Oldest Maya sun observatory hints at origin of civilization‏

Researchers excavating in the ancient Maya city of Ceibal discovered the oldest ceremonial constructions ever, dating back to 1000 BC. These buildings later became widespread throughout the Maya world and were used as solar observatories. The oldest ancient Maya ceremonial compound ever discovered in the Central American lowlands dates back 200 years before similar sites pop up elsewhere in the region, archaeologists announced today (April 25).

The recently excavated plaza and pyramid would have likely served as a solar observatory for rituals. The finding at a site called Ceibal suggests that the origins of the Maya civilization are more complex than first believed. Archaeologists hotly debate whether the Maya - famous for their complex calendar system that spurred apocalypse rumors last year - developed independently or whether they were largely inspired by an earlier culture known as the Olmec.

The new research suggests the answer is neither. "This major social change happened through interregional interactions," said study researcher Takeshi Inomata, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona. But it doesn't look like the Olmec inspired the Maya, Inomata told reporters.

Rather, the entire region went through a cultural shift around 1000 B.C., with all nearby cultures adopting similar architectural and ceremonial styles. [See Images of the Ancient Maya Observatory] "It's signaling to us that the Maya were not receiving this sophisticated stuff 500 years later from somebody else, but much of the innovation we're seeing out of the whole region may be coming out of Ceibal or a place like Ceibal," said Walter Witschey, an anthropologist at Longwood University in Virginia, who was not involved in the study.

Source

I love reading things on the Mayans and I found this article really interesting, so I thought I would share
I'm not completely sold on the idea, but I don't rule it out either, everything has to start somewhere.

reply to post by sarahlm
I immediately thought how in relation of when our civilization transitioned from the 1450's, or the Renaissance Era, which saw the birth of modern printing - compared to our transituon into the Internet Age.

Man... and that was one helluva transition to boot, wasn't it!

I found this pretty interesting.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Ess and eff!

Pretty awsome find there,

S&f

Very interesting

One point of caution ,I could trace this back to a journalistic story only and not the original paper by Takeshi Inomata so what we are seeing is the interpretation by an untrained journalist based on either an interview or reading of a paper by the dude himself, sometimes misinterpretations can arise from such endeavours.

But kewl nonetheless

S&F

Makes me wonder who came to America before the Maya, Aztecs, Olmec and from where... Asia?

Maya??? Many people dont' believe them any more since 21/12/2012 passed and nothing happened..

Originally posted by Frantasy
Maya??? Many people dont' believe them any more since 21/12/2012 passed and nothing happened..

It's not the Mayan's fault the Western World are morons for misinterpreting that date.

Originally posted by the_philth

Originally posted by Frantasy
Maya??? Many people dont' believe them any more since 21/12/2012 passed and nothing happened..

It's not the Mayan's fault the Western World are morons for misinterpreting that date.

ftfy

It's not the Mayan's fault that a minority in the Western World were morons for misinterpreting that date.

Originally posted by the_philth

Originally posted by Frantasy
Maya??? Many people dont' believe them any more since 21/12/2012 passed and nothing happened..

It's not the Mayan's fault the Western World are morons for misinterpreting that date.

Regardless if the date was misinterpreted or not, the way the prophecy read did not say that it was going to be an abrupt end to the world. It said that it would bring about a great change, a new beginning. Although, I do believe that this "great change" will, in turn, bring about the end of the world. But don't blame the Mayan's! They were, in my opinion, some of the most intelligent people who ever walked the face of this Earth.

Originally posted by Hanslune

Originally posted by the_philth

Originally posted by Frantasy
Maya??? Many people dont' believe them any more since 21/12/2012 passed and nothing happened..

It's not the Mayan's fault the Western World are morons for misinterpreting that date.

ftfy

It's not the Mayan's fault that a minority in the Western World were morons for misinterpreting that date.

Good lookin' out brother!

Originally posted by qualm91
Regardless if the date was misinterpreted or not, the way the prophecy read did not say that it was going to be an abrupt end to the world. It said that it would bring about a great change, a new beginning. Although, I do believe that this "great change" will, in turn, bring about the end of the world. But don't blame the Mayan's! They were, in my opinion, some of the most intelligent people who ever walked the face of this Earth.

"Great change" does not mean "end of the world."

The onliest "end of the world" will be, when our Sun decides to blow us to smithereens!

Then, IF Mother Earth decides to live on for another round, its brand new civilization will probably end up recording the movements of the moon and stars, and they'll understand how the movements of their universe affects life and time in their new World; and they as well will probably record some significant (end) date for their civilization to celebrate --- however, its future, arrogant, *technologically advanced* civilization will just as easily misinterpret said date as The Apocalypse!

Rinse and Repeat!