Maya is one of the ancient civilizations that inhabited the territory of Central America two thousand years before the birth of Christ. The Maya tribes were considered highly developed and had amazing knowledge of mathematics and astronomy for that time. Thanks to their knowledge, they created a calendar that was used by other peoples of Central America.
800 years before Columbus discovered America, a calendar unique for that time was developed by astrologers of the Mayan tribe on the territory of modern Mexico and Guatemala. In addition, the Maya introduced the twenty-digit counting system (according to the number of fingers and toes), spread hieroglyphs and pictograms as writing and became the founders of a special type of architecture. However, all these achievements, undoubtedly important for subsequent generations, are of interest today only to researchers - historians and archaeologists. But almost everyone knows about the Mayan calendar, due to the fact that this topic is constantly discussed in the media and on the Internet.
The creation of the calendar was preceded by years, decades of observations of heavenly bodies. One of the first on earth, the Maya Indians built observatories in which sages observed natural and astronomical cycles. Astronomy and astrology for the Maya were applied sciences: the knowledge gained was used to calculate successful days for agriculture. Modern astronomers state: the observations of the ancient tribes for celestial bodies were so accurate that they practically coincide with those of today, made with the help of modern computers and telescopes!
Maya calendars were often not calendars in the usual sense of the word. So, the time of the autumn and spring equinox, the tribes determined by the pyramids or stone walls of temples, built with a special location relative to the course of the sun. More "mobile" calendars were no less mysterious: at first glance, they represented a collection of incomprehensible hieroglyphs and pictograms and required many years of careful study. In fact, it turned out that most calendars describe the cycles of the sun and the moon, the movements of the stars and indicate auspicious dates for sacrifices and other holidays of the cult.
According to other information obtained from the Mayan calendars, the ancient tribes of Central America believed that life on earth was cyclical, and subdivided periods into "times of the sun." Our time was considered by the Maya the time of the Fifth Sun, or "Sun of Motion". This period, judging by the calendar, should end on December 23, 2012. The only question is what exactly will happen. According to one theory, the earth will be "moved" by a powerful natural cataclysm that will put an end to human civilization. The adherents of this hypothesis believe that the main sign of the imminent "end of the world" is the fact that in 2012 the Mayan calendars are cut off. However, there is an alternative version of the interpretation of the calendar, according to which, from December 2012, a new astrological era will simply begin. This theory is supported by the fact that in the ancient city of Shultun, another calendar was excavated by archaeologists on a preserved fragment of the building wall. According to him, humanity will live for at least another seven thousand years.
