Wong Mayan Prophecy and Our Future

1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-62488-640-9
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 221 Seiten

The Mayan Prophecy of 2012 has been a source of confusion and speculation for many years. It has been interpreted by some to indicate the End of Days, or rather, the end of our existence as we know it. To others, it means a beginning of a new future for humankind. The continuing controversy as to what the Prophecy foretells, or if it actually exists at all, has been in full swing since the early 1980's, literally for decades. An untold number of books, magazine articles, news media reports, and Internet blogs have been written pertaining to this particular subject. This book attempts to evaluate and to establish the validity of such a prophecy, and how it might affect the course of our future. This will be accomplished by examining the existing archeological evidence and investigative studies of Mesoamerican scholars. The Mayan Prophecy has been based on many premises, some of which may or may not be true. It has been proposed to have arisen from the application of Maya cosmology to the Maya Long Count Calendar, in which the current cycle is to end in 2012. What will occur when this happens and during the beginning of the next Great Cycle are both discussed in this book. It is the events which will occur in the coming years that will determine the fate of our species.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wong, Dennis

Leseproben

Chapter 1

The Maya Civilization

During the end of the Pleistocene Period, about 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, most archeologists agree that the first inhabitants of the Americas came across the Bering Strait. This was during the last Pleistocene ice age known as the Wisconsin Glaciation. The Bering Strait was covered over with thick glaciers. The sea level was more than 91 meters (300 ft) below what it is today and an exposed land bridge spanned the Bering Strait. People could easily cross into Alaska from the northeastern Asian continent. They settled first in the Northern Hemisphere, and then expanded throughout the Northern and Southern American continents. By the close of the last Ice Age, at the end of the Pleistocene about 7500 B.C., both the highlands and lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula were home to a population of hunters and simple farmers. By 3000 B.C. the domestication and cultivation of maize provided a stable and consistent food source enabling the Mesoamerican people to build permanent settlements. Population density increased and an evolving complex agricultural society began to emerge. The maize crops were easily grown, harvested, dried and stored to provide year-long sustenance, a key factor in transforming the nomadic lifestyle of hunters and food-gatherers to a more permanent and stable agrarian society.

The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec culture, began around 1200 B.C. and quickly developed into thriving urban cities with large populations throughout the Yucatan peninsula, laying the foundation for the Maya culture which was to follow. As the Olmec society flourished, the development of art and religion became more sophisticated, as well as writing, astronomy and architecture. The large urban cities contained merchants, traders, farmers, artisans such as painters, sculptors, potters, jewelry specialists, and skilled construction workers as well as stone masons. Being the first master sculptors in early Mesoamerican societies, the Olmec constructed huge public buildings and immense stone sculptures, weighing many tons.

In 400 B.C. the Olmec city of La Venta, an important religious center with an estimated population of 18,000 people, a 30 meter (100 feet) high pyramid structure was built in the center of the city surrounded by plazas and other monumental buildings. This type of design was to be the most popular in many ancient cities in Mesoamerica, including the Maya. The pyramidal structures were considered sacred sites where religious sacrifices and rituals were performed during all auspicious occasions. These events were determined by high level priests skilled in astrology, numerology and ritual calendar cycles. La Venta rulers were buried in elaborate subterranean tombs containing immense collections of offerings consisting of serpentine figurines and jade, the most precious material in Mesoamerican cultures. Included within these tombs were a variety of stone sculptured portraits and monuments.

It was during this time period, from about 300 B.C. to 250 A.D., known as the Late Preclassic Maya civilization that the Olmec civilization peaked. Then it began its slow steady decline. In its place rose the beginnings of the great Maya civilization, first in the lowlands, and then eventually throughout the entire Yucatan peninsula. The earliest Maya protoglyphs (early hieroglyphic writings), at around 400 B.C., appeared at El Porton, in a region in what is now known as central Guatemala. It was here that stelae, large carved stone monuments, were found arranged in front of sacred altars. Stelae were to become the landmark signature among all other structures found in every great Maya city. These freestanding monuments were carved in a curvilinear two-dimensional style with hieroglyphic inscriptions detailing dates and events of the history and activities of the royal rulers, and of their respective dynasty. The largest stela ever found, called Stela E, was erected in the late eighth century in Quirigua, measuring 10.6 meters (35 ft) in height, and weighing over 54,431 kgs (60 tons).

It was here, in the Guatemalan highlands, that the Maya population started to expand in size and strength. Cities became larger and trade routes were established and extended along the Pacific coastal regions. Cities like that of Nakbe grew in economic power and political complexity. The amount of trade in commodities like cacao, cotton, copal incense, vegetable dyes, tobacco, vanilla, obsidian, flint, salt, precious stones like jade and serpentine, exotic feathers, jaguar and ocelot skins, and tortoise shells increased dramatically to supplant the declining Olmec power structure in the region. Soon the Maya in the lowland Peten region became the main economic and political center, and the heart of Maya culture began its shift to the central area, away from the highlands and southern Pacific coastal regions.

By the start of the Early Classic Maya Period, from 250 A.D. to 600 A.D, its growing population and increasing economic prosperity enabled the Maya to build the large cities of Tikal, Calakmul, Caracol, Uaxactun and many others in the Peten lowlands. The Maya developed a style of architecture and culture that was unique from all others in the region. The vaulted masonry buildings, naturalistic paintings, relief style carvings, stelae, and towering temple-pyramids became the distinguishing feature of Maya culture.

In the city of Copan there is a structure called the Temple of the Hieroglyphic Stairway. The immense frontal staircase has sixty-three steps on risers where one of the longest dynastic text, consisting of at least 2,500 glyphs, that has been found in any Maya city. Tikal, one of the largest cities, contains some of the most magnificent temple-pyramids ever built. One in particular, called Temple IV, rises above the plaza grounds to over 750 meters (2,460 ft) in height. This typical Maya architectural structure for four-sided pyramid-shaped temples has hundreds of steps on the frontal stairway leading up to a large roof comb emblazoned with hundreds of relief-styled text carvings.

Low-relief carving was a specialty of talented Maya artists who decorated every building surrounding the courtyards prominently found in every city center. Hieroglyphic text and carvings depicting royal rulers and celestial deities adorned the face of practically every stelae, temple lintel, and royal palace structure that have been discovered in these great Maya cities. Large mural paintings covering the walls of palaces and temples were composed of beautifully colored paints and pigments of all shades and hues. The famous color called Maya Blue is made by mixing indigo, a vegetable dye, with a unique form of clay material and heated to produce a pigment which is both stable and highly resistant to sunlight, chemical agents, and time itself. Even today, such paintings on murals, as well as on pottery and figurines can be seen to be amazingly well-preserved.

The Maya civilization reached its peak of power, political influence, and economic control over the entire Yucatan peninsula around 800 A.D. It was during this Late Classic Period, from 600 A.D. to 900 A.D., that the Maya with its populous metropolitan centers which dotted the entire landscape suddenly disappeared. The reasons for such a rapid decline are unclear and still mystify archeologists. The great lowland cities were abandoned and no calendar dates can be found inscribed on stelae after 910 A.D. in the central Maya region. The last known Maya date is carved on a stela at Itzimte in the Peten lowlands where the date is, by our calendar, 15 January 910 A.D.

Many theories have been put forward to explain the collapse of such an amazing civilization, but none can adequately explain the mystery. It is estimated that the Maya population living in the lowlands during the Late Classic Period numbered between eight to ten million people. The megacity of Tikal, one of the largest, was also one of the most densely populated containing many thousands of structures within the city. The Tikal residential area encompassed a region of more than 60 square kilometers (23 sq mi). The city along with the outlying residences and territorial alliances had a population that may have reached almost half a million. Within a hundred years after 800 A.D. all the cities were essentially abandoned one by one. The entire population appeared to have simply melted into the surrounding forest.

Most Maya scholars agree that the collapse was a result of many factors. Overpopulation, coupled with environmental degradation such as severe deforestation and the inability to sustain enough agricultural production of food to supply the ever-growing Maya population, was the most likely factor. Another contributing factor might have been one of an unusually severe period of drought that began in 800 A.D. and lasting to 1050 A.D., peaking around 862 AD. During this time period rainfall had been at its lowest amounts in 3,500 years. All the Maya lowlands were severely affected. Many cities, like Tikal in the Peten, have no major rivers or natural springs nearby, and thus rely mainly on rainfall to fill their reservoirs for a reliable source of water for their needs.

Each large city had a ruling class, with its own dynastic and political structure that was independent of other cities. As a result, control of territorial dominance was accomplished either by making necessary alliances with one’s neighbors or by conquests achieved by internecine warfare. Maya city-states were always in a constant state of warfare. This is evidenced by the many painted murals and hieroglyphic inscriptions that displayed devastating conflicts among the city-states that existed during the entire span of Maya history. As the population grew and the necessity of acquiring natural resources became...