GrayOctober 15, 2012 at 3:55 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?

The Mayans were an advanced ancient civilization who were renown for their art, science and astrology. They lived Primarily in the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, and Guatemala.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?

One of the Mayans greatest achievements was their written language. The Mayans were one of the first ancient civilizations with a written language. This was discovered because of their manuscript, called Codex or Codices, that were found in some of the areas that Mayans used to live in.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?

Much like most Civilizations before and around this time the Mayans were a simple society with men doing the heavy labor, like field work and building. The Men also did all of the hunting. While women were in charge of the home.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?

The Mayan calender consisted of multiple counts. Counts are cycles that was based upon periods of times. Counts were also measured by the amount of days in that count. Although there are many counts, there are only two main counts. One being a 260 day calender and the other being a 365 day.

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?

The Mayan Calender has predicted both solar and lunar eclipses and also different astrological cycles, Although I can not find any information on what percentage of the predictions were true.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.

The actual Mayan text states that the long count calender will end on that date.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?

My opinion on the doomsday prophecy is eclectic of many philosophies in the sense that a circle or cycle never ends but also means nothing. These ideas are a combination of western Philosophy and the nothingness is sacred part of Zen Buddhism.

My opinion is that the cycle was always here and will always be here, even after we are all gone or forget about it or when the hype is gone but that doesn't mean it pertains to us in any major way, because it would have happened multiple times in past, meaning we would never be here to start off with, its simply a coincidence and means nothing.
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UnknownOctober 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM
1. The Mayans were an ancient group of people who lived from about 2000 BC-1524 AD in Mexico and Central America. The Mayans were remarkably intellectual which is evident by their highly developed society that contained extraordinary books and calendars. Moreover, another factor that demonstrates how advance the Mayans were was their number system and study of astronomy.

Information for the previous answer was obtained at http://library.thinkquest.org/11577/

2. One of the Mayans greatest achievements was their extensive and detailed calendar. The Mayan Calendar was started August 11 or August 13, 3114 BC and the last date on the calendar is December, 21 2012. The Mayan Calendar is a monumental achievement in Mayan culture. Another one of the Mayans greatest achievements was vulcanization which is combining rubber with other materials to make it more durable. The discovery of vulcanization allowed the Mayans to make water resistant cloth, binding for books, and glue.

Information for the previous answer was obtained at
http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements

3. In the Mayan culture, men tended to the fields and hunted animals for food using blow pipes, clay pellets and spears. After all the work was done the men would wash themselves and prepare to eat dinner. The women severed the men before they ate and usually did not eat with the men. It was the women’s role to care for the children, prepare the food and make clothing for the family.

Information for the previous answer was obtained at http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements

4. The Mayan Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, Yucatan, Mexico was used as a calendar for the Mayans. The Mayans used the pyramid as a calendar because the pyramid had 4 stairways each with 91 steps making the sum of steps 365. Therefore, each step represents one day of the year. The Mayan calendar consisted of three different dating systems which were the Long Count, the Tzolkin, and the Haab. The Long Count system represented the number of days since the start of the Mayan era. The Tzolkin system contained weeks that had two different lengths, for instance a numbered week consisted of 13 days and a named week comprised of 20 days. Finally the Haab system entailed 18 months that had 20 days each followed by 5 extra days which is was known as Uayeb, thus giving a year length of 365 days. The Mayans were able to acquire this information by studying the stars and the sun.

Information for the previous answer was obtained at http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html

5. The Mayans we able to learn the lunar and solar cycles and use the astronomy to predict solar eclipses. The Mayans also discovered the synodic cycle of Venus. Furthermore, the Mayans solar eclipses have come true and the Mayans synodic cycle of Venus is accurate.

Information for the previous answer was obtained at: http://www.authenticmaya.com/maya_astronomy.htm

6. The Mayans Calendar does not state that the world will end December 21, 2012. The Mayans Calendar actually states that it is the end of a 5,126 year era then after the era the calendar will reset to zero.

Information for the previous answer was obtained at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_N.htm

7. I do not believe in when the Mayan Calendar ends that the world will end. In the Holy Bible Matthew 24:36 states “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” This verse is explaining that only God knows when the world is going to end, therefore any individual that claims that they know the date of the apocalypse is wrong. In addition, if not even Jesus the Son of God knows when God the Father will end the world then no one on this earth knows.
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UnknownOctober 15, 2012 at 11:02 PM
1. The Mayans were people that believed in God, they were also one of the best examples of indigenous Mesoamerican cultures. The Mayans were credited with being one of the most advanced cultures in America. That Mayans lived in the area that is now known as Guatemala, Mexico and most of Central America.
2. Some of the greatest achievements of the Mayans would be that they developed a written language, called the cortex, their many significant contributions to architecture, such as the pyramids, astronomy, their math based on the number twenty, art, and road systems. Their biggest achievement that they have been recently acknowledged for is their calendar.
a. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110226084344AA1EcPR
3. Most of the Mayans day to day lives consisted of farming. Many of the women prepared the food at home, while the men were off hunting for a meal or working on the farm. Mayans also raised dogs, turkeys, and ducks for food. The Mayans has a class system of people.
a. http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112511/mayalife.htm
4. The Mayan calendar is a very complex system. It was based off of the pyramid in which they built themselves. In this pyramid there were three hundred a sixty-five stairs, each one represented a day in the year basically. They had two calendar that were as precise as the ones that we use to this very day, the first one was know as a calendar round, and the other was the long count calendar. The calendar round was a 260-day sacred year.
a. http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html
b. http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements
5. Some accomplishments that the Mayans made in astronomy would be predicting solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in their farming abilities, along with making their two calendars. So far most of the predictions that the Mayans have made have come true, such as the ones about the eclipses.
a. http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements
6. The Mayan calendar clearly states that a cycle is ending on December 21, 2012. This is suppose to be a time to celebrate that they made it threw an entire cycle. It never truly stated that the world is going to state, they predicted that the sun will align with the Milky Way and the energy that is suppose to be sent to the world, will be delayed.
a. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_N.htm
7. I do not believe in the “doomsday” theory. In my personal opinion i believe that people have over exaggerated about the world ending, due to the fact that many people have made movies, written books, and made millions due to the idea of the world ending. I also do not believe this theory because of the Y2K theory back at the beginning of the new millennium; it seems to be something that as Americans they tend to say is going to happen soon. I truly believe that nobody can predict when the world is going to end, I believe no one person can control such a thing either.
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UnknownOctober 16, 2012 at 6:14 AM
1) The Maya are well known for the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems. They were found in Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala.
2) One of their greatest achievements was writing and language.
3) In a life of a Mayan they have a family size of 5-7 people. The men would work in the field hunt for their food and the women would stay close to home and prepare the meals for the family, grind corn, weave baskets, tend to the deer herd, sew and look after the children.
4) The Mayan calendar consisted of 365 days a year. The Mayan used a pyramid as the calendar it had four stairways, each with 91 steps and a platform at the top, making a total of 365, which was where they got the days of the year.
5) The Mayans were the people that said that the world was going to end in 2012 that’s was of their main astronomical discoveries but other than that there was no major discoveries that they had really made that I know of.
6) What the Mayans said about the end world was that The Mayan Long Count calendar is divided into bak'tuns, or 144,000-day cycles that begin at the Maya creation date. The winter solstice of 2012 December is the last day of the 13th bak'tun, marking what the Maya people would have seen as a full cycle of creation. So it does really mean that world was going to end on that day.
7) My opinion about this whole story is that this whole thing about the world ending is very stupid and I think that the world can end at any time and its crazy that people are selling there things and getting ridded of everything and quitting their jobs based of a calendar.
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Dillon GoreOctober 16, 2012 at 11:26 AM
I'm still doing research on the other questions but I'll go ahaead and answer number seven. I don't believe in doomsday either. I believe what the bible says about the end of the world how no one not even the angels in heaven know when the end times are only God knows.
Also if you look at history through the years, man has been trying to predict the end of the world since the beginning. The most recent prediction of the end of the world was the Y2K scare back in in 1999 when supposidly the beginning of the new millenium (2000) would cause a malfunction in computors resulting in missiles firing and a complete system shutdown. It turned out to be nothing just like past predictions. Even though the Mayans were and advanced civilization avid in Astronomy I still don't think their 'prediction' will hold up and that nothing will happen on December 21, except a bunch of last minute christmas shopping.
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AnonymousOctober 16, 2012 at 11:27 AM
Marissa Blackman
Part 1
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were an ancient civilization that existed in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. This civilization included several major cites scattered around Central America rather than being made of one city. Since the civilization was made of many separate cities, the empire was ruled simultaneously by many different kings. Although there are less Mayans today than there used to be, the Mayans are still around unlike many other civilizations from that time period. This civilization existed from 2500 BC to 1500 AD, but most of what we know about it comes from the Classic time period, which was from 250-900 AD.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayans had a written language at a time when most languages weren’t written. They are also famous for their architecture. An example of their architecture is steles, which is slightly similar to stone totem poles. The Mayan civilization included an observatory, so astrologers were able to predict when eclipses would happen and where Venus would be. This civilization was also known for mathematical achievements. This was the first civilization to use zero, and their decimal system is based off of 20 instead of ten. The achievement of the Mayans that is most popular in modern times is their calendar system.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
In the average Mayan family, the wife would wake up before dawn to start a fire. By the time the men and boys woke up breakfast would be ready. After breakfast, the men and boys would go to work on the farm. In the afternoon, the boys would comeback home, but they stopped on the to hunt. When the men finished working, and then they took a bath. Next, the women would serve the men dinner, and the women didn’t eat until after the men were finished. Throughout the day, women and girls did work around the house, but they did work in the fields if their help was needed. Since they didn’t have metal tools, people working in the fields, use their hands and a few stone tools. Mayan society was divided into the classes of slave, priest, warriors, noble, craftsmen, and leaders.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The calendar system has two different calendars because there are two different years. The sacred year is 260 days and the vague year is 365 years. The sacred year is used for religious purposes and naming kids, but the vague year is used for agriculture. The sacred calendar has 20 days and 13 months. The vague years has 18 20 day months, and one 5 day month. There are also other cycles in the Mayan calendar system such as tuns, katuns, baktuns, calabtuns, and kinchiltuns, which range from 19.7-3.16 million years. There are hieroglyphic symbols that represent the days. There is also a calendar round that is a mix of both the vague and sacred calendars. The long count calendar is a calendar of the longer measurements such as baktuns. Dates on the long count calendar are written with periods like the following example: 9.17.0.0.0 13.
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AnonymousOctober 16, 2012 at 11:29 AM
Marissa Blackman
Part 2
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayans tracked the movement of Venus, and those predictions were only off two hours every four hundred years. Mayan astrology also predicted when eclipses would come. The calendar is 1/10,000 more accurate than the calendar we use today. The predictions for the movement of Mars are also true. They predicted a black hole in the middle of the Milky Way before scientists 3000 years before scientists discovered it.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.

Mayan texts actually disprove all of the hype. Although Mayan artifacts do give significance to December 21,2012, it’s only modern day people who say the world will end on that day. According to a stone tablet that was recently unearthed in La Corona Guatemala, a king known as Jaguar Paw used this date to try to reestablish a good public opinion of him. He was a well like leader until he was notoriously defeated in an important battle. As a publicity stunt, he called himself the 13 katun lord, saying that his reign would last for that long. December 21, 2012 is the end of the 13 katuns. The date of December 21, 2012 was simply a way for Jaguar Paw to deflect the attention of the Mayans away from his crushing defeat in a battle. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48000582/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/maya-text-cites-end-calendar-cycle-not-end-world/
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind
I do not believe that the world will end on December 21, 2012. I believe the Maya civilizations was very sophisticated and it made many contributions to science, but I don’t think the Mayan calendar has any significance for us today. The Mayan calendar is a calendar of cycles. It doesn’t make sense for a society from thousands of years ago to make a calendar that continues on forever, so it makes sense that the Mayan calendar has some end. The fact that one cycle is ending just means that another one is about to begin. Also, the significance that was placed on December 21, 2012 by the Mayans has nothing to do with the end of the world. The main reason why I don’t believe this is that the bible says “no one will no the day or the hour” of the end. This scripture is at Matthew 24:36, which says that no one, including Jesus, except God knows when the end will come. Also, it’s my belief that the Earth itself will never be destroyed. To me, the end means that there will be drastic changes on Earth when God’s Kingdom begins to rule, but I don’t believe that the entire world will ever end in a doomsday situation. Aside from all of this, NASA doesn’t believe there is any reason to be worried(http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html). Although many of the Mayans other astronomical predictions were true, they didn’t use any kind of scientific equipment, so I don’t think it wise to base something as serious as the end of the world off of predictions made by people who didn’t have any real tools to use.
Additional Sources Used
http://www.explain2012.com/the-mayans/who-were-the-mayans.php
http://mayapredictions.blogspot.com/2010/12/some-of-great-accomplishments-of-maya.html
http://archaeology.about.com/od/mayaarchaeology/a/maya_civ_3.htm
http://mayas.mrdonn.org/dailylife.html
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/maya.html
http://www.atitlan.net/maya/mayan-astronomy.htm
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Megan ReidOctober 16, 2012 at 11:43 AM
The ancient Mayans were united by a shared religious system and language. While the political system was also shared among the Maya, each chiefdom had its own ruler. The Mayans lived in subtropical Mesoamerica in parts of the countries which are now Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, and also the Yucatan peninsula area of Mexico.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayan Civilization built their cities with the culture thriving and flourishing. The Mayan civilization had a fully developed written language and they also made significant contributions to architecture, astronomy, math, and art. Today, we only have ruins to remind us of the once great Mayan culture.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The typical Mayan family averaging five to seven members. During growing season, men would spend most of the day in the fields, while women usually stayed closer to home, weaving or sewing and preparing food. At the end of the day the family would reunite at home, where the head of the household might perform a quick bloodletting, the central act of piety, complemented by prayers and chanting to the ancestors. The days that were not devoted to food production might be spent building pyramids and temples.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan Calendar consists of three separate corresponding calendars:
The Haab: The Haab is a 365 day solar calendar which is divided into 18 months of 20 days each and one month which is only 5 days long. The calendar has an outer ring of Mayan glyphs which represent each of the 19 months. Each day is represented by a number in the month followed by the name of the month. Each glyph characterizes a behavior associated with the month.
The Tzolkin: The calendar is known as the Sacred Round or the Tzolkin which means “the distribution of the days”. It is a 260-day calendar, with 20 periods of 13 days used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events.
The Long Count: Each cycle is calculated to be 2,880,000 days which to them is about 7885 solar years. The Mayans believed that the universe is destroyed and then recreated at the start of each universal cycle. This belief still inspires a myriad of prophesies about the end of the world.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
They have made predictions about earthquakes and solar eclipses. And yes some have come true.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The Mayan’s believe that that world will end 21 December 2012 at 11:11 UTC.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
Personality my religious believe I do not believe in the doomsday prophecy. But I am very opening minded and I do believe that that doomsday prophecy does have a significance meaning on mankind. Because their other prophecies were mostly correct so this could be true as well. But then again they could have made this one mistake which calculated this predict event wrong.
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Megan ReidOctober 16, 2012 at 3:23 PM
I forgot to ask a question and its hard to put it in words so here it goes. Did the calender begin when the world start? Or if not wouldn't the date be wrong it would be later on? Someone please explain this to me.
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UnknownOctober 16, 2012 at 4:35 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
π Mayans wher the poeple that live in Ancient South American, a Mesoamerican Civilization.The Mayan civilization spread all over Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, and had influences in many other South American countires.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
π The Maya are well known for the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
π Maya women rose early in the morning and started the fires then women made breakfast . When Men had finished eating and left for the fields with their sons. At midafternoon men and boys would return from the fields and sometimes hunt or check their traps along the way. After bathing men had dinner but the woman didn't eat with the men. The women served the men and then ate their dinner later. After dinner men usually worked at making wooden and jade things which were sometimes used in trade. Women would spin cotton and weave.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
π Priests studied the sun, the moon, and Venus to determine time. Mayans had a calendar with 18 months with 20 days, plus 5 unlucky days which made up the days in a year. The Mayas also had a religious calendar which had 260 days in it. Each day was give a name and a number.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
π They built complicated looms for weaving cloth and created a rainbow of glittery paints made from mica. Until recently, people believed that vulcanization* was discovered by the American Charles Goodyear in the 19th century. However historians now believe that the Mayans were producing rubber products about 3,000 years before Goodyear received his patent in 1843. Researchers think that the Mayans discovered this process accidentally, during a religious ritual, where they combined the rubber tree and the morning-glory plant. Once they realized how strong and handy this new material was, the Maya began to use it in a variety of ways. Such as to make water-resistant cloth, glue, bindings for books, and the large rubber balls used in the ritual game known as pokatok**.
π The 2012 phenomenon. Some people cosider this 2012 date marking the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include the arrival of the next solar maximum, or Earth's collision with an object such as a black hole, a passing asteroid, or a planet called "Nibiru". But none of this has happened yet, if it does (which it wont).
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UnknownOctober 16, 2012 at 4:36 PM
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
π A newly discovered Mayan text reveals the "end date" for the Mayan calendar, becoming only the second known document to do this. But unlike some modern people, ancient Maya did not expect the world to end on that date, researchers said. "This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," Marcello Canuto, the director of Tulane University Middle America Research Institute, said in a statement. The Mayan Long Count calendar is divided into bak'tuns, or 144,000-day cycles that begin at the Maya creation date. The winter solstice of 2012 (Dec. 21) is the last day of the 13th bak'tun, marking what the Maya people would have seen as a full cycle of creation.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
π I feel that the prophecy to be fiction. I dont see how anyone from that time period could produce a doomsday that far ahead in time. Even now, I dont feel we have the science to come up with a day that ends the world. Mayans are smart people dont get me wrong but, I dont think the end of the world is realy going to happen on the 21st of decmber this year or even in a hundred years. Reason so this being because of the fact we as humans make mistakes and believe what we want to believe whether others feel the same or not. So even with science and an old prophecy how can we predict a date that is never going to happen.
* process of treating rubber or rubberlike materials with sulphur at great heat to improve elasticity and strength or to harden them.
** a mayan ballgame with ritual associations played since 1,400 B.C.

http://www.explain2012.com/the-mayans/who-were-the-mayans.php
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html
http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
http://www.livescience.com/21255-ancient-text-confirms-mayan-calendar-end.html

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UnknownOctober 16, 2012 at 5:23 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The mayans were Mesoamerican settlers in Central America. They developed a highly organized political society based on kingship and priesthood. They are known for their artwork and structural innovations. They lived in places like Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
One achievement that the Mayans has was that the Mayan civilization had a fully developed language. The Mayan civilization also made great contributions to arcitechture, astronomy, math, and art. They were also well known for their calendar and the temples they built.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The Mayan women would wake up and start cooking breakfast at 4 in the morning, and the men would have finished eating by 5:00 in the morning. The men would take their sons into the fields and they would kill birds. When they got home they had hot baths ready for them. After the baths, the men would eat dinner but the women would not eat with them. After dinner the men would work on making wood things while the women spun cotton and weave.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan calendar is a system of calendars used by pre-Columbian, Mexoamerica and many other modern communities. The Mayan calendar consists of several cycles. The Mayan pyramid has 365 steps and that represents how many days are in the year.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayans predicted solar eclipses and most of their predictions were accurate. They also made predictions about earthquakes.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The Mayan calendar doesn’t actually end on December 21, 2012 it just marks the end of an Age.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I don’t think that the world will end on December 21, 2012 because there is no sign of it coming. December 21, 2012 just marks the end of the Mayan calendar it doesn’t really mean that the whole world is gonna come to an end. To my opinion, nobody knows when the world is gonna really end.
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LifeStoryOctober 16, 2012 at 5:45 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans are people who believe that God gave them the powers to predict the future. They devloped a society that had well written books, and calendars. They believe that the world will end in 2012 because its the last day of there calendar.(runs our on December 21,2012)They are believed to have lived in Mexico, Guatamala, Belize, and the Honduras.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayans are known for their fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, also art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical system.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The modern day to day life for a Mayan was that the women took care of the house, and the children, while the men worked. Men essentially did work like hunting and gathering for their family, building and other labor work.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayans acually used two calendars a sacred year of 260 days a The least common multiple of the two calendars, called the calendar round, has 18,980 days or 73 sacred years or 52 vague years.nd a vague year of 365 days. They used the sacred year for religious purposes. A Maya month or uinal consists of 20 solar days or kins. The 260-day sacred year or tzolkin consists of 13 months of 20 days, while the 365-day vague year or haab, consists of 18 months of 20 days, called the tun, followed by an intercalary "month" of five days called the uayeb.

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayans have predicted solar eclipses and astrological cycles all from their calendar system. They have madde predictions earthquakes,solar eclipse, and also astrological cycles. Some of there predictions have been said to be true.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The Mayan calendar says that the longest calendar made with 365 days will end on December 21, 2012. I think that the Mayansmay believe it will, but not all people.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
My opinion is that this is really foolish. I also believe that its up to your religion and what you believe in that the world will end. I am Christian so, I believe that whenever God calls me to leave that will be my time. Even if it just happens to be on December 21, 2012.
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Zach LeeOctober 16, 2012 at 7:32 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were a civilization that lived primarily in Central America (Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador) and southern Mexico. They had advanced writing, mathematics, and calendars. From what I could gather, their civilization developed around 1800 B.C. (but it is debatable when they actually developed), and they were conquered by the Spanish in 1697 (although most of the civilization fell earlier).

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayans greatest achievements were their architecture, art, writing system, system of mathematics, pre-telescope discoveries in astronomy, and, of course, their calendar system.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
For the most part, Mayan day to day life consisted of females playing the classic role of “housewife” (cooking and taking care of the household) and males working in an agricultural society. One thing I found to be interesting was that sometimes men would go to community baths much like the men of the Roman civilization.
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayans actually had two calendars. The Calendar Round was a religious calendar that consisted of a 260 day year. It matched the length of human pregnancy as well as the Mayan agricultural cycle. The Maya Long Count is a calendar consisting of 365 days and was called the “haab”. Time was based upon the locations of the sun, moon, and planets. Time in Mayan culture was cyclical. December 21, 2012 is when the cycle begins again. Furthermore, there is no evidence based on studies of the Maya that the world will end at this time.
http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Maya/p/The-Maya-Calendar.htm

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Zach LeeOctober 16, 2012 at 7:34 PM
Apparently I had too many characters to do one post, so here's the rest!
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayans used astronomy to create their 365 day year and to chart the locations of various celestial bodies (in particular, the sun, moon, and Venus). Mayans have had several accurate astronomical predictions including the cycle of the Earth, the cycle of Venus, the lunar cycle, and solar/ lunar eclipses.
http://www.atitlan.net/maya/mayan-astronomy.htm

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The end of the Mayan calendar is simply the end of their cycle, which is supposed to start over again. Don Yeomens, a NASA scientist, commented in an article on scientificamerican.com that, “Their calendar does not end on December 21, 2012; it's just the end of the cycle and the beginning of a new one. It's just like on December 31, our calendar comes to an end, but a new calendar begins on January 1.” Although 2012 is when the calendar cycle ends, there is no solid evidence that this is the end of the world.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nasa-crushes-2012-mayan-apocalypse-claims

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy? Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
In my opinion, the doomsday prophesy is absolutely ridiculous. It’s just a tactic to scare people and make money. Most respectable scientists have already denied the end of the world on December 21, 2012. And if the world was going to end, I would not be spending my time reading Mr. Sayer’s book, nor would I download his iPod video chats. I have got to say that I had trouble taking this man seriously after the first few radical and preposterous words on his website. However, it was the insane amount of ellipses (…) he used that really got on my nerves (He even used four periods in a row at one point, and that doesn't mean anything!). My question is: Is this (likely self-proclaimed) “scholar” serious, or is this just an incredibly bizarre scam? If it is a scam, I do applaud Mr. Sayer on his elaborate and extensive deceptive writing abilities, and if it is not, he should probably cite some sources. As stated by the website http://www.2012hoax.org/j-michael-sayer about Sayer’s work before creating the site, “Sayer was apparently unpublished on the topic of 2012… so much for his being a "respected internet scholar"… whatever that is supposed to mean anyway.” I’ve got to wonder if they included the ellipses to mock Sayer or if they were just coincidental. As for the calendar’s significance, I believe there could be change in the world. But does the world not change every day? Just look at how humanity has changed over the past few thousand years. Or we could examine the past few hundred years. Perhaps we could look at the past decade. In summation, I do not believe the world will end on December 21, 2012, and I do not believe society has anything to worry about. That’s just my opinion though. Feel free to roll out the hazmat suits and live reclusively in a tiny bomb shelter that will surely be able to withstand the collapse of the Earth.
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Destiny TateOctober 17, 2012 at 6:43 AM
I really feel like I need to address number 7, because it kinda makes me mad. Lets just be real everyone! People have been saying the world is going to end of a longgggggg time. 2000? 2005? 2011? and now 2012? Get over it already! For some old reason, WE ARE STILL HERE! The mayans calender can't determine my life!
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 9:32 AM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were a Mesoamerican civilization, and is noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. The Maya lived in what is now present-day southeast Mexico and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayans devised an elaborate writing system which was largely deciphered in the 1980s. The Ancient Mayans used a numerical system based on just three symbols: a dot for one, a bar for five and a shell which represented zero. Using zero and place notation, they were able to write large numbers and perform complex mathematical operations. The Mayans were responsible for a number of remarkable scientific achievements such as astronomy, agriculture, engineering and communications. They figured out how to measure time using two complicated calendar systems. Also, the ancient Mayans managed to build elaborate temples and great cities without essential tools such as metal and the wheel.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
Most of the Mayan people were farmers. The Mayan family all lived together. The men farmed and hunted. The women would cook and weave. The children helped out their mothers with the chores and only went to school if they came from a noble family. The Mayans had a class system of people, which meant that the people at the top governed over the people at the bottom. At the top were the nobles with the King being the most powerful. The King appointed the other people. The next most powerful were the priests who helped the king and also lead religious ceremonies. The next level of people was the commoners. Most people were in this commoner category and were farmers. The bottom of the system was the slaves. Slaves were caught during wars or if people broke a law like stealing they would become a slave.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
Among their other accomplishments, the ancient Mayas invented a calendar of remarkable accuracy and complexity. The Maya calendar was adopted by the other Mesoamerican nations, such as the Aztecs and the Toltec, which adopted the mechanics of the calendar unaltered but changed the names of the days of the week and the months. The Maya calendar uses three different dating systems in parallel, the Long Count, the Tzolkin (divine calendar), and the Haab (civil calendar). Of these, only the Haab has a direct relationship to the length of the year. A typical Mayan date looks like this: 12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz. The Long Count is really a mixed base-20/base-18 representation of a number, representing the number of days since the start of the Mayan era. It is thus akin to the Julian Day Number. The Tzolkin date is a combination of two "week" lengths. The Haab was the civil calendar of the Mayas. It consisted of 18 "months" of 20 days each, followed by 5 extra days, known as Uayeb. This gives a year length of 365 days. The Haab was the civil calendar of the Mayas. It consisted of 18 "months" of 20 days each, followed by 5 extra days, known as Uayeb. This gives a year length of 365 days.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayans knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today. They formulated a unique calendar system with which they were able to calculate the lunar cycle as well as predict eclipses and other celestial events with great precision. Their predictions astronomically so far has came true, but know one knows for sure whether the prediction of dooms day will come true or not.
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 9:34 AM
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
December 21st marks the countdown to what ancient prophecies term "the end of time", which many interpret to mean the end of the world - or at least, the end of the world as we know it. While there is much speculation and predictions regarding the events that will actually emerge, the awaiting end of the Mayan Calendar is building a momentum among the world. The current economic chaos and global meltdown may be signs to the transition leading up to December 21, 2012, the day that the 5,125 year-old Mayan calendars suddenly comes to an end.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy? Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I don’t exactly believe in doomsday, but I believe that the world will end some day. In my religion I believe in the book of Revelations. In the book of Revelations it basically states that Jesus will come down to Earth and take those that believe in him to Heaven and put an end to the world. Jesus is also suppose to make a new Heaven and Earth, so I think of it as “rebirth”. It also say in the Bible that no one knows the day or hour that the world will end except for God. The ending of the Mayan calendar has had much significance to mankind because there is a lot of hype being made about doomsday and a lot of people are terrified of the entire situation.
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 9:44 AM
websites i used to answer question:
http://www.13moon.com/prophecy%20page.htm
http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm
http://news.discovery.com/mayans/
http://www.mayacalendar.com/mayacalendar/menu.html

I also found this helpful website about biblical doomsday evidence: http://ddig.wordpress.com/biblical-doomsday-evidence/
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Dillon GoreOctober 17, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Ok here are the rest of my answers to the questions.
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were one of three major Native Groups in Central and South America (The other two being the Inca and the Aztec Civilizations). According to howstuffworks.com the Mayans lived in the area of present day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Southern Mexico.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayan’s greatest Achievements include their advanced knowledge of mathmatics and astronomy. Also they were able to grow crops like corn and beans in somewhat inhospitable places. The Calendar is by far their greatest achievement. Unlike the modern day Roman Calender The Myan Calender is a series of overlapping cycles. Their calendars follow closely with solar cycles which ties into their knowledge of astronomy. They also built magnificent cities and temples without the use of technology and the wheel.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
Breakfast was either hot chocolate (Not the same as the drink we have today) or a corn drink called Atole. Men would harvest crops and hunt for Deer or other small animals. The women stayed close to home preparing the meals, tending to the children, basket weaving, and tending to the herd of Deer (Yes deer). Boys would go with their fathers and learn how to farm and hunt while girls learned the various tasks of tending to the home. In the evening the family would have a meal of corn, squash, beans, and meat. The head of the house would have a “prayer” before the meal and then the family would eat and talk. (Sounds familiar doesn’t it)
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan Calender to the Mayans was more of a historical record than a mere calender. Their calender consisted of not only dates but also events in their history. The Mayans wanted their calender to be as accurate as possible and to follow the events and cycles of the solar system. According to Howstuffworks.com Mayan astronomers and mathmaticians argued over how accurate the calender should be. The Astronomers argued that 360 days would not be enough to follow the cycle of the sun while the mathmaticians wanted to keep it simple. The mayans had different calenders for different cycles such as a year, days, and the calender of interest the long count calender.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
Mayan Astronomy used the charting of stars to chart the seasons. Some of their discoveries included the prediction of the orbit of Venus. Their prediction and charting was so accurate for the time that their prediction was off only two hours. Their methods for astrological observation was simple such as crossed sticks to figure position. Then again some of their buildings and temples were positioned to point towards the equinoxes or midsummer. Other buildings had doors and windows alined with the most northern or southern rising of Venus.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
According to Howstuffworks.com the end of the Mayan’s Long Cycle Calender is not apocolypse but a rare astrological event in which the sun alines with the center of the milky way. The website also says that experts and natives dismiss the theory of destruction saying that the end of the Long Cycle is a time of celebration like new years. I wonder if the Mayans seen this astrological event occuring thousands of years into the future?
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 12:58 PM
1) The Mayans are people who believe that God has given them the power to give illusions or predict the future. They were found in Guatemala, Mexico, and bezel.
2) Some of the Mayans great achievements were building the pyramids that help them make the Mayan calendar. To this day scientist still have trouble figuring out how they made the calendar and what got them to do so.
3) A day to day life of the Mayans are just like any people in that day the women cleaned made the food and watched the kids. The men hunted and worked in the field making crops. But the one thing that they did differently has that they sacrifices to their gods a lot.
4) The Mayan Calendar derives from the pyramid which the Mayans built in 1050. The pyramid has 4 stairways, 91 steps each, and a platform at the top of the stairways, making the 365 different stairs. The Mayans used the number 365 to represent how many days there are in each calendar year. That’s how complex it is.
5) The Mayans knew how to predict solar eclipses, they used astrological cycles to help them plant, and they developed two calendars. The Mayans predictions about solar eclipses were said to accurate. They also predictive earthquakes to and for the most part they came true.
6) The Mayans calendar simply says that December 21, 2012 is the ending of the cycle. It does not mean that is going to be the end of the world!!!!!!!!
7) My opinion is that the world is going to end when it ends nobody knows when it is going to happen the only person that knows when it is going to happen is god.
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 2:52 PM
1. The mayans were Mesoamerican settlers in Central America. They developed a highly organized civilazation. They are known for their artwork and structural innovations also they made the first 365 day calender. They lived in places like Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
2.One achievement that the Mayans had was that the Mayan civilization had a fully developed language and calender. The Mayan civilization also made great contributions to arcitechture, astronomy, math, and art.
3. well women had to stay at the house and make food and clean which they did for a thousand years after while the men went out to tend to the fields and when their sons were old enough they joined them.
4. the mayans had two calenders one for 260 days that coencited with the womens pregnancy and the other was a 365 day calender that was to know the seasons and to know when to harvest.
5. they charted when solar eclipses were going to happen and when the seasons were by copying the stars on paper.
6. on december 12. 2012 their calender was going to start over if they survived that long but every body thought that was a prophecy on when the world was going to end.
7. i believe that the world will not end because i believe that the historian were right about it being their calender that starts over.
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Sophia PetersonOctober 17, 2012 at 3:43 PM
1) The Mayans were one of the most developed ancient civilizations in our world. They're known for their creation of the calendar system and their advancements in mathematics. They lived around what is now Southern Mexico and Guatemala.

2) The Mayan's greatest achievements included the concept of zero, base-20 math, and their astronomical studies, which led to the development of the calendar system that we use today.

3) Mayan women would wake up very early to start fires and make breakfast. The men and boys would eat and then leave to harvest food and hunt, returning at lunch time. Women always served the men and waited until they were finished before eating their own food.

4) The Mayans had a solar calendar and a 260-day religious calendar. Their solar calendar was 365 days like it is today, but there was 18 months, with 20 days each, plus 5 days of bad luck.

5) The Mayans studied patterns of the stars and parts of our solar system, especially our sun, the moon, and Venus. They predicted when eclipses would occur, and they studied earth's cycles and rotations to figure out the changing of the seasons.

6) They have never stated that the world is going to end on the day that their calendar stops. It is a little vague, but all it says is that that is the end of the cycle.

7) I think that it's impossible to predict when the world will end, especially thousands of years ahead of time. But this doesn't mean their prediction isn't going to be significant to mankind--I mean, you never know, there could be many people that believe that the world will end on this date that will do extreme things before they think they'll die.

Here are the main sources I've used to report my findings:
http://www.history.com/topics/maya
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html
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AnonymousOctober 17, 2012 at 4:37 PM
1.The Mayans were an Indian race living in Central America. They were the first culture in the new world to use a written language. They had many other contributions. 2. The Mayans developed a calender using astronomy they created mathmatics metal tools art and pyramids.3. Most of the Mayans were farmers, women grew crops and the men hunted. They also raised dogs turkeys and ducks for food. Mayans had a class system of people containing the King and his nobles which were the most powerful, then next came the priest then commoners and at the bottom of the system were the slaves. 4. The Mayan calender intertwins with the Mayan pyramid four stairways each with 91 steps and one large platform at the very top which created a total of 365 equivalent to the number of days in a year.
(Example of a Mayan date 12.18.16.2.6,3)5. Mayans had made predictions about earthquakes, which did come true. But they also believed that the sun was alive and every 5,125 years it positions itself with the earth. 6. The predictions that the Mayans made about the world ending on Saturday December 22 2012 is just the calender ending, and when the sun might inline with the earth.7. Making this blog was very dificult for me because I really dont like this topic, it make s me very unconfotible having a dission about the end of the world. The only one the knows when the world is going to end is GOD.

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AnonymousOctober 17, 2012 at 4:51 PM
QUESTION:
Does anyone really understand how the Mayan calender works?
(Because I have been researching and reading about it and I just cant rap my head around it)
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Kye GardnerOctober 17, 2012 at 5:22 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
a. They worshipped many different gods representing nature and daily life. There was a variety of religious festival and celebrations including humans and animals. The ruler was the high priest or the living god. The priests had knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. They were big into agriculture, even though it’s believed that it may have been the origin of their demise. The Mayan Civilization resided in parts of Southern Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula) and Central America (ex. Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras).
Worshipped
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
a. Some of the Mayans greatest achievements came in the form of temples and other tremendous structures. Their way of art and sculptures are too complex for today’s art to recreate. Also famous for their calendar predicting the end of the world, the Mayans had a fully established written language.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
a. Mayans had a patriarchal way of life where the men were the bread-winners and the women were home-makers. Their sacrificial tendencies were also popular and very normal ranging from small game to humans. They had agriculture, hierarchies, and other basics of a civilization.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
a. The Mayan Calendar consists of three separate corresponding calendars, the Long Count, the Tzolkin (divine calendar) and the Haab (civil calendar). Time is cyclical in the calendars and a set number of days must occur before a new cycle can begin. Their sense of time was a bit more specific, not altered or changed. They had many mathematical influences which added to their complexity.
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Kye GardnerOctober 17, 2012 at 5:22 PM
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
a. They used rudimentary tools to track and position the stars. They also built temples and pyramid-like structures to track the movement and position of the stars. Their observations were made by the naked eye. For example, many buildings pointed towards the equinoxes or midsummer, whilst other buildings had doorways and windows aligned with the most northerly or southerly rising of Venus, one of the most important celestial bodies to the Mayan culture. So accurate were their observations that their predictions of the orbit of Venus lost only two hours in a 584-day cycle.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
a. The Mayan calendar completes its current “Great Cycle” of the Long Count on the 13th baktun, on 13.0.0.0.0. Using the most common conversion to our modern calendar (the Gregorian calendar) the end of the “Great Cycle” corresponds to 11:11 Universal Time (UTC), December 21, 2012, hence the myriad of doomsday prophecies surrounding this date.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy? Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
a. I do believe that people can read far too much into things. Like blue curtains in a book meaning that the author was sad when in all actuality, the curtains were just freaking blue. The Mayans predicted a final event that included a solar shift, a Venus transit and violent earthquakes. Their Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in about 394 year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayans, and they wrote that the thirteenth Baktun ends on December 21, 2012. This is just like our yearly calendar ending. The world doesn’t end, we just run out of pages and have to buy a new calendar. Yes, there are many other civilizations and beliefs that lead to a potential end to the world in the same year, but it’s the same with previous doomsday predictions such as Y2K and dates that have 666 in them. The significance on mankind is making them paranoid or freaked out over just a simple end of a cycle.

http://explorable.com/mayan-astronomy.html
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/mayan.html
http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~kracht/mayancourse/home.html
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112703679/mayan-calendar-apocalypse-untrue-100112/
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lkjOctober 17, 2012 at 5:45 PM
1. The Mayans were an ancient South American Mesoamerican Civilization. Present day countries they lived in were Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.
2. The Mayans greatest achievements were for their only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas. They are also well known for their art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems.
3. The Mayan had a class society. At the top were the nobles and priests. The middle class had the craftsmen, traders, and warriors. At the bottom were farmers, other workers, and slaves. If you were a craftsman then you wove beautiful fabrics, and made musical instruments like drums, shell horns, and castanets. If you were a farmer you farmed obviously. If you were a slave then you would either be taking care of the children of nobles, cleaning the house or working in the fields.
4. The Mayan’s had an advanced calendar system that incorporated the movement of the sun, moon and planets. To the Maya, time was cyclical: it would repeat itself and certain days had characteristics. Cyclical means recurring or revolving in cycles. They considered all time as cyclical and certain days could “return” centuries later. Their calendar has 20 months with 18 day in each. The Mayans were aware that a year had 365 and would add 5 days to the end of each year which they considered to be very unlucky days. They had many more calendars that were specific for a task such as an agriculture calendar where it would tell them what days the soil was fertile.
5. The Mayans knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today. They made a unique calendar system with which they were able to calculate the lunar cycle as well as predict eclipses and other celestial events with great precision. They were also known to predict earthquakes. Their predictions astronomically so far has came true
6. The Mayan Long Count calendar is divided into bak'tuns, or 144,000-day cycles that begin at the Maya creation date. The winter solstice of 2012 (Dec. 21) is the last day of the 13th bak'tun, marking what the Maya people would have seen as a full cycle of creation. This does not mean they thought it was the end of the world this just said it was the end of the calendar.
7. No, I do not believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance on mankind, not at all. I’m looking at this at the point of view of my religion. In the bible it says that God is the ONLY one that knows when the world is going to end no MAN will know. The angels do not even know when it will end or Jesus for that matter. This is in Mark 13:32. Looking at this in the point of view without religion biasness I would still not believe in this. I would not because civilization has grown, modernized and bettered itself. Everything has changed from back then. So we should not be dependent on what a calendar from a while ago says. Even if they were accurate with their other predictions they were still human and human do make mistakes especially if they were making their predictions with crossed sticks and their naked eye. Just because the calendar ended does not mean they think the world will end.
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AnonymousOctober 17, 2012 at 5:50 PM
1) The Mayans were a pre-Columbian race of people living in present-day Guatemala, known for their advanced writing and architecture, and for their development of the calender system. To this day there are still many Mayan descendents who speak Mayan and keep their religion and customs alive.
2) The Mayans were considered very advanced for their time, in many fields, but they are also renowned for their sophisticated architecture and art, and the sheer size of their cities. Moreover, they are credited with taking and greatly enhancing writing, literacy, and the calendar system.
3) Because the Mayans were an early civilization-albeit very advanced for their time- their daily lives still revolved largely around farming and hunting, with the men gathering food and the women caring for the children and cooking. The Mayans also engaged in trading and the arts, and some young men even attended schools.
4) Although there are many variations of the Mayan calendar, the one we are most familiar with is the Haab' calendar. It is a period of eighteen months, divided into twenty days each, with an extra five days at the end, known as the Wayeb'. This totaled 365 days, much like our modern day calendar (although the Mayans didn't take into consideration leap years). Each month was indicated by a unique glyph, with the glyphs varying from area to area. The Mayans had a very refined concept of time, and even created a system of recording events in proper order. In all consideration, it's amazing how close they were to having a perfectly modern calendar system.
Here are some pictures of glyphs they used, and an overview of an actual calendar:
http://www.mayan-calendar.org/images/mayan-calendar/haab-calendar_winal-names_657x234.gif
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_td-Fy_8qGMw/SwUerPNaDaI/AAAAAAAAAJk/NoTNmtZ3Hp8/s1600/azteccalendar.jpg
5) The astronomical advances made by the Mayans were incredible, especially when considering the complex math required to make such advances. For starters, they chartered the positions of the planets, and even created graphs and systems to predict planetary movement and eclipses, despite having no special tools to do this. Regardless of a lack of equipment, the Mayan's predictions were usually fairly accurate.
6) Despite all the hype about the 2012 doomsday theory, the Mayan calendar itself only states that the cycle will end on that day.
7) To be perfectly honest, I think the “2012 end of the world theory” is ridiculous. Just because the Maya were advanced doesn't mean they could predict the future. Isn't it possible that they intended the calendar to repeat after the first cycle? I'm just saying, it seems unlikely. And when my calendar ends, the world doesn't end with it. All that happens is I go out and buy a new one, preferably one with burly firemen.
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lkjOctober 17, 2012 at 5:56 PM
My questions are:
Why were Mayans so interested in astronomy?

Why did they make pyramids and other big structures just to determine it is midsummer or other seasons like that?

Why did people just automatically think that the end of the Mayan calendar determined the end of the WORLD? I’m sure the Mayans did not think that when they were making this calendar what do you guys think?

Why are there still people who believe the world will end when there has been other predictions like that 2000, 2005 and 2011 the world will end? What just because people say it will end that THIS time it will happen?

If anybody could answer these i would very much appreciate it. I would not mind your opinion either if you have one.
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 6:16 PM
Who were the Mayans?
The Mayan's were an ancient Indian race
located in Central America. The Maya were never a single culture. They developed as a group of related cultures, something like city states, constantly either at war or in fragile alliances with each other. Devotion to warfare may have been one of the causes of a cultural collapse some six hundred years before the Spanish appeared (around AD 850). The great inland cities that had flourished much earlier had all been long abandoned by 1500 and most Maya centers at the time of the conquest were relatively minor, coastal communities, although some still maintained monumental temples and plazas (Tulum, for example). Painted books containing centuries of accumulated lore were still in use. Health and medicine among the ancient Maya was a complex blend of mind, body, religion, ritual, and science. Important to all, medicine was practiced only by a select few who were given an excellent education. These men, called shamans, act as a medium between the physical world and spirit world. They practice sorcery for the purpose of healing, foresight, and control over natural events. Since medicine was so closely related to religion and sorcery, it was essential that Maya shamans had vast medical knowledge and skill. It is known that the Maya sutured wounds with human hair, reduced fractures, and were even skilled dental surgeons, making prostheses from jade and turquoise and filling teeth with iron pyrite.

What present day countries did they live in?
The Maya still occupy the same parts of Central America that were theirs in ancient times; the lowlands of Yucatan, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, Belize, parts of El Salvador and Honduras, and much of the States of Chiapas and Tabasco in Mexico. Their terrain varies from humid, semi-tropical forest with heavy annual rainfall, to semi-arid scrub bush, to mountains and upland plateaux. Much of it, especially in the north, has very few permanent water sources such as rivers and lakes.

What were some of the mayans greatest achievements?
They were the credited with being the first culture in the new world (the Americas) to use the written word with so many letters to their alphabet that only the high priest knew what symbol meant. They were artist, architects, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, historians, writers, academics, farmers, traders, and astronomers among other things. They were smarter than most in that they took things that already existed and improved upon them.One of the greatest things the Mayans are noted for is their advances in Astronomy. They used this science to make their calendars. It's the calendars that make everyone worried about December 21, 2012. The priest made 3 calendars based off of astrology. They built conservatories in the top of their pyramids for this very purpose. They used their calendars to help predict the future. The three calendars were; the civil calendar based on the cycles of the sun (this is close to our Julian calendar without the leap year and having 13 months instead of 12), the sacred calendar was used for religious and ceremonial events, and the Long Count calendar was for long periods of time, centuries and decades. It is the Long Count Calendar that ends December 21st, 2012.

http://voices.yahoo.com/who-mayans-3111413.html http://listverse.com/2009/09/21/top-10-fascinating-facts-about-the-mayans/
http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/trade_environment/photo/hmayan.html
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 6:22 PM
The Fact: The Mayans used painkillers

"The Mayan peoples regularly used hallucinogenic drugs (taken from the natural world) in their religious rituals, but they also used them in day to day life as painkillers. Flora such as peyote, the morning glory, certain mushrooms, tobacco, and plants used to make alcoholic substances, were commonly used. In addition, as depicted in Maya pottery and carvings, ritual enemas were used for a more rapid absorption and effect of the substance."

I thought that it was very interesting that some of the drugs and stimulants we use today were used back when the mayans were around. From the things that I have read, they were very intelligent people and we use allot of their practices and methods today in all parts of society. (minus the blood sacrfices)...

http://listverse.com/2009/09/21/top-10-fascinating-facts-about-the-mayans/
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 6:41 PM
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1012&sid=20542295

Read This Article... You definitely want to click on link.^^^^^^^^

YOU NEED TO READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU NEED TO READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU NEED TO READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU NEED TO READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

I think this definitely might clear up some of the ideas about the end of the world in 2012 or big disasters happening and all of the predictions made... IF ITS FACT! I personally feel that there is no solid evidence of when the world will end. The mayans were brilliant people and there very well may be extraterrestrial beings that visited them and gave them the insight but there is no evidence. these new calenders that have been found (or so it says in the article) very well may be wrong even if they are predicted. They could be fakes. Maybe the person writing the calender just got tired and bored of writing so they stopped. Or maybe he just got sick and died and noone knew where it was kept so it couldn't be continued and it wasn't found until we got our hands on it and desided it fortold our future. i think that believing in the calenders or what might happen is all just a matter of personal opinion and how you take it just like everything else in life from religion to philosophy. Its just like opening a fortune cookie and desiding wether your going to believe it or not. No matter how you look at it, from the bibles perspective, from the scientists perspective or from the mayans perspective... one of them or all of them may very well be correct in the philosophys and predictions that they have made. but as far as I can tell, tommorow hasn't happened yet, and you'll never know what tommorow brings.
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 6:43 PM
1. The Mayans were a Mesoamerican people who lived in modern-day Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of El Salvador and Honduras.
2. Mayan civilization had great works of art, incredible architecture, a very accurate calendar system, and complex mathematical and astronomical systems.
3. Maya women woke up early to start a fire and make breakfast. The men would eat and then go work in the fields where they grew crops such as maize. On the way home during mid afternoon, they checked their traps or hunted for game. When they arrived home, there were hot baths and dinners waiting. In their free time, men often carved wood and jade, while women spun cotton and made weavings. (http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html)
4. The Mayan calendar system was very complex; they had both a religious calendar (260 days) and an ‘everyday’ calendar of exactly 365 days. While the second calendar was very accurate, it didn’t include the .25 day, and thus was slightly more inaccurate every four years. This website: http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/maya.html has an in-depth explanation of both calendar cycles.
5. Mayans used astronomy to predict eclipses and determine when to plant and harvest crops. I haven’t found any detailed information on what specific predictions were made, although many different sites have stated that the astronomic observations they made were incorporated into mathematic calculations and their calendar systems.
6. From what I’ve seen, the Mayans didn’t actually predict the world ending. They simply created a calendar system which would eventually end and then be replaced with another cycle. On the contrary to doomsday predictions, http://www.livescience.com/21255-ancient-text-confirms-mayan-calendar-end.html suggests that because of the way Mayans viewed time, Dec. 12, 2012 would actually be a day of celebration for ancient Mayans.
7. I don’t think the Mayans even predicted the end of the world, much less believe that there will be some huge catastrophe that destroys the world as we know it. There isn’t any evidence supporting the doomsday theory, and many scientists have shown evidence proving that it’s merely the end of the first Long Count calendar and beginning of the new one. Honestly, the only significances I see in the theory are entertainment and money. People such as J Michael Sayer (author of that annoyingly long post about why you should buy his book) are clearly going to make more money off of people who believe their theories.
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AnonymousOctober 17, 2012 at 7:51 PM
1. The Mayan's were an ancient Indian race located in Central America. They lived in modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize,El Salvador and Honduras. Their culture was very diverse have many people as artist, architects, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, historians, writers, academics, farmers, traders, and astronomers.

2. The Mayans were well educated and had many types of career avaliabilities. They spent much time learning and wrote detailed history and created a calander.Mayans also built aqueducts which were The use was to bring water to and throughout the city.These are still visible in the Guatemalan capital near the International Airport and the majority of their aqueducts were constructed at ground level. They were constructed in a shape of a “U”, made with rock, and were relatively small. Those seen today just inside the entrance of the ruins of Copán are about 12 to 14 inches wide, and about a foot deep.

3. Mayans were constantly learning and creating new things. They also had religious practices and beliefs. Sometimes they would even openly mutilate themselves to please their gods.

4. The Mayans used a pyramid with 4 stairways each having 91 steps. Adding up all of the steps you get 365 steps which became the days of the year. They also used a calendar developed in 3114 BC to help them predict the future.

5. Mayans could predict solar eclipses which did come to past and they also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting.

6. Experts estimated the calendar system starts counting at 3114 B.C., and will have run through 13 baktuns, or 5,125 years which ends around Dec. 21. But they also say that 13 was a significant number for the Mayans, and the end of that cycle would be a milestone,not an ending. There are many ancient Maya monuments that show events happening far into the future from now and the Mayans were looking into the future even after our time period.

7. I personally do not believe that December 21st 2012 is the end of the world. I am a Christian and my bible, the KJV states In Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Also i do not believe that the Mayans were predicting an end of the world. I believe that they were ending a time period.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h433.html

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=686

http://www.viewzone.com/endtime.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/mayanhistory.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/who-are-the-mayans.htm

http://mayanarchaeology.tripod.com/id2.html
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 8:38 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were an ancient Mesopotamian civilization. They are well known for the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, The lived in the present day countries of Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayan’s greatest achievement was developing the first and only written language of pre-Columbian Americans. Also, the Mayans made great contributions to art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
Mayan women wake up early to start a fire and cook breakfast and to clean. The boys and men would wet. After they eat, they would then go hunting and go harvest food. After they harvested and finished hunting, they would return for lunch and eat. After the boys and men finished eating, then the women would eat.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan’s actually had two calendars. They were called the Calendar Round and the Maya Long Count. The Maya Long Count had 365 days. The time was based upon the planets, the sun, and the moon. The Calendar Round had 260 days. It was used to name individuals, predict the future, and decide on auspicious dates for battles.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made?
From the Mayan’s calendar system, they predicted solar eclipses and astrological cycles. They have also made predictions on earthquakes. Some of their predictions have come true.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
The cycle of the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. However, the Mayan calendar does not state that the world will end on December 21, 2012. The calendar states the end of a 5,126 year era. After December 21, 2012, the calendar will rest at zero.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy. Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
My opinion is that December 21, 2012 will not have any actual effect on mankind. Nobody knows, or can predict, when the world will end except for God..

Links: http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/maya.html
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa101800a.htm
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_N.htm
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 9:46 PM
1. The Mayans are of indigenous Mesoamerican cultures. Mayans are often credited with being one of the most advanced of all cultures found in the Americas. In present day, they are located in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras
2. The Maya were responsible for a number of remarkable scientific achievements; in astronomy, agriculture, engineering and communications. Mayans built elaborate temples and great cities without what we would consider to be essential tools. They built complicated looms for weaving cloth and devised a rainbow of glittery paints made from mica.
3. Most of the Mayan people were farmers. They grew beans, squash, avocado pear, avocado, sweet potato, guava, chili peppers, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, papaya and tomatoes. In addition to farming, Mayans raised dogs, turkeys and ducks for food. In the wild they hunted deer, rabbits, boar, armadillos and they fished. The Mayan family all lived together. The men farmed and hunted and the women would cook and weave. The children helped out their mothers with the chores and only went to school if they came from a noble family.
4. The Maya strongly believed in the influence of the cosmos on daily life. The Calendar Round, was based on two overlapping annual cycles: a 260-day sacred year and a 365-day secular year. Each day was assigned four pieces of identifying information: a day number and day name in the sacred calendar and a day number and month name in the secular calendar. Every 52 years counted as a single interval, or Calendar Round. The Long Count system identified each day by counting forward from a fixed date in the distant past. It grouped days into sets, or cycles. The Long Count calendar worked the same way that the Calendar Round did--it cycled through one interval after another--but its interval, known as a "Grand Cycle," was much longer.
5. They knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today. Maya astronomers included their knowledge of different constellations and the calculation of Venus’ precise orbit around the sun.
6. The Sun conjuncts the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. In astronomy terms, this is what will happen on December 21, 2012.
7. My opinion on the doomsday prophecy is that it is a whole bunch of junk. Nobody can predict when the end of the world will be. Nobody knows. Not even God himself. Only God the Father knows. Some people may believe it, and they can. There is nothing wrong with it, you just don't know if it will truly end December 21, 2012. Maybe God really is going to call for the rapture of the church that day. Maybe not. No one knows or will ever know until the day comes.

http://www.wisegeek.com/who-are-the-mayans.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112511/mayalife.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements

http://www.tikalpark.com/mathema.htm

http://www.planetpapp.com/br21december2012/
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 10:15 PM
The Mayan people emerged around 2500 B.C. and by 200 A.D., they controlled many territories such as Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The Mayans were credited for being innovators in art, architecture, mathematics, and astronomy. They were not necessarily known for inventing things. Rather than invent, Myans were believed to have found ways to improve things that already existed. The Mayans began to decline around the Classic period, but they did not disappear completely. Today, Mayans are still present in certain areas of the world and still maintain Mayan beliefs and traditions.
One of the Mayans greatest achievements was the Maya writing system. The Maya wrote uing signs paired in collums that could be combined to form any word or concept in the Mayan language. This was one of the most advanced forms of writing in the ancient Americas. In addition to this, they also created a number system. This number system used shells ,dots, and lines to represent numbers. You can check out the numbers and writing system on these links
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112511/mayan_number.htm
http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/index.html

A typical Mayan family would consist of 5-7 people. They would rise in the morning before dawn to eat breakfast. One popular Mayan meal was a hot corn drink called Atole served with tortillas or tamales. The woman of the family typically did all the cooking. During the day, the men would tend to the crops or hunt for deer and other small animals. The women would stay close to home and prepare meals, grind corn, weave baskets, and look after the children. The boys would go with the men to be taught how to tend crops or learn how to hunt. The girls would stay with the women and learn household tasks. At the end of the day, the whole family would gather for a meal which usually consisted of corn, squash, beans, and meat. Before eating the husband and his wife might perform a blood letting ceramony accompanied by prayers and chanting.
The Mayan calendar consists of three seperate corresponding calenders. The Haab, is a 365 day solar calendar that is divided into 18 months of 20 days each and one month that is only 5 days long. The Haab is somewhat inaccurate as it is exactly 365 days long whereas an actual solar year is 365.2422 days long. The divine calendar or the Tzolkin is a 260 day calendar. With 20 periods of 13 days used to determne the time of religious and ceremonial events. The Long Count is an astronomical calendar which is used to track longer periods of time. The Mayans believed that the universe is destroyed and then recreated at the start of each universal cycle.
The Mayans strongly believed in the influence of the cosmos which is most likely the reason why their knowledge and understanding of astrology was advanced for their time. For example, they knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and the development of their calendar. The Myans also used their astronomical knowledge to make predictions. One prediction that they made was about 9/11. They predicted that large birds would come out of the sky and end a city to the north which did in fact, come true.
According to archeologists, when Myans placed importance to an event of great signifigance, they expressed it numerous times in written language and art carvings. Of the Mya glyphs we have today, none speak about a catostrophic event on December 21, 2012.
Personally, I do not believe the world will end in 2012. The Mayans didnt even predict that it would. However, they did say a time of enlightenment would occur. As for the end of the world prediction, they believed the world would end by flood and not on 2012.
Check out this article for new insight on the meaning of 2012
www.planetpapp.com/br21december2012/
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UnknownOctober 17, 2012 at 10:30 PM
1. The Mayans were a mesoamerican civilization that lived in present day honduras, Guatemala, western El Salvador, and central Mexico.
2. Mayans greatest achievement would be having the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas. the mayans also fully developed the calendar during their time period.
3. woman would wake up early and prepare some breakfast that consisted of cornmeal pancakes, then men would wake up to eat breakfast and then head for the fields to tend to plants and hunt deer or other small animal, boys went with men to learn how to tend to crops, girls would stay with moms and do household chores, men would then head back home and check traps on there ways. baths would usually be waiting for them, when they finished bathing they would all get together and eat as a family but before they do the parents would say chants and prayers to gods.
4. the mayans had a solar calendar that consisted of 365 days and a religious calendar that consisted of 260 days. mayans used solar calendar to count days in which woul be a day that would have t o do with a god or gods.
5. an astronomical discovery made by mayans was figuring out the constillations and the calculation of venus' precise orbit around the sun.
6. mayans do not necesserily say that the world will end but that it is a transition from one world age to another and the new world age should bring peace and tranquility.
7. i personal feel that the doomsday prophecy will not happen and end of the world will not happen on 12-21-12. Also people had said that the world was to end long before 2012 and it never happened so how do people really know that the end of the world will happen on 12-21-12. i do believe that the ending of the mayan calendar will have significance on mankind because for those who truly belive it they might commit suicide because they want to spare themselves from what could possibly happen on the end of the world. the ending of the mayan calendar will also prove to be one of mans greatest achievements.

http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm
http://www.tikalpark.com/mathema.htm
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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 12:14 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in? The Mayans are known as the most advanced civilization known to man they are known to have the first written language. They presently live in Guatemala, southern Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements? They developed a calendar using astronomy they also made huge contributions to astronomy, math, art and architecture to this day we still use some of the stuff the Mayans contributed to.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like? The Mayans day to day life was like this: Women rose and had the fires started by 4 am, they reheated cornflake pancakes and the men were done eating by 5 am and off to the fields with their sons, by midday the men and their sons would be on their way back from the fields sometimes hunting and checking their traps on the way back, after they returned home they had hot baths waiting for them sometimes community baths and after their bathing the men would eat dinner but the women didn’t eat with the men they served them and then they ate their dinner.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like? The Mayans had a solar calendar consisting of 365 days and a religious calendar of 260 days and every 52 years is a single interval the long count system counts forward from a fixed date of a distant day in the past.

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true? They created two calendars that are almost just as accurate as ours are today. They could also predict solar eclipses, and they used the astronomical cycle to aid in planting and harvesting. The Mayan astronomers included knowledge of how Venus orbits the sun and of different constellations.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar. It wasn’t meant to be “the end of the world” it is something to do with ancient political history rather than prophecy.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind? My opinion on this theory is it isn't gonna happen because I am a Christian and in the Bible it says no man can predict the end of the earth not even my own son and I think the Mayan calender may have something to do with mankind like a catastrophic event like in the past the calender predicted that something huge was going to happen in 2001 and look the attack on the twin towers but I don't believe it will be the end of mankind itself.
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Bellegirl121October 18, 2012 at 12:44 PM
1. The Mayans were a Mesoamerican civilization known for developing
the first fully written language. They thrived in the areas of
present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador

2.One Mayan achievement was the creation of one of the most advanced
road systems of their time. They also created hieroglyphics, a writing system they used to record information. Mayans were also responsible for the creation of the number 0, which was revolutionary for that time.

3.In the early morning, Men would leave for the fields with their
sons. They farmed and planted crops. In the afternoon men would
return from the fields and sometimes hunt. When the men got home they had dinner but the women didn't eat with the men. The women served the men and then ate their dinner later After dinner men usually worked at making wooden and jade things which were sometimes used in trade. Women would spin cotton and weave.

4.It consisted of different counts/cycles:the Long Count, which
represented the number of days since the Maya Era,the Tzolkin (divine calendar) contained weeks of different day length, and the Haab(traditional calendar) which proposed a system of 18 months with 20 days each, along with an extra five (equaling 365). Only the Haab has a direct relationship to the length of the year.

5.Mayans were incredible astronomers. They were so advanced, they
even were able to line up buildings that pointed to equinoxes or
midsummer. They were so accurate at predictions, they predicted the
precise 584 day orbit of Venus, and were only off two hours. They also predicted the end of a calendar cycle on December 21, 2012, which some people claim to be predicting the end of the world. We will see if that prediction comes true.

6.December 21, 2012 really just marks the end of a 5,126 year cycle
of the Long Count calendar. It says nothing about the end of the
world. It has been said that it talks about the energy sent to the
Earth from the Milky Way will be disrupted. Whatever it means, there
is a lot of controversy over what its saying.

7.I personally don’t believe it will be the apocalypse or anything.I
just think it means the beginning of a new Mayan calendar cycle,like
the restart of a new year calendar for us. I believe it just marks the alignment or significant set up of planets or the sun in our solar system. The world will not end, a new Long Count cycle will just begin.
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AnonymousOctober 18, 2012 at 3:19 PM
First Half>>> had to many characters for one
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were the first culture to use a fully developed written language. Mayans were a very advanced culture. They made significant contributions to architecture, astronomy, math, and art. Mayan history is normally split into three periods, the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
One of the Mayans greatest achievements were that they developed a written language. Developing a written language was a great achievement because in that time there was nothing they could refer to. That means that they used their own knowledge and that takes a great deal of thinking and creativity. Another great achievement of the Mayans was creating a calender. Their calendar was made into a the ancient Mayan pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, constructed circa 1050 was built during the late Mayan period. The pyramid was used as a calendar: four stairways, each with 91 steps and a platform at the top, making a total of 365, equivalent to the number of days in a calendar year.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
A mayan day to day life would be interesting. Women would start the fires and start cooking. Women also would spin cotton. The women would wear loose dresses. Woman basically served their families and their husbands. The men would be the hunters and harvesters. Men usually worked at making wooden and jade things. Men wore loincloth. Men basically did all the tough jobs. Girls would their mother and boys would hunt with their father.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what
the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan calendar has no relationship to lunar or seasonal cycles, and is only synchronized with the solar cycle year approximately. The Mayans were aware that they did not go by the seasons and they simply didn't feel the compelling need to synchronize their calendar with the sun that Old World civilizations did. The Mayans used three separate calendars. The Long Count was used for historical purposes and it can define any date for millenia in the past and future. The Haab was a civil calendar based on a year of 360 days consisting of 18 periods of 20 days. Five days were added at the end of the Haab year to approximately synchronize it with the solar year. The Tzolkin calendar was used for ceremonial purposes, which had 20 periods of 13 days. The Tzolkin calendar went through a complete cycle every 260 days. The signficance of this cycle is unknown.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The observations of the Mayan astronomers were dedicated to astrology and it included every single aspect of everyday life. The Mayans were excellent builders and many of their temples and buildings were used for their astronomy. For example, many buildings pointed towards the equinoxes or midsummer. Other buildings had doorways and windows aligned with the most northerly or southerly rising of Venus. So accurate were their observations that their predictions of the orbit of Venus lost only two hours in a 584-day cycle. The Mayan astronomers developed an technique to spot cyclical motion in the sea of the stars. Their lunar calculations are off by only 33 seconds after 1500 years.
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AnonymousOctober 18, 2012 at 3:20 PM
Second Half
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The Mayans knew that our Sun every so often synchronized with the central galaxy. And from this central galaxy received a 'spark' of light which causes the Sun to shine more intensely producing what our scientists call 'solar flares' as well as changes in the Sun's magnetic field. The Mayans say that this happens every 5,125 years. But also that this causes a displacement in the earths rotation, and because of this movement great catastrophes would be produced. Based on their observations, the Mayans predicted that from the initial date of the start of their civilization in 3113 B.C., after one cycle being completed 5,125 years in their future, December 21st, 2012. It is after this, that the Mayans say we will be ready to go through the door that was left by them, transforming our civilization based on fear to a vibration much higher in harmony.Only from our individual efforts could we avoid the path to great cataclysm that our planet will suffer to start a new era, the sixth cycle of the Sun.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I do not agree with the doomsday prophecy because even after reading all about it, I just do not understand how they could think that the world would be ending. I understand their view points but my view points are totally different. I also do not agree with it because in my religion you do not know the day the world will end and there is no way to predict it. I do not think the ending of the Mayan calender has any significance on all mankind because I simpliy do not believe in it.
Sources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/who-are-the-mayans.htm
http://www.travelzzle.com/MayanCivilizationsGreatestAchievements.html
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html
http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/cal/mayacal.htm
http://explorable.com/mayan-astronomy.html
http://www.atitlan.net/maya/mayan-astronomy.htm
http://www.december212012.com/articles/mayan/7.shtml
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lkjOctober 18, 2012 at 4:25 PM
As someone has already posted there is new evidence of new calendars discovered in a cave. These articles are the links below. I was really excited when I found these articles because maybe now the madness of people thinking the world will end in December 21st, 2012 will stop. They were basing their opinions on the long count calendar and now that there is a new calendar found they will hopefully see the truth. In my religious point of view I think this new discovery was God’s choice. I think this because maybe there was just too many people who assumed the ending of the world would be in December 21st, 2012 because of the end of the long count Mayan calendar. Looking at this in an unbiased point of view this is just a wonderful coincidence.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0511/Mayan-calendar-discovery-suggests-world-might-not-end-in-2012-video

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2114645,00.html
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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 6:19 PM
The Mayans were an ancient civilization that resided in Mexico as well as the Central American countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The Mayans had many achievements in art and math as well as the development of three different calendars and their own written language. The everyday life of a Mayan is very similar to that of many other civilizations. The basic duties of a Mayan woman were to cook and to take care of the household while Mayan men were in charge of hunting. The Mayans followed two calendars: a sacred year(260 days) and a vague year(365 days). The Maya use the sacred year for religious purposes and to name children. The vague year is used for the planting of crops. The least common multiple of the two calendars is called the calendar round(18,980 days or 73 sacred years or 52 vague years). A Maya month(uinal)consists of 20 solar days(kins). The 260-day sacred year (tzolkin)consists of 13 months with 20 days. The 365-day vague year (haab)consists of 18 months with 20 days(the tun) which is followed by an intercalary "month" with five days called the uayeb. Mayans were very advanced for their time when it came to astronomical achievements. Mayans could predict solar eclipses and could use astronomical cycles to aid in planting and harvesting. Despite the hype, Mayan elders do not prophesy that everything will come to an end, but that this is a time of transition from one World Age into another. This transition involves making a choice of how we enter the future ahead. Whether we move through with resistance or acceptance will determine whether the transition will happen with cataclysmic changes or gradual peace and tranquility.

Due to my religious beliefs I do not believe in the doomsday prophecy. I do, however; believe that the world will end one day. I have been raised to believe that we know not the day when the world will end and when it happens is in God's hands. I believe that "doomsday" will come when we least expect it.

Check Out This Article!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/08/mayan-calendar-world-will_n_1655135.html

Sources:
http://nathanro37.edublogs.org/2011/08/17/who-were-the-mayans-where-did-the-mayans-live-what-is-their-most-important-accomplishment/
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/maya.html
http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements
http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm
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Sara MaroldtOctober 18, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Part one
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans were an ancient civilization that reached its’ peak in the sixth century. The Mayan civilization was one of the most prevailing aboriginal societies in Mesoamerica. The Mayans were centered in one geographical block that covered all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas; and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayans were artist, architects, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, historians, writers, academics, farmers, traders, and astronomers among other things. The Mayans were credited with using the 0 in mathematics first, their writing was arranged from left to right and bottom to top like most of us read today, they wrote detailed history and used their calendar developed in 3114 BC to help them predict the future.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The women made the men breakfast so they would usually get up sometime before 4 AM. By about 5 am the men had finished eating, so they would leave for the fields with their sons. While the men were in the fields they would tend to their maize. At about midafternoon the men and boys would return from their fields. On their way home from the fields the men and boys would sometimes hunt or check their traps. The women would have a hot bath waiting for the men when they got home. They would also have the men’s dinner waiting for them. The women didn’t eat with the men, so the women would serve the men their dinner then eat their dinner later. After the men had eaten they usually made wooden jade things that they sometimes used in trade. The women would spin cotton and weave.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like.
The Mayans calendar is very remarkable and complex. The calendar consists of three different dating systems, the Long Count, the Tzolkin (divine calendar), and the Haab (civil calendar). A typical Mayan date looks like this: 12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz. The Long Count represents the number of days since the start of the Mayan era. The most basic unit in the Long Count calendar is a kin which is one day. Twenty kin, or twenty days, would equal one uinal. Eighteen uinals, or 360 days would equal one tun. Twenty tun, or 7,200 days (approx. 20 years), would equal one katun. Twenty katun, or 144,000 (approx. 394 years), would equal one baktun. The Mayans also had names for larger time spans that were not a part of the Long Count calendar. The Tzolkin date is a combination of two “week” lengths. Our calendar has a single week as seven days while the Mayan calendar has two different lengths of week. There is a numbered week of thirteen days and a named week of twenty days. The names of the days were: 0. Ahau, 1. Imix, 2. Ik, 3. Akbal, 4. Kan, 5. Chicchan, 6. Cimi, 7. Manik, 8. Lamat, 9. Muluc, 10. Oc, 11. Chuen, 12. Eb, 13. Ben, 14. Ix, 15. Men, 16. Cib, 17. Caban, Etznab and 19. Caunac. The named week is twenty days and the smallest long digit count is twenty days, so there is synchrony between the two. The Haab consisted of 18 “months”. Each month was twenty days long, followed by five extra days called the Uayeb. The names if the months were: 1. Pop, 2. Uo, 3. Zip, 4. Zotz, 5. Tzec, 6. Xul, 7. Yaxkin, 8. Mol, 9. Chen, 10. Yax, 11. Zac, 12. Ceh, 13. Mac, 14. Kankin, 15. Muan, 16. Pax, 17. Kayab, 18. Cumku. The Haab month name changes every twenty days. The days of the months are numbered 0-19.
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Sara MaroldtOctober 18, 2012 at 6:35 PM
Part two
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayans did not have any complex instruments for charting the positions of celestial objects, so their observations were with the naked eye. Many of their temples and buildings are aligned to help observers monitor position. Many buildings pointed towards the equinoxes or midsummer. Other buildings had doorways and windows aligned with the most northerly or southerly rising of Venus, one of the most important celestial bodies to the Mayan culture. Their observations were so accurate that their predictions of the orbit of Venus lost only two hours in a 584-day cycle.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
The end of the calendar is not the end of the world just the end of the cycle.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy? Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
As much as I would like to have a minuscule apocalypse, I highly doubt that anything will happen on December 21, 2012. I believe that when the Mayan calendar ends it will just restart.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/maya
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html
http://voices.yahoo.com/who-mayans-3111413.html?cat=37
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html
http://explorable.com/mayan-astronomy.html
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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 7:06 PM
Yesenia Santamaria
October 16, 2012
Spanish 2

1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The mayans were an ancient group of people, they originally came from Central America and Mexico. Mayans believed that God had provided them with the power to predict the future and they lived around 200 BC to 1524 AD. Some Mayans are said to still be found in Central Amrica, especially Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
Some of the geatest achievements from the mayan culture is they contructed many towering temples pyramids, large palaces, courtyardsmonuments and shrines which some still stand in present day in the jungles of Gautemala, Belize,Honduras, and Mexico. Some recent archeological discoveries have noted that the Maya social and political structure was way more complex and in depth than was previously believed. http://www.nichbelize.org/ia-archaeology/cultural-achievements-of-the-ancient-maya.html This article really helped me out with this question.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The Mayan day to day life consisted of Mayan woman who began their everyday by waking up at around four in the morning and began fires to prepare the breakfeast for the men. After the men were done were done eating they left for the fields with their sons, to harvest for the maize. After the men got home from the fields the women would be at home taking care of the household waiting to serve the men their dinner. After dinner the men usually worked making wooded materials to trade. Women would spin cotton and weave. http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan calender that was used in the ancient world reflected on agricultural political and ritual needs that influenced the characterization of societies in which they flourished. For examle astronomical observations established the winterand the summer. The lunisolar calendar in which the ritual month is based on the moon and the agricultural yearon the sun. Mayans were known as the accomplished astromers who crafted a fasinationg calendar system. They used a vigesimal number systemincluding the concelt of zero before the Europeans used the romam numerology. The mayans oly used three symbols for zero. A positional notation was used in which each viget position represents the days in increasing in the powers of 20, except for the second position which were the months.This system was used to represent both absolute dates of prominent events, such as conquests, ascendancies and so forth, and relative dates.http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/maya.html

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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 7:22 PM
1. The Mayans were an ancient mesoamerican civilization, predominantly in some parts of Mexico and Central America.
2.The Mayans were known for their architectural structures, scientific discoveries, mathematic advances, engineering, writers, academics, farming/trading and many other things. They are credited for developing calendars in their own language and these helped them predict the future.
3. Mayans had a no extraordinary life. The women were in charge of the daily duties of the household, like cooking, making clothes, taking care of the children while the men were in charge of hunting and farming.
4.The Mayans had a solar calendar made up of 365 days and a religious calendar of 260 days and every 52 years was a single interval. The long count system counted forward from a fixed date of a distant day in the past. Very weird setup. All I can say is that it is WAY too complicated and difficult to understand; definitely not alike to ours.
5. Obviously a bajillion years ago there was no type of technology that the mayans could of used to observe the sky and the stars and stuff. So its interesting that many of their worship temples were built so that they pointed towards certain constellations. They could even calculate solar eclipses and the amount of time it takes venus to orbit around the sun.
6. Ok like i don't know what the hype is about because people have actually said the fact that the mayans calendar ends doesnt mean the world is gonna end. Like, it simply means that a new cycle is going to begin. Almost like New Years. Heres an article i found about how there has been a newly discovered mayan calendar--> http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2012-05-08/maya-apocalypse-calendar-2012/54879760/1
7. I think everyone needs to calm down. I posted before on a comment about how people will be too busy doing other stuff during the month of december that they won't even realize this supposedly "doomsday". You don't know what the mayans had in mind...maybe they just wanted to mess with peoples mind by not finishing this calendar. no I'm jk. but seriously, since this is not a proven fact that the world is gonna end, just calm down people. Just follow the sleep-eat-school cycle. Come January 2013 I'm almost sure were gonna be laughing about this blog.
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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 8:00 PM
QUESTIONS CONTINUED....

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
Some of the astronomical discoveries were evolved trhough astronomy, the way that their temples were build in order to for them to build these temples and pyramids they used astromy to guide them and help them build their structures, another great use of the astronomy cycles was that it helped myans contruct and develop the two calendars . A major aspect that made Mayans amazing astronomers was the capibility they had to read and predic solar eclipses.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
According to this article it has been said that http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html December 2. 2012 is the date thats signifies the end of the Mayana long- count period. This article explains that just like our calender end in December 31st and begins in January the first. Their calendar will beginn and continue another long-count period all over again.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
From my perspective I feel that the world will not end exactly on December 21, 2012, due to my religion as an Catholic I believe that the world will end but not according to the mayan calender. In my point of view the world will end whenevr God decides and says it will end so therefor nobody actually knows when the world will end only him.

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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 8:19 PM
1.Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans an ancient civilization who was the first to developed a language. They also had ‘predictions’ that they said were obtained from their ‘God’s’ that they prayed every one of them to be in their favor and live better. They were also known for their art and pyramids, which they created to please their god, and also as a sign of power. They moved all over America but mostly inhabited in Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayas greatest achievement would be the buildings they built for example the pyramids. Their other greatest achievement would be the calendar and star consolations which they found.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The Mayas everyday life was that the women would stay home and take care of the kids but in exception where the royals, since they had slaves that would take care of the kids. The Mayan men where hunters and they would bring the food home for the women to cook. The exception where the kings or royals who would dedicate themselves to studying or taking care of their people.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan calendar is problematic there is many equations and whist and turns to it. Mainly the Calendar Round date is a date that gives both the Tzolk'in and Haab'. This date will repeat after 52 Haab' years or 18,980 days, a Calendar Round. One way is to consider that the least common multiple of 260 and 365 is 18980. They used 365 as a symboliyms of how many days the year has. Their winter solstice begins December 21 and their summer solstice begins is on June 21.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
The Mayan where amazing astronomers, and their mayor discovery would be predicting solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to help them farm better, along with making their two calendars. So far most of the predictions that the Mayans have made have come true, such as the ones about the eclipses.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The Mayan calendar states that their ‘cycle’ is ending on December 21, 2012. This is theoretical to be a time that they made it threw an entire cycle. It never stated that the world is going to end they predicted that the sun will align with the Milky Way and the energy that is supposed to be sent to the world, will be delayed. That in that winter solstice it would be the last day in this calendar.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I as a Catholic believe that God will come one day and ‘collect’ us. I am human, though, and I WAS scared when I learned about this “dooms day”. I thought everything was about to end, but I do believe that we all have different ways of looking at this. And I do think that the calendar ending for the Mayan could mean something but maybe not what other have made of it. In the website that Ms. Strawn gave us it said that it will be the day that 'everything changes', but we won’t know until something happens.
Sources: http://www.2012officialcountdown.com/1/?a=pinaar
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-mayan.html
https://www.courses.psu.edu/anth/anth008_cmg149/pyr.html
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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 8:54 PM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Maya are a Mesoamerican civilization. The present say countries that they lived in were: Honduras, Guatemala, western El Salvador as well as central Mexico.
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
Some of the greatest achievements of the Maya were ones that had to do with math, astronomy, agriculture, engineering and communications. They were also very sucessful in art, architecture and written language.
http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-history.html
http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The Maya were known for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. This would make life a lot easier to those of higher class, and the Maya were also known to be very good farmers. This would both make life easier, and it would make it easier to gain profit in that specific time period.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Maya built their calendar off of the pyramid. This was built around 1050. They based the structure of the calendar off of: four stairways, and a platform at the top of the stairways, making the 365 different stairs. The Mayans then took 365, from the stairs, to represent the number of days in each year.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
Some of the astronomical discoveries that the Maya made were: looking into the Orion Nebula and the constellations and their postions in the sky, being the first to predict what time the sun would pass overhead, as well as highest concentration of astronomical phenomena observations and calculations. This would be from Dresden Codex, or the pre-Columbian Maya book.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2114645,00.html
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
"Some experts are now saying the Mayas may indeed have made prophecies, just not about the end of the world." Yes, it's true. The Maya have not stated that the world was really going to end, they are just making a prediction. In the past, the Mayan calendar has "run out" if you will. It is not the first time that people have thought that this was going to happen. It is also known to be a signifigant date to the Mayans, 13. Experts estimate the system starts counting at 3114 B.C., and will have run through 13 baktuns, or 5,125 years. There are specific time converters that they use, but December 21st has to do with 13, it should be a very big milestone for the Maya, but not an end.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/01/experts-meet-to-debunk-mayan-calendar-end-world-stories/#ixzz29iIFHMgo
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I do not think that the doomsday prophecy is true. I believe that the ending of the Mayan calendar has the only signifigance to the Maya. It does not have anything to do with the world, and if it is going to end. They have stated a prophecy, but not an actual fact. It is not possible for the world to end, scientifically, that is. We have a while for it to end, but since the Maya are just stating a prophecy I do not think that we have anything to worry about.

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UnknownOctober 18, 2012 at 9:34 PM
Aquil El-Amin

1. A Mesoamerican civilization and named for the only known fully developed written language of the southern americas. They are nown for their advancements in astronomy and trade with the southern. established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to AD 250). The Maya Empre can be streted from Honduras, Guatemala, and western El Salvador to as far as central Mexico
2. Its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems made the foundation of their society and made many aadvancements in science. They introduced the numeral zeo into matemtics form the reason why we use thenumber zero.
3. There society was based on gender much like the spanish alphabet. Males produced the food by agricultural laborand females would process the products of the field to make them edible. Women would practice the art of religion. Young boys were being taught how to hunt and skills to hunt. The girls was trained in the household, and she was taught how to keep the domestic religious shrines.
4. The calender dates back to the 5th century. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier civilizations. The changes the mayans had on the calender were improved to use in future refrences. Mainly used the Haab’ a calender most ofmesoamerica used. This calender contains 19 months but is on a 365 day year calender.
5. They are the only pre-telescopic civilization to demonstrate knowledge of the Orion Nebula. The were interested in zenial passages, the time when the sun passes directly overhead. The made many observatoreis in all of their citys to observe the stars and contellations. Their religion had a role as they would have rituals and ceremonies based on constellations.
6. The mayns say that December 21, 2012 is the ending of the cycle. It’s the last recorded date of the calender that the mayans wrote. It doesnt say the world is gong to end it just says that the enrgy of the unverse wont betransfred when the lanets allign.
7. I feel humanity shouldnt know when there going to die. They should just be happy to live life everyday. I also feel that the media takes these “ doomsday situations” to far. The Y2K incident sent people into terror. I dont think it matters when we die. I think it matters on the way we lived. the idea of knowing when your going to die is primitive. I really dont think the doomsday matters because its probable not going to come true.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Astronomy
http://archaeology.about.com/od/mayaarchaeology/a/maya_civ.htm
http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~kracht/mayancourse/home.html
http://news.discovery.com/space/mayan-etchings-chronicle-dates-beyond-2012-doomsday-120511.html

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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 3:46 AM
The Mayas were a Mesoamerican civilization and they lived in the present day countries: Honduras, Guatemala, Western El Salvador as well as Central Mexico. Some of the Mayans greatest achievements were their great advancements in math, astronomy, agriculture, engineering and communications, written language and architecture. They are also very famous for their calenders and pyramids. The Mayans had a typical everyday life for their time period. The women would stay at home and play the traditional role, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the household while the men would hunt. A typical family in Mayan society would eat breakfast. It was interesting to find that they cook some of the same traditional foods cooked in present day like tamales.In the day men would hunt for animals like deer while the woman would cook. Boys go with their fathers to hunt and girls would learn and do chores with their mothers. For dinner the family generally had a large meal together.The Mayans have several calenders and I believe a new one has just been found. the calendar that is the most similar to our own is the Haab calendar. There are eighteen months with 20 days in them. This is different than ours, it also has the Wayeb period of 5 days at the end. What is similar between are the amount of days in a year-365. The Mayans could predict solar eclipses and some believe that they predicted the end of the world and 9/11.They also used astrological cycles for planting and harvesting kind of like we have a farmers calendar.The Mayan Long Count calendar is divided into bak'tuns, or 144,000-day cycles that begin at the Maya creation date. The winter solstice of 2012 December is the last day of the 13th bak'tun, marking what the Maya people would have have believed to be full cycle of creation.

In my opinion what the Mayas may have predicted about 9/11 may have not actually been true because I believe that it was a conspiracy anyway.I really do not believe that the world will end in 2012 although I know it will end one day. I believe that no one will know when or how it will happen. After all there have been many predictions of the end of the world before and we are still here today. Like many others have said, only God knows when the end of the world will be.
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Kaashif.ImanOctober 19, 2012 at 6:15 AM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayan's were an ancient Indian race located in Central America. They were the credited with being the first culture in the new world (the Americas) to use the written word with so many letters to their alphabet that only the high priest knew what symbol meant. They were artist, architects, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, historians, writers, academics, farmers, traders, and astronomers among other things. They were smarter than most in that they took things that already existed and improved upon them.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
Although, The Mayan civilization had a fully developed written language and they also made significant contributions to architecture, astronomy, math, and art. I think their greatest achievements were their contribution to science, and most importantly mankind with their establishment of the calendars. I say that because this meant that not only could they keep up with the time and seasons change, but they also were able to track the sun and moons patterns. This amazes me because in a time with very little to no technology they were extremely accurate. So accurate, that we still make use of their innovation in this day and age.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The Mayan civilizations were a people of sexism. They had a very gender based society. Day to day the men would tend the crops or hunted for deer or other small animals. Typical work duties characterized majority of the times for men. As the same for the women, the typical Mayan woman would stay close to home and prepare meals, grind corn, weave baskets, tend to the deer herd, sew and look after the children. Day to day the boys would go with the rest of the men and be taught how to tend the crops or learn to hunt. The girls would stay with the women and learn household tasks.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan calendar is a system used by pre-Columbian, Mexoamerica and many other modern communities. This calendar contains several cycles. The Mayan pyramid has 365 steps it had four stairways, each with 91 steps representing the 365 days a year. This was like a symbol of their new advancements in their society.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
They are the only pre-telescopic civilization to demonstrate knowledge of the Orion Nebula. They were interested in zenial passages, the time when the sun passes directly overhead. In order to observe the stars and constellations; they made many observatories in all of their cities. Their religion had a role as they would have rituals and ceremonies based on constellations.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.
The Mayans say that December 21, 2012 is the ending of the cycle. It’s the last recorded date of the calender that the mayans wrote. It doesnt say the world is gong to end it just says that the energy of the universe wont be transfred when the lanets allign.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I dont feel like the theory on the doomsday prophecy wont happen. There heas been a plenty of theorys on the world endingm, and I dont see what will make this one any diffrent. I also feel it will not happen based on all the misconceptions surrounding the date. In some way the ending of the Mayan calendar is significant on mankind. Significance like how a person lives their life. Depending on whether they believe or dont believe in the prophecy.
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Kaashif.ImanOctober 19, 2012 at 6:18 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization#Astronomy
http://explorable.com/mayan-astronomy.html
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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 8:27 AM
1. The Mayanas were influenced by the Olmec culture, which was the earliest of the major Meso-American civilizations. The Mayans built their cities in present day Mexico and Central America. The Olmec were prominent in eastern costal Mexico between 1200 and 400 B.C. the Mayans rose as the Olmec declined. The Mayan civilization was the height of pre-Columbian culture. They made significant discoveries in science and many other things as well. The present day countries that they lived in were in Mexico, as far back as 1800 BCE.

2. The Mayans civilization had a fully developed written language and they also made significant contributions to architecture, astronomy, math, and art. The Maya developed astronomy, cylindrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. They were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple pyramids, palaces and observatories, which were all built with ought metal tools. The Mayans were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest. Where groundwater was scarce they built sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. Adding to being skilled farmers and developers of multiple things Mayans were equally skilled as weavers and potters. They cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant people.

3. The Mayans day to day life was like…

4. The Mayan calendar system had no relationship to seasonal cycles, it was based off the solar cycle year approximately. They used three separate calendars. The Long Count was principally used for historical purposes, it can define any date for millennia in past and future. The Haab was a civil calendar based on a year of 360 days consisting of 18 periods of 20 days. The Tzolkin calendar was used for ceremonial purposes, this had 20 periods of 13 days. This calendar went through a complete cycle every 260 days. The Mayans calendar incorporated the movement of the sun, moon and planets. Time was cyclical and repeated itself making certain days or months lucky.

5. The Maya strongly believe in the influence of the cosmos. The Mayan knowledge and understanding of celestial bodies was advanced for their time. The knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are precise as those we use today. Of the three , the Madrid Codex, the Paris Codex and the Dresden Codex, the later is the most important in terms of showing the Mayan knowledge of astronomy. They possessed a very complex system of writing of which only less than 30% has been deciphered, this shows how advanced of a level they attained. The Mayans had calculated that the Venusian year lasted 583.92 or 584. There are two pages in the codex which contains information about Mars, four are about Jupiter and its satellites, and eight pages are devoted to the Moon, Mercury and Saturn, explaining the complicated calculations as the orbits of these planets around the sun, and their relationship with one another, and with the Earth.

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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 8:28 AM
6. Mayan text reveals the “end date” for the Maya calendar. Ancient Maya did not expect the world to end on that date. The text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy of the world ending. It is only the modern day people who say the world will end on that day. A stone tablet that was recently unearthed in La Corona Guatemala, a king by the name of Jaguar Paw used this this date to try and make a good public opinion of him. Historians have long assumed that he died or was captured in this battle by the Kingdom of Tikal in 695. It was stated that “ as part of his publicity tour , the king was calling himself the 13 k’atun lord, the carvings reveal K’atuns are another unit of the Maya calendar, corresponding to 7,200 days or nearly 20 years.” this is where the 2012 calendar end date came in. in an effort to tie himself and his reign to the future, the king linked his reign with another 13th cycle , the 13th bak’tun ending on Dec. 21, 2012.

7. I do not agree with the doomsday prophecy, after researching and reading about it I don’t understand how they could think that the world would end on some specific day. As people were telling me before they explained how in their religion it states that no man can predict the end of the earth not even my own son, that goes for me as well, I am a Christian and I do not believe that the world will end on Dec. 31 2012.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48000582/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/maya-text-cities-end-calendar-cycle-not-end-world/
http://www.atitlan.net/maya/mayan-astronomy.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/cal/mayacal.htm
http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-history.html
http://www.thestonage.org.stone_age_02_d.php
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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 9:30 AM
1. The Mayans were an ancient civilization that existed in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Maya are well known for their writing, of which a great part can now be read, as well as for their advanced mathematics, astronomy calculations.

2. The Mayans built a lot of pyramids and tall temples. The Mayans were very good road builders. They were able to create one of the most advanced road systems of their time. They had the first system of writing and first calendars with 365 day. Mayans were also one of the first civilizations to develop a writing system called hieroglyphics. They used their hieroglyphics to record information in books.

3. A typical Mayan family would consist of 5-7 people. The Maya had a class society. There were slaves, peasants, craftsmen, nobility, priests, and leaders. There were also warriors. At the top were the nobles and priests. The middle class had the craftsmen, traders, and warriors. At the bottom were farmers, other workers, and slaves.

4. There were 2 main calendars in the Mayan system. One Mayan calendar was based on the solar cycle and the other was based on the religious Mayan cycle. One being a 260 day calendar and the other being a 365 day. The Mayans were able to acquire this information by studying the stars and the sun.

5. The Mayans have predicted solar eclipses and astrological cycles all from their calendar system.

6. The end of the Mayan calendar is simply the end of their cycle, which will eventually to start over again. December 21st marks the countdown to what ancient prophecies term "the end of time", which many interpret to mean the end of the world.

7. I don’t exactly believe in doomsday, but I believe that the world will end someday I think the world will end when god is ready for it to end.
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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 9:32 AM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49224135/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/maya-prophecies-what-were-they-thinking/

http://www.greatdreams.com/mayan/mayan-calendar.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar
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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 9:40 AM
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
The Mayans, also called Maya, are the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems. They live in Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Maya developed a calendar by using astronomy. They also developed mathematics (including zero) and grew maize. One of their greatest achievements is the drainage system, which we use today.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
Mayans daily lives are similar to the old fashion way of living. Their day starts before sunrise and ends at night. The men are the providers and do the farming while the women do the house work and taking care of family. They also make goods, after the women and made her husband’s dinner and bathed him, to trade.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Maya calendar uses three different dating systems in parallel, the Long Count, the Tzolkin (divine calendar), and the Haab (civil calendar). The Long Count represents the number of days since the start of the Mayan era. The Tzolkin date is a combination of two "week" lengths. The Haab was the civil calendar of the Mayas and gives a year length of 365 days. To the Maya, time is constant, which means it would repeat itself and certain days have characteristics.

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
They knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today. They also have the prediction of the Y2k which hasn’t occurred yet.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
The mayan texts translates to say is that this date marks the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
I do not believe that the world will end because many have prophesied the end in the past, yet nothing has happened. Plus, this was prophesied hundred possibly thousands of years ago. There’s no way they could foresee the future.
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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Answers:

1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?

Mayans are people who originated from Mesoamerica, the present countries that the Mayans lived in are; In between Mexico and South America.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?

The Mayans have accomplished many achievements during their lifetimes which were; writting system, art, and astrology. The Mayans used place values to designate large numbers. Numbers held great significance in the Mayan culture. An example is the number 20 signifying the number of digits a person has -- 10 fingers and 10 toes. Mayans writing system was hieroglyphics which i think is pretty cool because now we can look back in time without having a person fro that time to tell us something. The caledar is an accomplishment vecause Mayan astronomers noticed that 360 days wasn't enough time for the sun to make it through a full solar cycle. They argued that the calendar should follow the cycle as closely as possible for accuracy. But Mayan mathematicians disagreed. They wanted to keep things simple, in increments of 20, just like their math system. The mayans art also in a way has impacted the calendar, because if you have ever seen a mayan calendar one can notice how much deatil is put into it.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?

The Mayans would write hieroglyphics, hunting and gathering and make architecture. Just like other caste systems from older times you would have those in power to be able to have the benefit of writing, those who would write would write about important things on stone. Many years ago people did not just write for random things or ideas like we do now. Important facts were written to leave facts and knowledge of back in the day. Hunting and gathering would be organized by the men hunting while the women and children would gather food. Making architecture was very important because much of th pyramids from back then are still here now and are admired by many people.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?

The Haab calendar is very similar to the Gregorian calendar that we use today. It's based on the cycle of the sun and was used for agricultural, economic and accounting activities. each day has its own hieroglyph and number. However, instead of using 13 uinals for 260 days, the Haab calendar has 18 uinals, giving it 360 days. Mayan astronomers noticed that 360 days wasn't enough time for the sun to make it through a full solar cycle. They argued that the calendar should follow the cycle as closely as possible for accuracy.
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UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 3:21 PM
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?

Mayan astronomers noticed that 360 days wasn't enough time for the sun to make it through a full solar cycle. Maya priest-astronomers determined the nodes when the paths of the moon and sun cross, which is every 173.31 days. During this time, eclipses may occur within 18 days of the node. Mayans would predict when thy would have eclipses which came tre.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.

In one of the articles i found it talks about how many Mayan scholars and natives dismiss the apocalyptic theories, noting that end of the calendar would be regarded as a time of celebration, much like modern-day New Year festivities. Also no Mayan inscriptions or writings that predict the end of the world when the calendar is finished.

7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?

My opinion on the “doomsday prophecy” is that it is not true, while i do think the world might end i do not think it will end anytime soon. It seems to me that many people are making things up so that the bad people can scam those who will pay money for “survival kits”. When i first heard about these kits i thought it was a joke but it was not because when i searched for “2012 survival kits” on google i was surprised how many sites came up. I just think that the end of this calendar is just like any other conspiracy, some believe its true others do not.

Links:

http://www.starteachastronomy.com/mayan.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nasa-crushes-2012-mayan-apocalypse-claims

http://people.howstuffworks.com/mayan-calendar4.htm

http://www.survival-goods.com/2012_30_Day_Survival_Kit_Essentials_s/209.htm
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Myeshia M.October 20, 2012 at 8:47 AM
1. Mayans were an ancient Indian race that was located in Central America. They lived in parts of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. They are largely known for being the first culture in the Americas to use written word. They were artist, architects, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, historians, writers, farmers, traders, and astronomers among other things.

2. Some of the Mayan’s greatest achievements are building pyramids, their written language called codex, and as we all know their calendar system. They were also noted for their expertise in astronomy.

3. Mayan day to day life consisted of the women cooking and cleaning for their children, while the men worked to keep the household together.

4. The Mayan calendar system consisted of three different calendars, their civil, long count, and sacred calendar. The civil calendar based on the cycles of the sun, this is close to our Julian calendar without the leap year and having 13 months instead of 12. The sacred calendar was used for religious and ceremonial events. Long Count Calendar was for long periods of time, centuries and decades. The long count calendar is the calendar that ends on December 21st, 2012. The calendar was based off a 260 day cycle. Maya created a 260 day cycle in order to allow them to accurately track the rate of consecutive conjunctions involving the Earth and Venus, over a full 2000 year grand cycle.

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true? I actually had trouble finding the answer to this question, so could someone give me a website that they used to find this information. I will greatly appreciate it.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar. Their calendar says that the world will end on December 21st, 2012, and a new world will begin.

7. The whole thought of the world ending makes me scared inside, so I try not to think about it. I actually don’t believe in the whole calendar ending and the earth ending because I also feel like number never end, so how did they come up with the idea that the world will end on December 21st, 2012?
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Terrell RichardsonOctober 20, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Terrell Richardson

1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
A)The Mayan civilization spread all over Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, and had influences in many other South American countires.The Maya are well known for the only fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems.

2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
A) One of their greatest achievements is the drainage system. That is because we still use it today. Hopefully you know what that is. You know when it rains and when it rains too hard we get flooding. well usually when it rains a little bit the water goes to the drainage, so it holds the water there, later on it just evaporates.

3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
A)Mayan women rose and started the fires before 4:00 AM. Women made breakfast toasting leftover cornmeal pancakes. By 5 AM men had finished eating and left for the fields with their sons. There they harvested their maize. At midafternoon men and boys would return from the fields and sometimes hunt or check their traps along the way. They would kill birds with blowpipes and clay pellets. Sometimes they also hunted with spears. When the men got home they had hot baths waiting for them.

4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern communities in highland Guatemala and in Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 5th centuy BC. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. Although the Mesoamerican calendar did not originate with the Maya, their subsequent extensions and refinements of it were the most sophisticated. Along with those of the Aztecs, the Maya calendars are the best-documented and most completely understood.

5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
One of their prophecies states that there will be a change in temperature, producing climactic, geological, and social changes in a magnitude without patterns and at an astonishing speed. One of them will be generated by man in its lack of conscience to care for and protect natural resources of the planet and the other generated by the sun, which will increase its activity due to the increase of vibrations.

6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly does ancient Mayan text say about the end of their calendar.

7) However because of my beliefs I do not believe the mayan theory of the world ending December 2012 because my religions states that the world will not end until my Savior returns and when he returns we will be raptured up and the world will be over.

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Jordan WilsonOctober 21, 2012 at 8:34 PM
1.The Mayans were an ancient civilization who was advanced in writing, mathematics, and calendar making. They lived in areas of today’s present day countries Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras.
2.The Mayans’ greatest and probably most well-known achievement was probably when they made their own calendar. They had many other achievements regarding their writing and math skills.
3.The Mayans had a pretty strictly set schedule. The women would rise early and make breakfast for the men who were done eating and headed to work in the fields with their sons by 5:00AM. At about midafternoon the men would begin to come back, hunting and gathering on their way. Once they got back, they bathed in the already waiting baths. After this, the men would eat dinner but the women wouldn’t eat with the men. The women usually served the men then ate after the men were finished. After dinner, the men would make wooden and jade things and the women would spin cotton and weave.
4.The Mayan calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. There were many different counts but only two main ones. One of the counts was a 260 calendar and the other count was a 365 day calendar.
5.The Mayans made predictions on solar and lunar eclipses as well as other astrological happenings over time and it is said that many of them are accurate.
6.Regarding the end of the calendar, the Mayan texts say that on December 21, 2012, the earth will supposedly “be destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes”.
7.My opinion on the doomsday prophecy is still undecided. I feel like it is slightly possible considering that the Mayan calendar has been right about a lot of the previous dates and
important events, but on the other hand I don’t like to think about
it because I am actually quite scared about how I am going to die. I don’t like to think about that kind of thing. It sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable.
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/frameset/civilizations/maya/daily/index.html
http://www.globotreks.com/destinations/belize/maya-say-about-2012/
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UnknownOctober 23, 2012 at 5:45 PM
1. The Mayans where an ancient people that lived in Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. They were prominent between 1200 and 400 BC, they built cities and had an empire.
2. They developed an advanced writing system, they developed the concept of zero, and they deduced a year was 365 days calendar was very accurate.
3. Mayan daily life had a class system so your quality of life depended on your class, the Mayans where very religious and believed they needed to appease their gods. A staple of their diet was corn, special clothing
4. The Mayan calendar had 365 days in a year, it used 3 different dating systems the, the long count (divine calendar) and civil Haab calendar. The civil calendar had 18 months of 20 days each and 5 days extra at the end, the 5 extra days where considered bad luck days. The Mayan sense of time was very much like ours now, the calendar looped around every time it looped was called a calendar round, every 52 years one looped passed and the calendar would reset itself.
5. The Mayans could predict solar eclipses, they used astrological (summer, winter, fall, ect.) calendars to plant crops, they identified some planets, they found how many days a venetian year was, and they found many planet's orbits.
6. It is the last day on the calendar the Mayans wrote, it is simply the end of a cycle.
7. No I don’t think so, just because they were able to predict solar eclipses and other such events does not mean that they know when the world is going to end
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