Expeditions: Home of the ancient Mayan civilization

Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

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Pyramid of Kukulkan. photo by Webmaster

 
We studied the Maya kingdoms onsite from Mexico south through Guatemala. The photos below are all in Mexico. We have many photos of this country, but our favorite part is here on the Yucatan Peninsula, much of which remains unspoiled jungle. Explorers may study the surviving artifacts of the ancient Mayan civilization. All photos but three were taken on the Yucatan. This city, Chechen Itza (also known as Kukulkan) is the most impressive and intact ruins of Mayan civilization known to the modern world.

Following one or more great floods and torrential rain, Chechen Itza was abandoned in the tenth century. Hurricanes and torrential waterfalls are the most likely reason for the fall of most Mayan cities throughout Mexico's and Central America's Gulf coast.

We climbed to the top of this pyramid (photo by Webmaster, to right), a lengthy distance.  The room at the top is inhabited by bats. Many archaeological scientists have suspected that ancient seafarers from Egypt had once crossed the great ocean to this area, basing their presumptions upon their attachments to pyramids and other social factors. 

The Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, is far more complex than even most Maya buffs realize. That structure is math and architecture on steroids. We don’t know of any building anywhere on Earth that can compete with its mysterious symbology and thoughtful architecture.  (Photo below by Robert O'Neal)

The pyramid was constructed around 1050 A.D., during the late Mayan period, when Toltecs from Tula became politically powerful.  

The pyramid itself is a calendar. The 365 days of the year are represented by four stairways, each with 91 steps and a platform at the top, making a total of 365.

Their primary calendar (photo to left) is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar we use today. It’s the most complex and accurate of any civilization’s. The Mayan calendar is fashioned to proceed year by year and continues on into the future until December 21, 2012, at which time their calendar and prophecies are interpreted as signaling the End of Days.

Modern astronomers inform us that this will also be the day an astronomical event will occur that happens only once every 26,000 years. The last time this particular alignment occurred was long before any civilization on Earth. The Maya somehow figured this out with their astronomical knowledge, but no scholars have any idea how they could possibly have achieved that knowledge without the technology of modern science.

The Mayan Calendar (above) isn't just a “calendar.” It’s really three calendars in one. The Mayan calendar was adopted by the other Mesoamerican nations, such as the Aztecs and the Toltec. Those civilizations didn’t alter the calendar’s mechanics but changed the names of the days of the week and the months. (An Aztec calendar stone is shown at right).

Although separated by more than ocean, the ancient Egyptians and the Mayans share many cultural and religious similarities. Both worshiped serpents. Both constructed pyramids and other elaborate structures. 

Many scholars suspect that Egyptian seafarers may have visited the land of the Maya and established that civilization. If the similarities above aren't enough to convince you, try this: The name of King Tutankhamen's treasurer and Overseer of the Place of Eternity (the royal necropolis) was Maya (photo engraving of Maya to the right.) The Egyptians' ships were at least as seaworthy as those of the Vikings. The Vikings could conceivably have returned to their homes after visiting North America but early explorers who sailed through the Caribbean to Mexico suffered greatly during the region's hurricane season. The seas around Florida and the Caribbean are littered with European ships who didn't have the technology that could track the paths of these great winds. Perhaps this is why no record exists of early Egyptian visits to the New World.

The Egyptian "long-count calendar" begins about 3100 B.C. and the Mayan exactly 3114 B.C. No one today knows with certainty why that century was chosen. Yet, interestingly, but that period of time isn't far off from the belief that many Jews and Christians consider the beginning of time. Some claim that the Book of Genesis' implication of the earth's day of creation  is a symbolic reference. But if taken literally rather, the earth would be about 6,000 old and approximately the same calculation made by the Mayans and Egyptians.  (The belief that the earth's age can be calculated from the Torah is not accepted even by many who accept the Bible in its most literal sense.)

The Mayan calendar sets the Last Day of Earth's Existence at 6 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, December 21, 2012. Other ancient and even modern cultures have separately decided on year as well. Click here to read the details.

The symbols of their faiths (Egyptians, a tree and Mayans, a sarcophagus lid)  had a bird at the top, serpent at the root and "goddess" in the trunk. The Egyptians included a "leopard priest" and the Mayans had a "jaguar priest" in their ceremonies. Both were obsessed with studying the stars and solstice seasons.

In Chiapas, Mexico, lies the ceremonial center of Palenque. Its rich ornamentation was constructed of stucco, unique among the ancient Mayan cities. Hieroglyphic texts report that its history began March 11, 431 A.D. The civilization thrived for 400 years and then mysteriously disappeared. This was the first Mayan center given back to the jungle.

One of the strangest findings here was a drawing of an ancient Mayan, seemingly at the controls of a machine. Some have used this finding, among other lesser artifacts, as indications the Maya were visited by "ancient astronauts." No one knows with certainty what this carving represents:

Below: Chief editor, Elaine Walleker-O'Neal, points to a wooden replica of a pre-Columbian carving at Palenque. This depiction is believed by some to be that of an ancient astronaut. The sketch below represents the original carving. Notice the detail of the craft's engine. Visit our Expedition to Roswell web page for more information on the more imaginative theories.

Photo to right: Elaine in hotel room at Merida, Mexico.

 Merida is located near the precise site where a space rock slammed into the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago and killed all the dinosaurs.  Because visible evidence no longer exists at ground level, scientists from the University of Arizona  in 2002 dug into the area’s core to confirm the event.

Scene of Destruction. The Earth was literally remade at this site 65 million years ago, before the dawn of mankind. Read below to learn how the planet's most horrific environmental event happened.

The impact swept shock waves across large portions of the planet, dislodging massive pockets of methane gas. It shook up the ocean and generated tsunamis that ruptured even more methane that had been trapped for eons by the water's ice crystals. The ocean's structure itself was affected by “slumping,” a sliding down of the ocean bottom. Although this episode served as our planet's most horrific event to that moment, an even greater disaster was about to occur.

Lightning set the methane afire, burning near the ground and high into the atmosphere. Land creatures, including all the dinosaurs were incinerated. The atmosphere itself was on fire. Oxygen burned away, increasing choking volumes of carbon dioxide. The global horror was greater than had every nuclear device ever built been detonated at once.

The dinosaurs served the Creator's purpose in their day and now serve mankind in his, as oil for his engine of civilization. Mexico is the site of the grand impact 65 million years ago. Today the country  is a major exporter of petroleum, the great beasts' principal residue.

Interesting footnote: Recent science studies suggest that Mexico's petroleum may also be partly a result of the asteroid. Thomas Gold has shown that hydrocarbons (the stuff of oil) are found in many locations where a biogenic origin is improbable or impossible, such as asteroids.

Below: Dr. Robert Walker O'Neal at Chechen Itzá, the best preserved of  Mayan cities.

Below:  The Minority Report Magazine's editor Elaine Walleker-O'Neal points to replica of pre-Columbian carving at Palenque. Some claim that this carving is that of an ancient astronaut.

Below: Elaine at base of pyramid (full photo of this pyramid is also shown at top of this column.)

Below: Webmaster. Mayan temple in background.

Below: Website's Codemobile, outside and inside

Below: Photo of the extinct Megalodon shark that lived a few miles at the northern land's edge of the area that was to later become Mexico. The dinosaur wasn't the only creature that had to die for mankind to live. Isaiah and Psalms tells of Rahab, the great sea monster that was slain before the rise of Man. Had the megalodon not become extinct, mankind could not have fished the Earth's waters or ventured beyond the land's edge. No whale alive  today could survive had this creature lived and swam all seas.

Fortunately for whales, the megalodon was a warm water fish. This monster ate whales for breakfast. The ancestors of today's whales survived by relocating to cooler waters where the megalodon couldn't follow.

Below: Artist's depiction, comparing a surfer to an ancient megalodon. Posted at many places on the internet. Artist unknown.

Below: The beginning year of the Mayan calendar was August 11, 3114 B.C., although they settled the land only around 2500 B.C. at the earliest. They also accurately calculated the solar year out to four decimal places. To accomplish these impressive computations they created a sophisticated system of mathematics utilizing place value and the concept of the zero. And all this, while Europe was still wandering around in the Dark Ages. 

Click on the calendar pic below to read details of THE END OF DAYS according to the ancient Mayans.

The History Channel's serial UFO Files program 12/29/2004 presented many researchers who believe that the Mayan legend of Kukulkan who the Mayans believed brought their mathematical and astronomical knowledge were aliens from another realm. They pointed out that China, various Native-American nations and other societies around the world have similar stories, telling similar stories of fiery conveyances bringing beings from beyond with great knowledge. The Mayans and Chinese in particular produced similarly complex mathematical and astronomical achievements, although neither knew of the existence of the other.

Is it possible that the Creator visited many societies and gave them knowledge to advance their human condition?