Secondly, we delved into the remarkable calendar system of the Olmec, Aztec, and particularly the Mayan cultures, showing that these
ancient peoples clearly understood the rare celestial movement called the precession of the equinoxes, and indeed based their calendrical calculations
on it. We also discovered that the Mayans, like many of the great preceding civilizations, knew that an age was precisely 1/5 of the Great
Precessional Cycle of 25,625 years, or 5125 years. According to the Mayans and Aztecs, the age in which we now live today will come to an end in
exactly the year 2012 A.D.
[snip]...
The cycles are directly linked to 2012.
I can't let that rest at that... I stand by my request to name
more than two independent societies who believed 'something' was going to happen
in the year 2012.
You have named one. The Maya. The Maya themselves knew nothing of precession, and their calendar makes no use of a 25,800 year period. The longest
normal period they used was the 'Great Cycle' of 5,125 years (of which five come to 25,625 years, although the Maya make no reference to any special
signifcance of a fivefold multiple of the great cycle, and this number is also not related to precession - see later).
Source).
The Aztec and Olmec are - for the purposes of this topic - using the same calendar and derive from an older common mesoamerican culture. They are the
same culture for these purposes.
In more detail, the cycle of precession of the equinoxes is NOT 25,625 years. It is very doubtful that any ancient cultures knew anything about it at
all.
Source
And some unbiased sources on the period of precession:
en.wikipedia.org... - cycle of the precession of the equinoxes is 25,800
years
www.encyclopedia.com... - cycle of the precession of the
equinoxes is approx. 26,000 years
www.answers.com/topic/precession - cycle of the precession of equinoxes is 25,800 years
www.experiencefestival.com... - cycle of
the precession of equinoxes if 25,920 years, and this from a heavily pro-2012 site!
If we are going to trust an ancient and complex calendar then - if precession was really understood - we should expect it to be known as accurately as
other elements comprising the calendar. If the calendar was meant to be based on precession accurately, we would have a real end-of-cycle ocurring in
a year quite far removed from 2012.
[edit on 12-10-2006 by d60944]
