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Forget "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Forget "Apocalypto." Chichen Itza is in Mexico; Machu Picchu is in Peru. Different continents, George Lucas.

A few thousand years ago, the people of Mexico didn't need the leap year. Putting that Hallmark calendar on my fridge to shame, the ancient Mayans accurately depicted the Solar Year to within minutes, star-gazing and tackling celestial mysteries through it all.

The Mayans thrived on their deep knowledge of the universe, creating a rich and prosperous empire. Then in 1519, Spanish Conquistador Hernn Corts dubbed the Mayans savages and killed them, which led to a massive burning of thousands of Mayan texts. Not many firsthand accounts of Mayan culture remain, but the Mayan Calendar-etched in stone-still stands as the most accurate and most sophisticated time-keeping system our world has ever known.

Our laminated, Gregorian time-keepers never were intended to do much more than track Grandma's birthday. The Mayan Calendar reveals not only a deeper understanding of time, seasons and cycles, but truths about our planet's recurring energy that Western culture is hesitant to fully recognize. The Mayan Calendar deserves our attention because the messages it holds not only tell us about our past, but also, may greatly affect our immediate future.

-What exactly is the Mayan Calendar?-

Well, it's not exactly a wall hanging. The mathematics and precision involved in decoding the Mayan's time-keeping system can be found at the Pyramid of Kukulkan in Chichen Itza, Mexico (http://i4.photobucket.com/alb ums/y110/lisaviktorya/ChichenI tza.jpg).

In short, the monument honors both the Mayan god Kukulkan by keeping the most accurate record of time ever attempted (International Atomic Time comes close, but it doesn't even account for Earth's slowing rotation). Here's how.

Dr. Carl Johan Calleman (Solving the Great Mystery of our Time: The Mayan Calendar, 2000) puts it simply. The calendar combines two cycles of time: the 365-day Solar Year and a 260-day Tzolkin Year, equal to the length of human pregnancy. What a knack for bringing a human element to studying the cosmos.

Both the Solar Year and the Tzolkin Year align once every (approximately) 25,630 years to complete the overarching Long Count Calendar, which is unique in having a start- and end-date. When is this end date, you ask? About four years away.

The Long Count Calendar traces five periods of time, each lasting 5,126 years. The current period, the fifth, began on

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