Mayan Doomsday Date May Be Wrong

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - For those of you who have prepared for the end of the world on December 21, 2012, you may have prepared just a tad bit too early, according to new research out that says the date on the Mayan calendar may not be correct as many scholars had earlier believed.

Live Science reported that according to new research done by Gerardo Aldana, associate professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara, the date may actually be off by 50 to 100 years. This is likely the result of a mistake from when there was a conversion from Mayan dates to modern ones.

Aldana explained that when the conversion was done, scholars were basing it on astronomical practices and how they related to certain parts of the Maya "Long Count" calendar. However, these scholars often were not knowledgeable in every aspect of how the astronomy applied to the specific Mayan event on their calendar, and as a result, may have wrongly pinpointed the end date.

Aldana in a press release from UC Santa Barbara, said, "One of the principal complications is that there are really so few scholars who know the astronomy, the epigraphy, and the archeology. Because there are so few people who are working on that, you get people who don't see the full scope of the problem. And because they don't see the full scope, they buy things they otherwise wouldn't. It's a fun problem."

The problem is also linked with the "GMT constant." GMT represents the initials of the archaeologists that came up with the constant, Discovery explained. It is what researchers use as their focal point when comparing historical events to events on the Mayan calendar.

Aldana does not believe that the GMT is reliable, thus conclusions of when historical events happened in relation to the Gregorian, or modern day calendar, are off. He does not have an answer for what are the correct dates, but he is hoping to continue researching on why the dates are wrong.