Okay, so they were wrong about 12-21-12
. . . if in fact their purpose for ending their remarkably precise calendar was
an attempt at predicting the worlds end; in retrospection though, the
significance of the date may very well be when the Mayans discovered a new and
better way of tracking time. In other words, several anthropologists now
contend that the Mayans simply “upgraded” to a new calendaring system using
cutting edge technology that was available for their time . . . In-other-words:
The Mayans Knew When to Upgrade!
The Ancient Mayan civilization
was a diverse group of folks who lived in parts of present-day Mexico, Belize,
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Their
civilization lasted for more than 2,000 years but its heyday period stretched from
about 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., generally known as the Classic Period. Not only did
they develop a complex understanding of astronomy; they figured out how to grow
corn, beans, squash and cassava (a root vegetable
akin to potatoes) without modern machinery and no less impressive, how
to communicate with one another using one of the world’s first written
languages.
At their peak, the Maya were one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. It’s worth repeating that they mastered technologies ranging from astronomy to agriculture but one of their most impressive achievements has to be their towering pyramid temples. It’s obvious that when the Mayans took on the task of temple building, they intended their structures to last forever. Chichen Itza (left) and Palenque (below) are two great examples that we can see and experience today in Southeastern state of Yucatán, Mexico.
Along with an expertise in mathematics,
architecture and astronomy, the Mayans perfected one of the most important
technologies known to humanity–agriculture. Agriculture may not
seem like technology, but to the Mayans, farming was their chief technology! You see, not unlike today, the ability to
produce a surplus of food freed up time for expanding their civilization’s day
to day life style. So instead of spending 14 hours a day eking out a living
hunting and gathering, the cultivation of corn / maize, chief among several
other crops, gave the Mayans more free time. They spent that time dreaming up
ways of building huge pyramids, mapping the stars, and playing ballgames . . .
Little wonder Yum Coax (the Mayan god of maize) often appears in Maya
mythology as the creator god.
These impressive stone courts
became a staple feature of a city’s “sacred” complex and there were often
several playing courts in a single city. The sport played there was known as “Pok-a-Tok” or simply the “Ball Game” and was popular all across
Mesoamerica; variations of the game were played by several other early American
civilizations including the Olmec’s and the Aztecs. The Mayan variety of the game
is the predecessor of the Aztec version and was “imported” or borrowed, you
might say, from the Olmec’s. It was more
than just a game, though; the event could have a religious significance and often
featured episodes of Mesoamerican mythology—the contests even supplied
candidates for human sacrifice, so the popular sport could, quite literally, be
a game of life or death.
The Mayan written language was made up of about 800 glyphs, or cryptograms.
Each one
Until recently, people believed that
vulcanization (the process of combining rubber with
Researchers now believe that the
Maya discovered this process quite by accident, most likely during a religious
ritual in which they combined the rubber tree and the morning-glory flowering plant;
the sulfur in the morning glory's juice served to vulcanize the rubber. Once
they realized how strong and versatile this new material was, they began to use
it in a variety of ways: the made glue, bindings for books, figurines,
water-resistant cloth, and yep, you guessed it, the large rubber balls used in
the ball game known as Pok-a-Tok.
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