Case file · Folklore / legend
The 2012 'Maya apocalypse' at Chichén Itzá
On 21 December 2012, the end of the 13th b'ak'tun of the Maya Long Count, thousands gathered at Chichén Itzá and other Maya sites for a predicted transformation or end of the world.
2012 CE · 20.68, -88.57 · status: explained
The account
Only one known Maya inscription, Tortuguero Monument 6 from Tabasco, mentions the date, and it describes a deity's descent, not destruction. The doomsday idea grew from 20th-century Western writers and New Age books.
The sceptical view
Mayanists stress that the Long Count simply rolled over into a 14th b'ak'tun; Maya inscriptions even refer to dates thousands of years later.
Connections in the atlas
- 'Maya alien contact' documentary claim, Calakmul
- 2012 doomsday proponents: Predicted that 21 December 2012, the end of a cycle in the M