Wright, Lori

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices11-4-2009Archaeologist Available To Discuss Movie "2012"And Maya ProphecyLori WrightUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationWright, Lori, "Archaeologist Available To Discuss Movie "2012" And Maya Prophecy" (2009). UNH Today. 253.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/2538/25/2016 Archaeologist Available to Discuss Movie "2012" and Maya Prophecyhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2009/nov/lw04maya.cfm.html 1/2UNH Media Relations Archaeologist Available To Discuss Movie "2012" AndMaya ProphecyMedia Contact:  Lori Wright 603­862­0574UNH Media Relations Eleanor Harrison­Buck 603­862­4742UNH Department of AnthropologyNov. 4, 2009DURHAM, N.H. – Despite claims in the soon­to­be released movie “2012” that the end of theworld is near as purportedly foretold by the Maya prophecy, the end of the current Mayacalendar on Dec. 21, 2012, does not predict a global cataclysm, according to a University ofNew Hampshire archaeology professor and Maya scholar.  The movie “2012” opens in U.S. theaters Nov. 13, 2009.Eleanor Harrison­Buck, assistant professor of archaeology at UNH, says the Maya calendarsystem is set up in cycles of time, and the current cycle ends December 21, 2012.At certain points in the calendar, called “period endings,” the Maya made predictions aboutthe future. These prophecies were, in large part, based on a repeating cycle of events so that,for instance, during certain periods of time, drought and a bad harvest or warfare andconquest were inevitable. In many ways, it was a self­fulfilling prophecy, Eleanor Harrison­Buck said.“Rather than simply ‘the end of the world,’ the Maya would no doubt have viewed the end ofthis great cycle as an important and powerful time of reordering and renewal of the world.The current push for sustainability and renewable resources suggests that perhaps the ancientMaya were not that far off in their predictions for this time period, that our world by 2012would need a time of reordering and renewal,” she said.According to the professor, Westerners have a different concept of time and space, viewingchronology as a linear time line with a single start and end point. Mesoamerican culturesviewed both time and space as cyclical — never ending, but also repeating and recreatingitself in many ways.“Most people today have difficulty viewing time and space in this way. The Mesoamericanconcept of the ‘end of time’ is in some ways similar to our own New Year’s celebration; itrepresents the start of a new beginning and a period of renewal,” Eleanor Harrison­Buck said.The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world­class public research universitywith the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space­grant university,UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and2,200 graduate students.­30­ 8/25/2016 Archaeologist Available to Discuss Movie "2012" and Maya Prophecyhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2009/nov/lw04maya.cfm.html 2/2  

Archaeologist Available To Discuss Movie  2012  And Maya Prophecy

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Archaeologist Available To Discuss Movie 2012 And Maya Prophecy

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