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Archeologist Says Maya End of World Predictions in 2012 Movie Are Bunk
Date: 11/23/2009By Grant Perry
November 23, 2009 -- The movie 2012 is already out, but a Canadian archeologist says the Maya end of the world predictions that form part of the movie’s story line are claptrap.
That’s because the prediction in question doesn’t actually predict the end of the world.
Archeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor teaches at the University of Calgary and says that the source for the end of the world predictions doesn’t contain an end-of-the-world prophecy.
The doomsday prophecy found in the 2012 movie and many other current books and websites supposedly comes from an ancient carved monument called the Tortuguero Monument Six. According to translations of the monument text, December 21, 2012 marks the completion of a 5,125-year-long cycle of the ancient Maya calendar. But Reese-Taylor says the translation of the text just says that something will occur December 21, 2012 that it will be similar to something that occurred on another date in the past.
"We don't know what that past occurrence was or what the future occurrence will be. At no point do any of the Maya texts actually prophesize the end of the world,'' Reese-Taylor says.
In fact, says Reese-Taylor, other Maya texts refer to dates beyond December 21, 2012.
However, the supposed end of world predictions have been great for the movie business, and tourism is expected to peak throughout the old Maya homeland, including eastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, as December 21, 2012 approaches.