The Ancient Mayas and the Prophecy of 2012: MYTH OR DOOM?

In recent years, the Ancient Maya cultures have receivedconsiderable publicity from the new media, a multiplicity ofbooks, and Hollywood because of their supposed prophesy about the end of the world in the year 2012. This talk will address this topic from an anthropological and archaeological perspective by presenting the origin of such idea and how it is integrated to their religious beliefs and their view of their universe. Antonio Curet, Adjunct Curator, Dept. of Anthropology, Field Museum,will begin by providing some background on the Maya cultures,their history, religion, writing and calendar systems, and conclude with a discussion on what December 21, 2012 meant for them and what it means for us. 

This is a free program!