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Mayan culture and civilization
Introduction
Chapter 1
Mayan civilization Â
‎ 1
...
The beginning of the Maya civilization
‎ 1
...
The Golden Age
‎ 1
...
Culture, society and religion
‎ 1
...
"Mayan Trapeze"
‎ 1
...
Mayan dwellings
‎ 1
...
Habits and daily activities
1
...
The Mayan Prophecies

‎ Chapter 2
The art of the Maya civilization
‎ 2
...
Sculpture and painting
‎ 2
...
Ceramics
2
...
Architecture
‎ 2
...
Language and writing
‎ 2
...
Monuments
2
...
Archaeological discoveries
‎
Chapter 3
The decline and disappearance of the Maya Empire
‎ 3
...
The beginning of the decline
‎ 3
...
The disappearance of the culture of the Maya Empire
Conclusions
‎ Bibliography
CHAPTER 1
THE MAYA CIVILIZATION Â

‎ 1
...
The beginning of the Maya civilization
The first historical period of the Mayan peoples, called by archaeologists the "formation period", lasts more
than eight centuries, until 320 AD
...
The ceramic figurines found in the Peten region have characteristic features that show that the
ancient inhabitants of the region were indeed Mayans (a fact that can be established quite easily, since, of all
the populations known especially in that region, the Mayas have the most wider and the roundest heads - the
1

skull with almost equal longitudinal and transverse diameters; until almost today, they accentuated their
brachycephaly by applying, from a fairly young age, a kind of frames around their heads, (appendix 5 ) thus
obtaining the desired deformation of the skull, which passed as a criterion of beauty
...

"The Mayan civilization appeared 2,500 years ago
...
This process is also related to a matter that has not yet received a satisfactory
explanation: although more recent research has shown that, ethnically and linguistically, the Huaxtecs are
related to the great Maya family, nevertheless, while the Maya peoples have constantly developed culture,
reaching a high level, the Huaxtecs remained at a rather backward stage; they did not participate in the
development of hieroglyphic writing and the calendar, they did not use the typical elements of Mayan
architecture, and in art, although they created their own style, they kept it almost unchanged for millennia
...
The next date, engraved on a jadeite figurine, is 162 AD
...
until 126 - 250 AD The Olmec calendar was
taken over by the Mayans, who improved it making it the most accurate calendar in the world"
...
2
...

"Some archaeologists are of the opinion that the Mayan cities in the plains during this period formed a
federation whose leadership was in the hands of a small caste of priests and nobles, related and dominated by
religious concerns
...
The ruling blanket made a constant call for labor in the small
settlements around the city, for the construction of temples, pyramids, palaces, stars; the constructions were
erected after the corn harvest, when the common people could work on the carting of materials, under the
direction of architects, masons and stonemasons
...


‎ 1
...
Maya society
Maya culture and society reached its greatest development between 300 AD-900 AD In its early stages, the
Maya economy was mainly represented by agriculture, with maize as the main crop
...
The techniques of spinning, dyeing and weaving cotton
2

were highly perfected
...

Paleontologist David Lentz of the University of Cincinnati concluded not only that the Maya practiced forest
management, but that when they abandoned their forest conservation practices, it was to the detriment of the
entire Maya culture
...
It all boils down to the leaders and their actions
...
And in doing so they understood that the Maya
population, at least in the beginning, practiced forest care
...

"The Maya domesticated the dog and the turkey, but did not use beasts of burden or wheeled vehicles
...
Cocoa beans were also used as
currency
...
Feathers were also used
...
However, the metal tools remained undiscovered
...
The
common root also includes the Huastec languages, as well as others close to them, but which are no longer
spoken by very few locals
...
A very large number
of ruins are placed in archaeological sites that have helped scientists assess the very high level of development
that the civilizations in this area had reached in this area
...
These sites were once vast centers where religious ceremonies took place
...
The pyramids were built in successive
levels of cut stone blocks of considerable size and featured staircases on one or more sides leading to the
interior of the pyramid, the site of impressive religious ceremonies
As a secondary structure, earth and stone blocks were used on which mortar was spread
...
Wood was used only in sculpture
...
The interiors of the
pyramids, as well as buildings in general, were quite narrow, as were the windows, quite rare
...
The exteriors were decorated with painted sculptures
and stone mosaics
...
From the fibers of
a special plant, they imitated paper, grouping sheets with hieroglyphs in the so-called "codexes"
...

‎ The Mayan calendar system was an extremely elaborate one
...
"In addition, 360 days of the year were divided into 18 months of 20
3

days each
...
The Mayan calendar, although very complex, was also
the most known to humans, until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century
...
However, around the year 900, the
Mayan centers were abandoned for unknown reasons
...
The Toltec migration (or invasion, it is not known for sure) coming from the valley of Mexico
strongly influenced the architectural style
...
Following periods of civil war and even revolution, these centers were also abandoned
...
Chac was the god of rain, especially
invoked in folk rituals
...

After 900 AD, the Maya mysteriously declined in the region of southern Guatemala
...
The Spanish easily conquered these territories, although not completely, so that even in
the 20th century, the Mayan population is still the majority in the inhabited areas
...
However, many have adopted Spanish ways of life but part of the
modern population still clings to their traditions
...
4
...
During the Spanish conquest, at the
end of the 15th century and the beginning of the
next, the territory occupied by the Maya population
included Guatemala (with the exception of a few
regions on the Pacific coast), the western parts of
Salvador and Honduras, all of British Honduras,
and from Mexico the states Yucatan and
Campeche, the territory of Quintana Roo and the
eastern regions of the states of Tabasco and
Chiapas, therefore a territory of about 900 km
...
"
"The southern part of the trapezoid inhabited by the Mayans is a mountainous region with numerous high
peaks, mostly of volcanic origin, with cities located in valleys or on plateaus
...
"
Period of flowering of the Mayan culture, comprised between the years 320e
...
and 987 AD, historically
designated as the "old empire" is divided into three periods: 320-633; 633-731; 731-987
...

"After leaving the main cultural centers of the old empire, located mainly in the regions of the Usumacinta
and Motagua rivers, the Mayan civilization migrated mainly to the Atlantic coast, where they founded the
settlements of Chichen-Itza and Uxmal, and to the Pacific Ocean, where they founded the cities of Antigua,
Atitlan and Amatitlan
...
After a
period of relative independence, there is an important migration of the Toltecs, who conquer the most
important Mayan centers in Yucatan
...

The chronicles show that the occupation of the city of Chichen-Itza by the Itza Indians lasted over two
centuries
...

"So the new Maya empire moves its cultural centers to the north - from Uaxactun, Tikal, Pelenque and
Quirigua to Chichen-Itza, Mayapan and Uxmal, and adopts Toltec elements in its culture, the most important
being the worship of Quetzalcoatl-Kukulcan
...
Fernando Cortez describes: "The city
is located on a high rock, having on one side a large lake, and on the other side a deep river flowing into this
lake
...
Beyond the palisade is a fence of very thick boards, two feet high (about 3
...
Watchtowers rise 7 or 8 feet (2
...
40 m) above the so-called fence, and on
other towers stones are piled to serve as defense
...
"
During the period of Toltec influence and, later, under Aztec domination, there were several revolts and
independence movements of some Mayan cities
...
Mayapan, the main city in Yucatan, exerted a
strong political and religious influence on the entire region, uniting at one time 12 Mayan fortresses under his
hegemony
...

"The Aztec occupation followed, during which the Mayan centers provided slaves as a tribute for human
sacrifices, and finally the Spanish colonial occupation, which will give the old civilization the last blow, from

"The territory on which the Mayan population lives today was among the most inhabited tens of millennia
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which it will never rise again
...
In the periods
between these manifestations, only the nobility and the staff in charge of maintaining the religious edifices,
guarding the masks and ceremonial garments remained in the city
...

"The Maya cut in settlements spread over a vast space, near their cornfields, and on certain feast days they
come to the market to attend more important religious ceremonies
...
Several cities in Yucatan have monumental gates, some of imposing size
...
Here are the deposits of obsidian (hard volcanic glass,
formed by the rapid cooling of lava) which provided the raw material for the manufacture of knives and
spearheads; volcanic tuff capable of withstanding very high temperatures
...
The tail feathers of the
quetzal were the object of a very extensive trade, just like jade, which was among the most precious
ornaments
...
Among the
industrial plants, the most important were common agave, maguey and other varieties, used to make clothing,
bags for transport
...
Among the food plants cultivated: potatoes, sweet
potatoes, black beans, pumpkins and, above all, corn
...
Corn, their staple food, along with the long-feathered
quetzal bird, were the main elements of civilization Maya
...


‎ 1
...
The homes of the Mayans
Unlike cities, small Mayan settlements were placed in sheltered places, often in forest clearings
...
The roof had two slopes and was very high
...
In such a hut was found all the wealth of the family: metals,
ceramic vessels, jugs, firewood
...

There were also woven sacks containing corn kernels, and woven sacks for beans
...
A few small clay idols were kept on a policeman
...

Sometimes wooden plates and clay pots hung from the ceiling of the hut
...

Water vessels were kept near the entrance
...
In a corner of
the hut were the tools with which the man worked: obsidian or flint points, animal traps, a spear, two or three
skins, small bags with paints for pottery
...


‎ 1
...
Habits and daily activities
The Mayans were monogamous
...
Eric Thompson in his
very erudite book on the Mayas, ''The Rise and Decline of the Maya Civilization'', relates a custom on the
shores of Lake Atitlan: the young man breaks the pitcher of the one he desires, when she goes to get water; if
he does not protest, it means that he has nothing against it; on the contrary, protesting means that she refuses
him and he has nothing else to do but try with someone else
...
When hunting, they dug pits and made races; in the house, they maintained the
supply of wood and raised bees (they were of a special species, without a needle, and were raised in hives
made of hollow tree trunks, plugged at the ends with clay plugs, drilled for passage)
...

Then, the priest fixed the date of the marriage according to the astral position of the future spouses
...

"The women served at the table avoiding the men's eyes and turning their heads while they drank
...
Once born,
the child was brought up strictly, with great respect for the parents; and as the child saw that they, in turn, had
great respect for their parents, he naturally learned to respect others and, in particular, the elderly
...
Sometimes, in more affluent environments, it seems that the
parents pressed the baby's head between the boards in order to it gives a jagged shape, like a shell, which we
can see on numerous bas-reliefs (annex 5) ; In addition, men and women cut their incisors or encrusted their
teeth with small grains of pyrite, obsidian, or jade when they could
...
Until marriage, young people painted their whole body and face black; after marriage, red
was used, except during periods of fasting, when it was returned to black
...
To paint, engraved ceramic capsules were used that were dipped in
paint
...
"
"After a few years of living together in the hut of the wife's parents, the couple, helped by friends, built their
own hut in a milpa (cleared land for cultivation): this house could be of stone, in the north of Yu-catan, of
unburnt bricks, at the other end of the Mayan world, in the south of Guatemala, or of wood and palm
branches, in the central virgin forest, in general, these houses have not changed their appearance at all for two
millennia; the rectangular shape is much more often used than the round or square one
...
"
The more special houses had an interior dividing wall, along the length, the room at the entrance serving as a
common sitting and reception place, the other, at the back, being used only by the people of the house: this
interior screen-wall, covered in stucco could be adorned with paintings
...
The women got up very early, around three or four in the
morning and prepared table: tortillas (corn or bean cakes) or atoles; in the poorer families, atole was a warm
juice made from ground corn and boiled in water with honey, at dawn, the man left for the field, hunting or
other work
...
A painting from the Temple of the
Warriors at Chichen Itza shows a scene from a coastal village, where turtles, fish, clams, crabs and poisonous
sea cats swim around three boats, each with a man shoveling in front and, behind, two armed warriors,
standing
...
Remaining in
the hut, the woman was preparing the corn for the day, threshing it, grinding it on the stone to grind slightly
concave with the help of a stone roller
...
He could
also prepare a pozol k'oyem, which was taken on the road, wrapped in banana leaves: it is a variant of zacan,
which had to be soaked a little before being eaten
...
Near sunset,
the main meal was served: beans, turkey stew, fallow deer stew, peccaries, sometimes vegetables, chocolate
...
When he
finished his meal, the man took a warm bath every day, in a tub hollowed out of a cedar trunk
...
It is possible that the pungent smell of smoke permeated everything, especially the clothes
...
7
...
A civilization with an inexplicable calendar similar to that of the
Dacians, with cosmic data calculated up to millions of years in the past, thus having extraordinarily advanced
astronomical knowledge
...
The Mayan year had 365
...
242198 days
...
2425 days
...
This date has obsessed
mankind for several centuries, and various explanations have been sought for it , most of them of a religious
nature, especially since some passages offer arguments in this sense
...
The
changes expected in 2012 will completely alter life on Earth and humanity itself
...
This energy is taken up by the
Sun and then spread throughout the solar system
...
The center of the Galaxy is in
the Pleiades Constellation, marked by the star Alciona, the central Sun of the Pleiades, 400 light years away
...
Our solar system passes through this Belt twice in

"The territory on which the Mayan population lives today was among the most inhabited tens of millennia
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25,920 years, a period considered the Galactic Year (called the Great Year by the ancients), and the passage of
the Belt takes 2000 years
...

Encountering the Photon Belt seems to lead to the transformation of man prophesied by the Bible, to a terrible
spiritual experience
...
In other words, a great natural selection will
take place on the spiritual basis mentioned
...
And energy is
information, and vice versa
...
Man also naturally fits
into the universal organization
...

The proof that these are energies in a pure state is given to us by the findings over time and the scientific
research of the last two centuries
...
Like any energy, human feelings,
experiences and thoughts have a certain vibration
...

"In the Universe, nothing is accidental, and everything is subordinated to a single purpose: the perpetuation
and evolution of life
...
There are universal
chemical, physical, astronomical and even legal laws
...
Life must evolve by its own forces, without caustic
management, to face the most difficult situations
...
The Mayans are a trend of the moment, present on everyone's lips, but about whose
lifestyle people know little
...

â‎ The Mesoamericans began writing in the middle of the Pre-Classic period, between 2,000 B
...
and 300 AD
However, the Mayans were the first occupants of this region who kept historical "records" and who laid the
foundations of a complex form of time measurement
...
They also inscribed their religious beliefs and
mythology on the pottery
...
Depending on
the needs, the Mayans used one calendar or another to record their various events
...

The first archaeologists who undertook research in the ancient cities noticed that the Mayan population
regularly added, every 52 years, a new layer of stone or stucco to the old pyramids
...
No ancient people obtained in their calculations a figure
closer to the duration of the astronomical year, which is 365,242,198 days
...
000 069 days, that is, a little more than half a
second in a year
...
"

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"A monument with strange architecture in Chichen-Itza, of a type unknown in other parts of the new world, is
the snail, or "snail", as archaeologists have called it
...
In the wall of a circular corridor there are four
other smaller openings oriented to the NW, NE, SW, SE
...
This building served the Mayan priests
from the era of the new empire as an astronomical observatory; here the study of the stars and calendar
calculations were carried out
...
A
particularly important place is occupied by Venus, which the ancient Mayans identified with
Quetzalcoatl-Kukulcan
...
Modern researchers have managed to decipher the signs of this calendar and the systems used
...
Regarding this, one theory holds that since the number of 260 days represents the duration of a
pregnancy, the calendar would have been based on this, while other hypotheses propose the duration of the
cultivation of corn as a point of reference
...
â‎
They played a very important role in the Mayan culture , and the numbers 20 and 13 were central to their
calendars
...
Also, in the Mayan culture, the Eden
from where the sacred lords ruled the world counted 13 spiritual levels
...
In the Gregorian calendar , we have seven days
of the week and, depending on the month, between 28 and 31 days
...
The days are numbered from 13 to 13, and the names are repeated
sequentially from 20 to 20
...
Days continue until all 13 numbers
are used
...
Once 13 B'en is
reached , it will continue with 1 Ix, 2 Men 3 Kib' and so on until the 20th Ajaw designation
...

For this reason, the Tzolk'in calendar features 260 unique days
...
A larger one, of 20 names, and a smaller one, of 13 digits
...

In addition to its conventional use, the Mayans also gave the calendar an occult meaning , similar to the one
we have today
...
The Maya also used the calendar to set their agricultural crop
schedule
...

The priests used the calendar to determine when certain events were to occur during the year
...
He then determined the most prosperous or lucky dates for the

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community
...
While Tzolk'in served these activities
effectively, it could not be used for all purposes needed by the Maya
...
For this reason, the Mayans
needed a more precise calendar to measure what we today call a year, a necessity that led to the creation of the
Haab calendar
...
It was based on the rotation of the Earth around the Sun
and was used for agriculture, economics and "accounting" activities
...

Unlike the Tzolk'in, which used 13 uninals to represent 260 days, the Haab contained 18 uninals for a total of
360 unique days
...
"
However, although this calendar lasted longer than the Tzolk'in, the Maya wanted to create one that
encompassed an even greater period, so they thought of combining the two methods of chronological
management in the representation of the Spherical Calendar
...
The two were combined in
the same way that numbers and names were correlated in the Tzolk'in calendar
...

It was the most comprehensive calendar in Mesoamerica up to that time, but Mayan astronomers wanted to
"map" time across generations
...
The duration it represents is
called the Great Cycle and consists of approximately 5,125 years and four months
...
Today's researchers, however, were ambitious to decipher this ultimate "technology" of the Mayans
and concluded that in order to find a correspondence with the days of the Gregorian calendar, it is necessary to
number the days from the beginning of the Great Cycle of the Great Counters
...

An "empty" space of over thirty-six centuries, which archaeologists and historians are going to fill with the
help of researchers who are currently working on the entire territory belonging to the ancient Mayan
civilization
...

"The life concepts of the ancient Mayans were strongly influenced by the early concept, which is completely
foreign to Mediterranean and Western thought
...

Many of the texts inscribed on the monuments refer to calculations that go far into the past or future
...
After archaeologists,
historians and linguists, it is now the turn of astronomers and mathematicians to investigate the vestiges of

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this culture, with its oddities and contradictions
...
Climate change and global warming, which
threaten us more and more strongly, reinforce as much as possible the cynical statement of our dear physicist
...
12
...
Then the
cosmic womb Hunab Ku will give birth to a new sun, called the Sixth Sun, another more evolved world to be
born
...

Lately, for several years now, we keep hearing various speculations about the year 2012, or more precisely
about the date of 12
...
2012
...
What is the world
saying? Time is shortened by living 16 hours instead of 24, human DNA is reprogrammed changing its
structure from 2 spirals to 12, we will enter the fourth and fifth dimensions, the vibrational level of people
increases, the magnetic poles change, the axis the earth goes a little crazy and changes, our sun has nothing to
do and aligns itself with the stars in the center of the Milky Way, we are heading with dizzying steps towards
the photon belt
...
And it's as if with such an avalanche of information you feel like
saying: "leave me with your nonsense!"
...
12
...
They say that on 21
...
2012 will culminate the alignment of our sun with
the stars at the center of the Milky Way! This time, light and shadow will project the Feathered Serpent
descending the steps of the Chichen Itza pyramid, which has a large snake's head carved into the stone at its
base
...

Dr
...
Chase - University of Central Florida reports â‎ When you look at
the snake's winding movements, different associations come to mind
...
" Perhaps
this visual phenomenon is something more than a religious symbol
...
"We do not know what
exactly this shadow of the snake symbolizes, one thing is certain, it took a wide knowledge in science and
astronomy to achieve such effects
...

Many believe that in this phenomenon there is a warning from Kukulkan about the end of the world
...
12
...
11, the tail of the snake projected from the top
of the pyramid will reach exactly towards the constellation of the Pleiades, in an alignment similar to that of
Quetzalcoatl's pyramid in Teotihuacan
...
0
...
0
...
The 13th baktun of the Great Cycle will take place on
December 21, 23, 2012 (13
...
0
...
0)
...
The
Great Mayan Count is 5125 years
...
7 years or "little counting")
...
The center
represents the fifth sun, the god Tonatiuh
...


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Those who believe in the prophecy show another parallel between the events of the galaxy in 2012 and the
Mayan culture, namely the games they played
...
Indeed, the religious character
of this game was observed, which merged with the rhythm of divination: the priests, as intermediaries of the
sacred powers, had the task of interpreting the future according to the way the game unfolded
...
Although they have varied in time and space, the general rules of the game have been handed
down to us by the first Spanish chroniclers who had the opportunity to follow such "representations" or
parties
...
Mexican codices (Vindobonensis, Magliabecchi
...
The ancient ground for the "Ballgame" in Chichen Itza was the the
largest of any in the territories where the Maya lived
...
The team that opened the scoring won
...
Jacques Soustelle states that they did not kill them, they only stripped them and perhaps indulged
in simulations of symbolic sacrifices
...

Just like in the Old World, from sacred and religious in origin, the theater also gradually became a secular and
profane entertainment
...
Fifty courts were counted in the cities of northern Yucatan,
which demonstrates the sacred character of this game
...
The
old playground in Copan, with the six aras statues placed on the side steps, confirms the solar character of the
game: in Mayan thought, indeed, the ara represents the disguise of the solar god
...

A long frieze in bas-relief, at Chichen Itza, seems to prove that bloody practices were carried out during the
Itzas at the end of the parties; one of the actors can be seen adorned with feathers, holding in one hand the
severed head of his unfortunate opponent and in the other hand an obsidian dagger
...

This is more than just a game
...

‎ "The symbolism of the ball game is very interesting from the point of view of the 2012 alliance
...
We remember that the alignment
from 2012 is of the sun with the center of the galaxy
...
When the ball enters the circle, it's the end of the era
...
The
playing field had the shape of an elongated H, surrounded by steps or sloping walls, with a very strong
inclination
...
The rules are somewhat reminiscent of modern
basketball and football! The rings could materialize the sunrise and sunset of the solar star
...
Each team defended a zone and players could only touch the ball with
their hip, leg (knee) and right elbow; Popol-Vuh, on the other hand, forbids the use of the head, legs and arms!

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Falls, ordinary, could be deadly, so violent was the game
...

Astronomers, it is likely that the Mayans scientifically designed the calendar to end on 12/21/2012
...
Did the
Mayans believe that this cosmic phenomenon would cause a catastrophe? They may have left clues in their
sacred texts or on the playing field, but a definite answer cannot be given
...
We can't talk to any of them
...
They were so interested that they gave them names
...
Perhaps the key to
understanding the meaning of apocalyptic prophecy lies not in the cosmos, but rather down here on Earth
...
â‎ Bruce
Scofield, researcher of Mayan astrology
...
What exactly will happen
on that day? The collapse of the Mayan civilization may be an ominous sign
...
The Mayans will
repopulate their cities only after hundreds of years
...
When the Spanish came, they found a large
population
...
What caused this sudden collapse of the southern
Maya? No one can answer
...

They realized that there would be changes in their numerical calendar
...
The demise is believed to have occurred in the 10th katun of the calendar cycle
...

"Again there are disturbances on Earth
...
It is a time of foreign
occupation, change and sadness
...
If the Mayans were
based on the idea that history repeats itself in cosmic cycles, is it possible that their collapse will be due to a
cosmic catastrophe? One scientist's theory suggests that a number of sunspots may have caused climate
warming, leading to drought and famine
...
The decline of the Maya civilization was due to a combination of causes
...
On the other hand, greed had led to the proliferation of kingdoms
...
"John Major Jenkins, author of
the book "Maya 2012"
...
All civilizations are born, flourish and perish
...
In fact, the Mayans even suggest in their calendar that after 2012, a new era may be born
...
After 2012 there will be a repeat of katun 2
...

It is only one way of interpreting the end of the world
...
For them, the prophecy is a warning that, if ignored, can lead to real disasters
...
Galactic forces are aligning
...
What will happen on the fateful
day of December 21, 2012? The answer, according to the scholars who deciphered it, is found in the last page
of the Dresden Codex
...
They talk about the

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cycle of Venus, lunar cycles and eclipses
...

This is how the Mayans conceived their scenario of the Apocalypse
...
Arien F
...

"Whether the Mayans saw the apocalypse as occurring in 2012 is only a matter of interpretation
...
In our culture, 2012 is seen as the end of a cycle
...
The calendar
continues and does not end in 2012
...
Arien F
...

"In 2012, several planets will align, and some Mayan prophecies say that, when the planets align, it will be the
end of the world
...
We must understand that their perspective was a special
one
...
â‎
While skeptics rightly deny the Apocalypse, others embrace the prophecy and see the catastrophic events of
12/21/2012 as a revival
...
If we look around, we see this
happening: major hurricanes, land devastation and socio-political changes
...
The Mayan prophecy for 2012 is about transformation and
renewal
...

"Things will change without a doubt
...
In time, when historians will
think about the period around 2012, plus or minus 1-2 decades, they will say that it was an era of great
changes, when humanity had to come to terms with itself
...
According to them, man-made crises and natural disasters predicted 200 years ago are
signs that, if ignored, lead to our destruction
...
We humans tend to ignore warnings until disaster
strikes
...
Could global
warming cause stronger hurricanes or an ice age? We don't know for sure
...
Today's society is not ready to run out of oil
...
We are already seeing the world's superpowers placing their pieces
on the chessboards of the Middle East
...
" Steve Alten author of the
book "Domain"
...
Do we ignore it as a
superstition of an ancient culture that did not survive? Or do we see it as a warning from a civilization whose
knowledge of the universe exceeds our own? Only time will tell
...

In a publication in the Telegraph magazine on Oct 11, 2009 â‎ Apolinario Chile Pixum, a Mayan from
Guatemala contradicts all the current current of opinion by declaring that the Mayan apocalypse theory is a
catastrophic Western idea that would not have full coverage in the ancient sources of the Mayan civilization
...
"
The ancient Mayan declares himself alone in the face of the avalanche of New Age philosophers , ultimatum
ads that litter the Internet, and television producers who, in search of sensationalism, willfully mix

"The territory on which the Mayan population lives today was among the most inhabited tens of millennia
15
a

Nostradamus' predictions with Mayan texts
...

On the same side of the barricade as the Mayan sage are many specialists who say they are concerned about
the proportions of mass hysteria that are increasing as we approach the so-called fateful date
...
Personal
dramas of people do not stop here, for example we had the emotional case of a mother with two young
children who declared herself torn at the thought that she would not live to see her children grow up",
announced Ann Martin, researcher at Cornell University in the United States United
...

Unfortunately, erosion and some cracks in the stones on which the texts were engraved make the last passage
impossible to decipher
...
"
There are voices that claim that the Mayans did not record anything beyond this fateful date, but there are
documents that seem to contradict this
...
Many of these are presented as very distant dates
...
0
...
00
...
King Pakal of Palenqu e predicted that on this date an important Mayan event would celebrate
its 88th anniversary, thus suggesting that he did not believe that the world would end in 2012
...
"For the ancient Maya, the date represents a great celebration of the end of an
entire cycle," said Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican
Studies in Florida
...
Their opinion is also supported by E
...
We know for sure that the Mayan civilization knew that there
had been such a cycle before, which implied that they knew that a another
...
For them, the message of the prophecies is that we must maintain an optimistic attitude
about the future
...
So far, however,
they have been wrong every time
...
1
...

Thousands of constructions amaze even today with the harmony of the forms, the simplicity of the plans and
the beauty
...

‎ Archaeologists have unearthed a series of Mayan sculptures depicting cosmic monsters, gods and snakes in

"The territory on which the Mayan population lives today was among the most inhabited tens of millennia
16
a

the northern jungle of Guatemala
...
The ornamental elements, almost eight meters long, were created around 300 BC
"At the end of three months of excavation, archaeologists unearthed, last March (2009), in the northern jungle
of Guatemala, a series of Mayan sculptures depicting cosmic monsters, gods and snakes, making up the oldest
representation of the famous Maya myth of creation
...
Advisor to Mel
Gibson for the film "Apocalypto" from 2006, where the history of the Mayan civilization occupies a central
place, Hansen stated that on one of the slabs found in the jungle, a corn deity is depicted, framed by a snake,
the other represents the two hero twin brothers, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, surrounded by monsters
...
an alien being
...
For "Archaeology" magazine,
Hansen told that the plot of "Apocalypto" is based on the story of the rise and fall of the Mayans, who
possessed incredible political and economic power, so that the system built by them was destroyed
...
The Mayans built huge temples for 2,000 years and mysteriously disappeared around 900
AD But the El Mirador Basin was abandoned much earlier, retaining a complex network of roads, aqueducts
and a massive, covered pyramid now by a thick layer of vegetation
...
Pointing out that many scenes in the movie "Apocalypto" were inspired by the research in El
Mirador, he added that the violence of the Mayans, presented on the big screen, came rather from the
influence of the Aztecs, merciless in their conquests and who practiced the sacrifice of victims, a method also
extended in some Maya areas
...


‎ 2
...
Ceramics
The raw material from which Maya pottery was created has long been a true touchstone for researchers
...

"Geochemical evidence shows that the Mayans used a mixture of clay and volcanic ash to make pottery
...
However, there
is no evidence of an active volcano in the Mayan-populated area
...
The Mayan civilization did not have
roads and beasts of burden to allow the transport of such fragile pottery
...
It's hard to believe that the Maya transported tons of volcanic ash
annually from hundreds of miles away," said Brianne Catlin, a geoarchaeologist at the University of
California
...
The first results do not prove, however, a connection between the Mayan
pottery and the ash collected from these locations
...
3
...

Construction materials were found in abundance: wood and calcareous stone
...
With lime and sand, a solid cementation was obtained, in a mixture also
used as plaster
...
The calcareous stone, otherwise very resistant, when it was taken out of the quarry, was soft,
lending itself very easily to shaping and carving
...
The Mayan temples have something of those of the Acropolis, the Mayan
pyramids of the Egyptian ones, but at the same time they are built according to original, unique, special
concepts than any other known edifices in the ancient world
...
It is a square pyramid, over eight meters high
...
To protect them against floods, to give them a more imposing appearance, the
edifices were built on under a structure, a large terrace of 1-1
...

Another architectural peculiarity: sometimes, along the ridge of the roof, a high, reticular perforated wall was
built, which had an exclusively ornamental purpose
...
The
walls were plastered and the facades, like in Palenque, decorated with large surfaces of decorative sculpture
...
Among the most interesting are:
Copan, Quirigua, Lubaantun, Casa de las Monjas, San Jose
...

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
...
Univers, Bucharest, 2007
...
Braudel, Fernand, Grammaire des civilizations, Flammarion, Paris, 1993
...
Burland, Cottie, Peoples of the Sun, Ed
...

4
...

5
...
II, Ed
...
VESTALA,
Bucharest, 2003
...
Huntington, Samuel P
...
SAMIZDAT,
Ed
...


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7
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8
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9
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10
...
Lohon, Octavian, The world of a continent, Romanian Writing, Craiova, 1984
...
Morretta, Angelo, Myths of ancient Mexican civilizations, Technical Ed
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13
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14
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Coresi, Bucharest, 2008
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Meridiane, Bucharest, 1979
...
Vázquez, Germán, Diaz, Nelson MartÃ−nez, Historia de América Latina, SGEL (Sociedad General
Española de Libreria), Madrid, 1994

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