There is little doubt that ancient civilizations and the thought of visitors from outer space are two subjects that easily capture the imagination. Most people are fascinated by one or the other or both. In fact, even science fiction gained some mileage out of combining the two; 'documentaries' often run on the non-major network stations purporting to show that earthworks of various kinds, and even patterns in fields of crops, were made by visitors from outer space. Often, the documentary makers attempt to draw parallels between the work of ancient civilizations, from the Celtic to the Mayan, and the 'work' of the visitors from outer space. It's a shame that they have to do that. The connections that have already been found between ancient civilizations-particularly the Mayan-and life on earth today are quite amazing enough.

             Forget 2000; the real danger will arrive in 2012.

             The Mayan calendar was based on detailed astronomical observations and stipulated a 5,125 year cycle, according to Peter N. Stearns. In his book, Millennium III, Century XXI: A Retrospective on the Future, Stearns contends that one of the Mayan cycles will end on December 21, 2012. At that time, there will occur what Stearns calls a "transformative vision" (Stearns 1998 112). .

             In fact, while not a soothsayer himself, nor, apparently, an out-of-control believer in visitors from outer space, Stearns does suggest, through retelling some of the more outlandish beliefs of the self-proclaimed astroarchaeologists, that there is at least something truthful in the basis for the outlandish beliefs, if not the beliefs themselves.

             For example, he notes that in 1987, Mexican author Jose Arguelles wrote a book called The Mayan Factor, in which he revived the 2012 date and claimed, as well, that the Mayans were "an extragalactic people who would come back in the waning years of the 20th century to prepare the New Age" (Stearns 1998 112).