2012 Maya & Aztec Calendar: Milankovitch Cycles & Global Warming

13.0.0.0.0 is the Mayan Long Count that the media has hyped up to be a doomsday date for 2012. What sets apart the Mayan Calendar from for all other calendars is the accuracy of the calender over a very long period time. No other calendar is as accurate as the Mayan calendar because of such little details in Western history as having no concept of the number zero and later changes from the Julian and Gregorian calendar systems. That is why a day is added every four years, February 29th and is called a leap year. To understand why the Mayan calendar is so accurate is because of their math. The number zero was understood by the pre-Columbian American Mayans who used a base 20 vigesimal system.

Today, we count in the decimal system or base 10. Computers use the binary system of base 2. The ancient Babylonians had a base 60 sexagesimal system but there was no zero. Echoes of the Babylonian number system are still with us such as the 360-Degree Circle and the zodiac. Ancient India did have a concept of zero and around 300 BC, adopted the Babylonian base 60 number system that had nine symbols adding the symbol for zero which is now the base 10 system we know today.

Ancient Maya, Babylonia, China, Greece and Egypt all knew about the celestial precession but most calendars are based on the solar year and moon. The Mayan calendar marks time according the the Earth's slow wobble called precession as well as the sun, moon and Venus. The Aztecs adopted the Mayan calendar and the mammoth stone Aztec Calendar that was buried during the conquistador campaign was unearthed in Mexico city 300 years later.

The slow precession of the earth's wobble is called the Great, Cosmic or Platonic year and equals 25,860 earth's years.To understand precession of the earth, think of a spinning top that is wobbling at the top, except the Earth vacillates very slowly throughout the eons. Torque and velocity determines precession which grows larger as the spinning slows down.

The precession of the equinoxes is caused by the slow wobbling of the earth's polar axis and its rate of precession is 1 degree for every 72 years. The Great year is divided into twelve astrological ages. An astrological age is a time period of about 216 years. Due to precession, the spring equinox in March changes constellations from Taurus, Aries and now in Pisces. The age of Aquarius will be next.

Precession also changes the axis star that appears not to move while the rest of the celestial heavens revolves around it. In about 2700 BC the "Chinese observed Draconis as the pole star."^[1] In 2500 BC the "northern shaft in the King's Chamber targeted Thuban."^[2] Today the Earth's axis roughly points to Polaris, the Pole Star.

The ancient Maya Long Count Calendar cycle of 13-baktun is 5125 years and is roughly 1/5th of a precessional cycle One complete cycle is finished after 25,860 years. To view a the Earth's precession, go to Earth's precession video.

What is the significance of 13.0.0.0.0 to the ancient Mayans?

In the Popol Vuh, the sacred Mayan mythistorical narrative, the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque journeyed on this crossing point and were able to outwit the death-worshiping Xibalbans is celestially symbolized through the Sacred Tree or Cosmic Millstone.

"The crossing point of the sun's path, crossing the galactic equator and the ecliptic is when the Sun/Lord jumps from the ecliptic track and travels the Milky Way up and around the vault of heaven to the region of Polaris, thereby entering the "Heart of Sky." ^[3]

The apparent path that the Sun traces throughout the year, is called the ecliptic and is the band of zodiac astrology constellations, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn. The ecliptic is the Earth's orbital plane around the sun.

Does the Mayan date 13.0.0.0.0 simply marks a astronomical significance? Is there a reason deeper than religious as to why the Mayan made their calendar around precession instead of just the moon and sun? Recent evidence suggests that the "wobbles in the Earth's tilt were responsible for the global warming episodes that interspersed prehistoric ice ages."^[4]

The Mayan calendar tracks the Earth's precession which is known to have triggered global warming episodes in the past Ice Ages. The Earth's precession should not be confused with the Earth's eccentric orbit around the sun, nor confused with the Earth's 40,000 year cycle of tilt variation which is, "currently decreasing from a maximum of 24 degrees towards a minimum of 22.5 degrees."^[5]

The eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, the axial tilt, and and precession of the equinoxes are called Milankovitch Cycles and are used to calculate very long term climate changes. The current trends of the tilt and precession cycles should be making the Earth colder according to Figure 2 on the USDA Climate Change Resource Center website.

Notes:
[1] Encyclopedia,"Earth", 03.23..2007 www.1911encyclopedia.org/Earth
[2] Helena Lehman. "The Language of God in the Universe", ‎2008 books.google.com/books?id=eS5IbMsY8gQC&pg
[3] John Major Jenkins, "The How and Why of the Mayan End Date in 2012", 05.23.1994 www.december212012.com/articles/mayan/4.shtml
[4] Annabel McGill, "Wobbling Earth Triggers Climate Change", 08.14.2009 dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/14/earth-wobble-climate.html
[5] Michael Schirber, "Ice Ages Blamed on Tilted Earth", 05.30.2005 www.livescience.com/environment/050330_earth_tilt.html

Sources:
ancienthistory.about.com/od/abacus/a/BabylonianMath.htm
www.december212012.com/articles/mayan/4.shtml
edj.net/mc2012/why2012.html
gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/babylon/index.htm#zero
www.homepage.montana.edu/~geol445/hyperglac/time1/milankov.htm

Image Resources:
2012theendoftheworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/precession_of_the_equinoxes.jpg
www.jacksbromeliads.com/aztec_calendar_phixr.jpg
pbase.com/u43/eldarrio/upload/36001631.MayasCalendar3.jpg
alignment2012.com/images/tonkin1.jpg
hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/top.html
www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/primers/figures/primer1-fig2.gif