With chatter about the Mayan apocalypse intensifying as Dec. 21 approaches, you may have seen that while the ancient Mayan calendar "ends" on that day, the Maya themselves would not have seen that ...

Assuming we wake up intact tomorrow, however, doesn't mean we've escaped the clutches of doomsday. Instead, we'll be facing a whole new list of apocalyptic predictions.

Characteristic of this system is the cyclical nature, with the Mayan calendar featuring three common cycles: the Long Count, Tzolk’in (260-day) and the 365-day, solar-based Haab’.

For example, the Babylonians used a luni-solar year while the Egyptians used a lunar year, although they both were still off. However, the Mayan calendar was ahead of its time in its calculations.

Characteristic of this system is the cyclical nature, with the Mayan calendar featuring three common cycles: the Long Count, Tzolk’in (260-day) and the 365-day, solar-based Haab’.

With chatter about the Maya apocalypse intensifying as Dec. 21 approaches, you may have seen that while the ancient Maya calendar "ends" on that day, the Maya themselves would not have seen that ...

If you thought 365 days was a long time, try resetting your calendar every 18,980 days instead. 52 solar years make up the longest cycle of the Mayan calendar – a complex and ancient system that ...

The Maya themselves would not have seen Dec. 21 as the end of the world. But how does the Mayan calendar work, anyway?

See About archive blog posts. Guatemalans celebrated Mayan New Year on Sunday, which is the year 5125 in the Mayan solar calendar, according to the Prensa Latina news agency.

Mayan calendar ends; world doesn't December 21, 2012 / 4:36 PM EST / CBS/AP MERIDA, Mexico Dec. 21 started out as the prophetic day some had believed would usher in the fiery end of the world.

In short, how exactly does the Mayan calendar work, and why to people think it foretells the end of the world? For a closer look at Mayan math and their calendar system, HowStuffWorks has an ...

A millennia ago, two solar eclipses over the same area within six months would have seen Maya astronomers, priests, and rulers leap into a frenzy of activity.