Wikipedia states that 11th or 13th August 3114 BC, was the date from which the Mayan Long Count calendar started (rectified to the way we presently count time). It's from this date that their now famous cycle began - the one that ends on 21 December 2012.
In the words of The Bard, "aye, there's the rub".
I've gathered that the date in mid-August was selected by Mayan astrologers, astrononmers and calendar constructors due to the position of the Milky Way in the skies over their part of the world at that point on their calendar.
If we are talking about the start of history, or civilisation, as a date from which to begin making a count based on the positions and cycles of the stars and planets, any date settled upon is nebulous at best. Why would cycles, based on the position of celestial bodies, start from some arbitrary point when humans had become sufficiently sophisticated to set themselves into some semblance of organisation? Cycles began at the time the Earth and our solar system began. 2012, or any other date calculated from any calendar of any ancient civilisation, simply form a part of their civilisation's myth and legend, nothing more.
I'm a mere lay-person, and have probably either missed the point, or grabbed a hold of the wrong end of the ancient stick. Still, it's something worth considering. Think, also, how much money has been accumulated by authors and TV presentations, and movies, based on this (probable) myth involving 2012.
In the words of The Bard, "aye, there's the rub".
I've gathered that the date in mid-August was selected by Mayan astrologers, astrononmers and calendar constructors due to the position of the Milky Way in the skies over their part of the world at that point on their calendar.
August 13, 3114 BC is as precise and accurate as one can get for a beginning of history: the first Egyptian dynasty is dated to ca 3100 BC; the first 'city,' Uruk, in Mesopotamia, also ca 3100 BC; the Hindu Kali Yuga, 3102 BC; and most interestingly, the division of time into 24 hours of 60 minutes each and each minute into 60 seconds [and the division of the circle into 360 degrees], also around 3100 BC, in Sumeria.But that surely refers to the start of some level of human civilisation. The Earth and solar system are estimated to have formed some 4.6 billion years ago. That was "creation" proper.
If the beginning of history was so accurately placed, then must not the end of history, December 21, 2012 also be as accurate? See here.
If we are talking about the start of history, or civilisation, as a date from which to begin making a count based on the positions and cycles of the stars and planets, any date settled upon is nebulous at best. Why would cycles, based on the position of celestial bodies, start from some arbitrary point when humans had become sufficiently sophisticated to set themselves into some semblance of organisation? Cycles began at the time the Earth and our solar system began. 2012, or any other date calculated from any calendar of any ancient civilisation, simply form a part of their civilisation's myth and legend, nothing more.
I'm a mere lay-person, and have probably either missed the point, or grabbed a hold of the wrong end of the ancient stick. Still, it's something worth considering. Think, also, how much money has been accumulated by authors and TV presentations, and movies, based on this (probable) myth involving 2012.
