Technology:
Around the Mayan time, the wheel was found and was becoming famous everywhere. Other Mesoamerican civilizations excitedly used the wheel and found it miraculous, but the Mayans decided that the wheel was no use to them, because they did not domesticate animals, unlike other Mesoamerican civilizations, and what was the use of the wheel with no tamed animals? The Mayans firmly thought that it would be more efficient to use people to transport materials, and not use a cart.
The Mayans developed a very important transport device, a device that is still used now. It was called a tumpline or a mecapal. It allowed the Mayans to carry 125 pounds on their backs with ease and comfort. There was a strap around the shoulders that was connected to a frame or to other straps to support heavy loads. The tumpline is still used today, even if we changed it a little.
Mayans were also professionals at making tools out of jadeite. On a scale of 1 to 10 of mineral hardness, the maximum is 10 for a diamond. Steel is 5, and jadeite is 6.5 to 7. It is surprising, but jadeite is harder than steel and iron.
Mayan tools don’t belong in the Stone Age or the Iron Age. Also, jadeite tools were not found in royal tombs of dead kings. It is thought that the artisans owned these jadeite tools, and the tools were passed down from artisan families. Only the artisans knew the techniques of designing them as well.
Jadeite tools were not prized nor used by the elites, the nobles. Not only jadeite was used for making tools, but also obsidian was used to make even stronger blades for knives and swords. Obsidian was volcanic glass in a ring of volcanoes along the Pacific coast of the Maya area.
Mayan technicians made techniques for cutting sharp blades. As said, Mayans used specialized jade tools that helped their technological achievements. Maya is thought to be the first civil engineers of the Americas. At the end of the Pleistocene Era, North America was populated with a lot of animals which are now extinct. The Mayan civilization had no iron ore. Now, in Mexico, iron ore is only found 1000 miles north of the state of Colima. Mayan black jadeite tools are very similar to the steel tools we use now. Jadeite tools were used for everything in Mayan life. It was the principal tools for the Mayans. All Mayan technicians used it, sculptors, stone cutters, wood carvers, and artisans.
Mayan jadeite tools ranged from all various sizes and shapes like chisels, gouges, axes, adzes, and hoes. Jadeite is formed in few locations around the world, and is very rare.
It was difficult to get around the Mayan civilization because of the thick jungle and forests. It was very easy to get lost and lose your way around. The Mayans made roads, also called sacbe, along thick jungle roots and slopes to get around more easily and to travel between city-states. The roads were concrete paved like our modern roads. They leaves and thick jungle around the roads were cut away so it would be more comfortable to move around on the roads. That invention made Mayan life way more easier. Kings visited each other more simply, and traders traveled on the roads between city-states all the time without getting lost. Many people believe that the Mayan roads led us to building our modern day highways and concrete paved roads. The Maya was the first civilization in Mesoamerica to build roads to travel from place to place.
Trading was a very big deal in the Maya. Traders traveled on foot and also on sea. They traveled all the way from Cuba to Antigua. They needed cargo vessels for their trading objects and the goods they brought back home. It is said, and quite possibly true since evidence has been found, that Christopher Columbus met a Mayan vessel on his 4th voyage. Mayan ships were long, with a lot of paddlers moving the ship. A Mayan vessel carried cargo and passengers. Seagoing canoes were used until sail powered and motor driven vessels were made and used. The Maya made many important discoveries, and these are not all of them. They invented their own design of an arch, how to build structures made out of cement, how to use a kiln to burn cement, etc. All of these inventions were very important, and without these inventions, our world would be slightly different.
Around the Mayan time, the wheel was found and was becoming famous everywhere. Other Mesoamerican civilizations excitedly used the wheel and found it miraculous, but the Mayans decided that the wheel was no use to them, because they did not domesticate animals, unlike other Mesoamerican civilizations, and what was the use of the wheel with no tamed animals? The Mayans firmly thought that it would be more efficient to use people to transport materials, and not use a cart.
The Mayans developed a very important transport device, a device that is still used now. It was called a tumpline or a mecapal. It allowed the Mayans to carry 125 pounds on their backs with ease and comfort. There was a strap around the shoulders that was connected to a frame or to other straps to support heavy loads. The tumpline is still used today, even if we changed it a little.
Mayans were also professionals at making tools out of jadeite. On a scale of 1 to 10 of mineral hardness, the maximum is 10 for a diamond. Steel is 5, and jadeite is 6.5 to 7. It is surprising, but jadeite is harder than steel and iron.
Mayan tools don’t belong in the Stone Age or the Iron Age. Also, jadeite tools were not found in royal tombs of dead kings. It is thought that the artisans owned these jadeite tools, and the tools were passed down from artisan families. Only the artisans knew the techniques of designing them as well.
Jadeite tools were not prized nor used by the elites, the nobles. Not only jadeite was used for making tools, but also obsidian was used to make even stronger blades for knives and swords. Obsidian was volcanic glass in a ring of volcanoes along the Pacific coast of the Maya area.
Mayan technicians made techniques for cutting sharp blades. As said, Mayans used specialized jade tools that helped their technological achievements. Maya is thought to be the first civil engineers of the Americas. At the end of the Pleistocene Era, North America was populated with a lot of animals which are now extinct. The Mayan civilization had no iron ore. Now, in Mexico, iron ore is only found 1000 miles north of the state of Colima. Mayan black jadeite tools are very similar to the steel tools we use now. Jadeite tools were used for everything in Mayan life. It was the principal tools for the Mayans. All Mayan technicians used it, sculptors, stone cutters, wood carvers, and artisans.
Mayan jadeite tools ranged from all various sizes and shapes like chisels, gouges, axes, adzes, and hoes. Jadeite is formed in few locations around the world, and is very rare.
It was difficult to get around the Mayan civilization because of the thick jungle and forests. It was very easy to get lost and lose your way around. The Mayans made roads, also called sacbe, along thick jungle roots and slopes to get around more easily and to travel between city-states. The roads were concrete paved like our modern roads. They leaves and thick jungle around the roads were cut away so it would be more comfortable to move around on the roads. That invention made Mayan life way more easier. Kings visited each other more simply, and traders traveled on the roads between city-states all the time without getting lost. Many people believe that the Mayan roads led us to building our modern day highways and concrete paved roads. The Maya was the first civilization in Mesoamerica to build roads to travel from place to place.
Trading was a very big deal in the Maya. Traders traveled on foot and also on sea. They traveled all the way from Cuba to Antigua. They needed cargo vessels for their trading objects and the goods they brought back home. It is said, and quite possibly true since evidence has been found, that Christopher Columbus met a Mayan vessel on his 4th voyage. Mayan ships were long, with a lot of paddlers moving the ship. A Mayan vessel carried cargo and passengers. Seagoing canoes were used until sail powered and motor driven vessels were made and used. The Maya made many important discoveries, and these are not all of them. They invented their own design of an arch, how to build structures made out of cement, how to use a kiln to burn cement, etc. All of these inventions were very important, and without these inventions, our world would be slightly different.