Geoff Stray: 13-Baktun vs 20-Baktun
There are more than a few 2012 experts out there who will tell you that the end of the Long Count calendar is actually in 4772 AD and there is nothing to worry about meanwhile. This is based on a handful of inscriptions that show dates beyond the end of the 13th baktun. Geoff Stray has just published a paper that I presume is the most comprehensive discussion on the merits of the two points of view – and it concludes that 2012 is the end of the Long Count. He also hints that the 20 baktun concept has new age bias. According to Geoff:
This essay re-states the arguments that were built over 50 years, culminating in the realisation circa 1950, that it is not an either/or situation, but that the Maya had a 13-baktun era for historic dates within the current era, (with 5 numeric places) and a 20-baktun pictun for dating mythological events in deep time – 6 or more numeric places.
Read the paper here, or just take Geoff’s word for it. He gets my vote as the most level-headed, intelligent and non-biased 2012 research there is, and he really, really knows his stuff.
