Will the world really end in 2012?

 Will the world really end in 2012?

There have been countless theories throughout time about how the world will end and how -- or if -- life will cease to exist. At the turn of the 21st century,conspiracy theorists claimed that the Y2K bug was only a small part of the impending devastation: The new century would bring about total destruction, and no one would survive. Others believe that  Earth is slated for another ice age, which will kill off all living things. And according to astronomers, billions of years from now, the

 sun will become a red giant, expanding to a size larger than the Earth's orbit and consuming Earth in the process. Even if the planet somehow survives, the sun will eventually shrink, becoming a white dwarf and gradually cooling off until it can no longer warm anything in the solar system.

In 2006, Mel Gibson released a movie about the Mayan civilization. "Apocalypto" follows one man's journey from slavery back to his family. During the course of the movie, a young woman prophesizes that a man will bring an end to the Mayans and wipe out their civilization. But in the real world, some speculators don't believe a man will be the end of the Mayans -- instead, they think a celestial event will be the cause. The Mayan calendar even gives us a potential date for the theoretical downfall: Dec. 21, 2012.

Many doomsayers hang onto the idea that this ancient calendar is a ticking time bomb signaling our fast-approaching demise during the 2012 winter solstice. While scholars pay little heed to these fervent forecasts, they're still interested in the calendar. For example, there is some lingering disagreement over which day marks the exact beginning of the Mayan calendar. One commonly referenced date is Aug. 11, 3114 B.C., although other researchers pinpoint dates such as Aug. 13, 3114 B.C. (which would make Dec. 23 the big day.)

So how does the Mayan calendar system work? Do the Mayans really believe we have only a limited time left on Earth, and if so, why would Dec. 21, 2012, be the appointed doomsday? Read on to find out if the end is near.

How the Mayan Calendar Works

Most people around the globe look at some form of a calendar every single day. Business executives check to see when their meetings are scheduled. The busy mom confirms soccer practices and piano lessons. College students ensure that their papers are turned in on time and they have plenty of time to study for exams. For the people of ancient Maya, calendars were just as important to daily life as they are to people today.

The Mayans originated in a region called Mesoamerica, or Middle America. This region lies in between Mexico and South America and was home to many other cultures, including the Aztec, Olmec, Teotihuacan and Toltec. The Mayans lived in what are today Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Southern Mexico (Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo Tabasco and Chiapas).

Mayan history is broken into three periods:

·         Formative or Pre-classic - 2000 B.C. until A.D. 300

·         Classic - 300 until 900

·         Post-classic - 900 until the Spanish Inquisition in the 1400s

Mesoamericans began writing during the mid-Pre-classic period. The Mayans were the first to keep any sort of historical record, and the beginnings of the calendar were born. The Mayans used stelae, or stone monuments, to carve their civil events, calendars and astronomy knowledge. They also inscribed their religious beliefs and mythology on pottery.

The Mayans placed great value in recording their people's history. While they weren't the first civilization to ever use a calendar, they did devise four separate calendars that lasted for discrete time periods. Depending on their needs, the Mayans used different calendars or some combination of two calendars to record each event. Their Long Count calendar, which we'll learn about in more detail later, expires in 2012, leading some to believe that it coincides with an apocalyptic event.

But in order to decipher these different calendars, you'll first need a brief lesson in Mayan math.