John Major Jenkins | The 2012 Story | Part 1 of 2

John Major Jenkins discussed what he sees happening in less than two years based on the Mayan calendar, how that calendar was rediscovered and the various ways the 2012 idea has been interpreted. The Mayan Long Count calendar was developed around 2,100 years ago in Izapa, Mexico, using data calculated over hundreds of years, he detailed. The reason why they chose the end date in 2012 was to "target the rare alignment with the solstice sun with the Milky Way galaxy," though it is a misnomer to think of this as the end of their calendar, he said. The other big misconception is the 'doomsday' interpretation, first expressed in a book by Michael Coe in the 1960s, and more recently picked up by the media, and in movies like Roland Emmerich's 2012, Jenkins continued. We in the West tend to associate endings with Armageddon, but that is not the mindset of the Maya who thought in terms of cycles, he explained. Jenkins also talked about his research at Tortuguero, where ancient inscriptions referenced the 2012 date, as well as some of the historiography associated with the Maya & 2012, including the Harmonic Convergence, and the works of Jose Arguelles, and Carl Calleman.