Mayan Mistake?

            According to the Mayans, the world is going to end on December 21, 2012, but according to recent studies of the Mayan calendar it may be off by 60 days at a minimum. In fact, the Mesoamerican calendar never predicted the end of the world, one of the different calendars that was used was the Long Count, which measured 52 years and was used to mark past and future events. It was believed that the Long Count calendar would run out after a certain number of years, over 5,000. The calendar started in 3114 B.C. and ended the first cycle in 2012.

            Scholars were able to correlate the Mayan calendar with our modern Gregorian one by analyzing events that happen in both. Questions have come up if the correlation between the two is accurate, due to the use of planet alignment of Venus at one time and the close resemblance to a meteor that had passed through at the same time. This mismatch has lead to further doubts about the accuracy of the Mayan calendar to predict future events, as in doomsday.

            I find it interesting how scholars were even able to make a correlation between the two calendars, even if it is inaccurate. I do not think the Mayans predicted doomsday, just didn’t feel like continuing their calendar that far into the future, to me 5,000 years is a good head start. Its just a matter of time till someone finds another ancient prediction of the end of the world.

http://news.discovery.com/space/the-2012-mayan-calendar-doomsday-date-might-be-wrong.html