2012 in Mayan writing

Did the ancient Maya actually say the world would end in 2012?

Strictly speaking, without the benefit of time-travel we can’t be sure what the ancient Mayan said!

But there are people alive NOW who claim to speak for the modern Maya. You can watch what one of them - Drunvalo Melchizidech says on his YouTube channel, the Mayan Elders of Eternal Time. Or read what Mayan elder Apolinario Chile Pixtun has said about 2012.

Professor David Stuart, an eminent Mayanist, has written some Q&A about 2012 - highly recommended!

However, we can look at the writings that are left by the Maya, and by the oral history - stories that have been passed down by word of mouth. And it’s not clear from either the written documents that have survived, or the stories told, that the Maya think the world will end in 2012.

Evidence supporting a 2012 doomsday prophecy:

(NB when I say evidence I mean written historical documents)

1. The Long Count Calendar has a pretty specific end date - 21 Dec 2012. It must come from somewhere.
2. An inscription known as Tortuguera Monument 6 is the only known inscription to mention the Mayan Long Count date 13.0.0.0.0 - 21 Dec 2012. There’s a glyph which reads ‘uht-oom’ - (utom) it will happen. And then something about some Gods descending. Then the rest of the inscription is too worn away to be read. This doesn’t prove a doomsday prophecy exactly - but it suggests some kind of prophecy, at least.You can see the Tortuguera inscription and here’s a translation by epigrapher David Stuart:

Tzuhtz-(a)j-oom u(y)-uxlajuun pik
(ta) Chan Ajaw ux(-te’) Uniiw.
Uht-oom ?
Y-em(al)?? Bolon Yookte’ K’uh ta ?.

“The Thirteenth ‘Bak’tun” will be finished
(on) Four Ajaw, the Third of Uniiw (K’ank’in).
? will occur.
(It will be) the descent(??) of the Nine Support? God(s) to the ?”

Evidence against a 2012 doomsday prophecy:

1. There are at least a few inscriptions which appear to make predictions for dates BEYOND 13.0.0.0.0 This suggests that at least some of the Maya believed that other important events would take place after 2012; i.e. the world would not end.
   From Wikipedia:
   Maya stela occasionally show dates beyond 2012. Most of these are in the form of “distance dates”, where a Long Count date is given with a distance date to be added. For example, on Tablet of Inscriptions from Palenque were found the following Long Count date: 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop (24 March 603 Gregorian) with a distance date of 10.11.10.5.8. The resulting date is given as 1.0.0.0.0.8 5 Lamat 1 Mol, or 21 October 4772 – almost 3,000 years into the future. The king Pacal of Palenque predicted that on this date the eightieth Calendar Round anniversary of his accession will be celebrated, suggesting he did not believe the world would end in 2012.
   
2. If the Maya DID believe in a 2012 doomsday - why is there so little reference to such an important event in their writings?
   (Of course you could argue that most of their writings were destroyed…or as in ‘The Joshua Files’ - that the 2012 theory was a secret guarded by very few…but that’s all speculation. Fun though, isn’t it?)

References: How can we know any of this?

Most of the arguments here come from a 2012 debate amongst some of the world’s top Mayan scholars, on the University of Texas MesoAmerica Center Discussion Board.

The rest is from Wikipedia.