Community | April 27, 2012 | 25 comments

Cracking the Maya Code

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56t6WSbg7eY

Vierotchka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56t6WSbg7eY

The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind a riddle: an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on stone monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. Because the invading Spanish suppressed nearly all knowledge of how the script worked, unlocking its meaning posed one of archaeology's fiercest challenges. Until now.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Learn,   Quetzalcoatl & Tezcatlipoca,   EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES
  2. tags:
    Archeology,  Maya,  Mayans,  Nova,  2 more
  3. recommended by:
    Vierotchka
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25 comments // Cracking the Maya Code // Video

  • savroD
    • +1
      savroD  

    • Folks....
      Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Though the Mayans were indeed accomplished astronomers, we know more about how the universe was, is, and will be with a detail they could have only dreamed of. And for those of you who are incessantly talking about clocks and calenders, a couple things you might want to consider. First, our atomic clocks today are more accurate than anything Mayan; they evn can prove relativity and the resulting time dillaation associated with near speed of light travel. Second, yes, they did a better job at the calender than the Christians of the dark ages. They obviously were more interested in what is going on around them than the christians of the time. How is that not a surprise!

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  
    • savroD:

      Consider this: the ancient Mayan calendar calculates the solar year to be 365.2420 days (minus an error of .0002). Our modern calendar calculates the solar year to be 365.2425 days (plus an error of .0003).
      .0001 might not seem like much of a difference but it nonetheless shows that the Maya invented the most accurate calendar humanity has ever produced.

    • 1 year ago
  • savroD
    • 0
      savroD  
    • coolplanet:

      A solar year is actually 365.24219340277777777777777777777778 days!

      If you understand the difference between precision and accuracy you will begin to see how misinformed what you wrote was!

    • 1 year ago
  • warman1138
  • CELTIXSHAMROX
    • +1
      CELTIXSHAMROX  

    • Since the Mayans calculated the movement of the stars so accurately and these codes are in reference to them, decoding them will be that much more difficult!

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  
    • CELTIXSHAMROX:

      Most of the surviving Maya glyphs have been translated and it is astounding how much they knew about astronomical cycles. The Maya and fellow Mesoamericans devised the most accurate calendars known to man. All the fuss over 12/21/12 is the fact that they were able to calculate the end of their calendar's 'Great Cycle' to the Winter Solstice of 2012 thousands of years ago.
      In a nutshell Mesoamericans were able to calculate solstices with complete accuracy some 3.000 years into the future.

    • 1 year ago
  • savroD
    • +1
      savroD  
    • coolplanet:

      Great acomplishment only given the tools at their disposal. Unrivalled in human history? No way Jose! We can create today a calender of unparalleled accuracy. The only problem is you'll have to deal with billions of delusional christians!

    • 1 year ago
  • 20thsieclefox
  • coolplanet
  • artemis6
  • KB723
  • coolplanet
  • artemis6
  • coolplanet
  • artemis6
  • ChriztDizciple
  • Vierotchka
  • kennymotown
  • JRBarilla
    • +8
      JRBarilla  

    • Won't get to watch until lunch but would like to say the fact that the Mayans (as well as other ancient civilizations) had knowledge of planets and other galaxies that we had not discovered in modern civilization until just the last 100-150 years or so is quite fascinating.

    • 1 year ago
  • CELTIXSHAMROX
    • 0
      CELTIXSHAMROX  

    • Since we don't use the same calendar that the Mayans used the time scale will be slightly off. Secondly, the end date on one calendar, simply means the beginning date on the next!

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
  • Vierotchka
    • +7
      Vierotchka  

    • The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind a riddle: an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on stone monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. Because the invading Spanish suppressed nearly all knowledge of how the script worked, unlocking its meaning posed one of archaeology's fiercest challenges. Until now.

    • 1 year ago
  • CensorCat
    • +3
      CensorCat [removed]  
    • Vierotchka:

      Fantastic topic. I've been to
      several of the Mayan ruins, such
      as the Pyramids in Mexico, some
      of which were later taken over by
      the Aztecs (after they almost wiped out
      the Mayan civilization). The Mayans
      were a peaceful people, whereas the
      Aztecs were warlike.

      I could go on about this topic at length,
      but will just say again that I appreciate
      your offering.

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
  • coolplanet
    • +4
      coolplanet  
    • Vierotchka:

      I was hoping that the documentary would have touched upon the appearance of the Feathered Serpent Kukulcan (Quetzalcoalt) in the Tenth Century AD who did away with all human sacrifice and brought an era of peace to not only the Maya but the Aztec, Toltec, Olmec and Zapotec.

    • 1 year ago

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