I had a church-going colleague who firmly believed that apocalyptic events were going to occur at midnight, Dec 31, 1999. He even took his fiance to someplace in New Zealand, which was supposedly the first place in the world to usher in the New Year.

Needless to say, he came back a trifle embarassed.

Back to Mayans...

I've often wondered, what with ancient, primaeval cultures being so obsessed with astronomy & time-keeping, if it could be the case that a near-miss asteroid was spotted, orbital trajectories plotted, and a future date forecasted for impact with Earth? Too far-fetched? It would certainly explain a great deal of so-called "prophecy" in various scripture/myths/etc.