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By Chris Pow, al.com If some apocalyptic interpretations of a Mayan calendar are true, the shortest day of 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere will be our last. The Dec. 21, 2012, date comes from the Mayan Long Count calendar carved into a 1300-year-old ...
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View full sizeThe Mayan pyramid Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. (Courtesy of the Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort in Riviera Maya)
If some apocalyptic interpretations of a Mayan calendar are true, the shortest day of 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere will be our last.
The Dec. 21, 2012, date comes from the Mayan Long Count calendar carved into a 1,300-year-old tablet discovered in the 1960s at Mexico's Tortuguero archeological site in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, according to ABC News.
The calendar marks the end of a 13th Baktun, a unit of time that roughly corresponds to 394 years, on next year's winter solstice. Some have interpreted the end of the 13th Baktun as the time for a final event due to the significance of the number 13 to the Mayans.
A second artifact found year ago at the nearby Comalcalco ruin also references the date in an inscription of a different calendar, Mexico's archaeology institute said in November.
Mayan expert Sven Gronemeyer told the Associated Press that he has interpreted the Tortuguero tablet's inscription to prophesize the return of the Mayan god of creation and war, not an apocalyptic event on Earth.
In a frequently asked questions section of its website published in 2009, NASA debunked claims of planet alignment, a polar shift, large asteroid impacts, giant solar storms and the story that could have begun discussion of the Dec. 21, 2012, doomsday date -- that a wayward planet named Nibiru or Planet X is set for a collision course with Earth on next year's winter solstice.
"Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012," the FAQ states. "Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."
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