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Largest Known Maya Structure Found

insidescience.org

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Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#11

Post by monocasa »

meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#12

Post by bryanrasmussen »

monocasa wrote: post #11
meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.

Llama is Incan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama#/media/File:Lama_glama_V...

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#13

Post by libria »

monocasa wrote: post #11
meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.

Any wheeled tools at least? I may not have a horse to drag a refrigerator to my new apartment, but I'd rather use a hand truck than bear it manually.

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#14

Post by monocasa »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #12
monocasa wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.

Llama is Incan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama#/media/File:Lama_glama_V...

Sure, but the Mayans vaguely knew about them.

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#15

Post by monocasa »

libria wrote: post #13
monocasa wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.

Any wheeled tools at least? I may not have a horse to drag a refrigerator to my new apartment, but I'd rather use a hand truck than bear it manually.

They rolled large blocks on logs via the same methods you see with all the pyramid building cultures.

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#16

Post by thaumasiotes »

monocasa wrote: post #11
meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.

Note that China made extensive use of undrawn sailbarrows to carry things over long distances.

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#17

Post by unixbeard1337 »

meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

The hard thing isn't the wheel, it's the axle. For that, you need a precision that it's difficult to get without at least bronze tools.

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#18

Post by [deleted] »

unixbeard1337 wrote: post #17
meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

The hard thing isn't the wheel, it's the axle. For that, you need a precision that it's difficult to get without at least bronze tools.

[deleted]

Re: Largest Known Maya Structure Found

#19

Post by monadic2 »

elboru wrote: post #9
meddlepal wrote: post #7

It's kind of impressive they accomplished so much without inventing the wheel... or has that been debunked and is just long outdated information?

Some wheeled toys have been found in Mexico, it’s not like the wheel was never invented. But The Americas didn’t have domesticable large animals that could be used to pull wheeled carriages (bisons were not domesticated at the time), that’s why the wheel was never used for that purpose. Indeed it’s very impressive how much they accomplished by themselves without the wheel, without big domesticated animals and without…

Furthermore the land in southeast mexico is very hilly, and when it's not, it's often swampy or waterlogged (or was at the time of the maya). It's certainly more straightforward to use barges.

Related, I very much recommend the book "Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs".

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