5 ms·
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 u
by elboru 6y ago
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 contact with other civilizations.
- monadic2 6y agoFurthermore 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".
- autocorr 6y agoI second this book too, it's a great introduction to Mesoamerican civilization. The author, Michael D. Coe, also has another excellent book "Breaking the Maya Code" on the decipherment of the Maya glyphs The fundamentals were done in 1950-60's by Knorozov and Proskouriakoff, but the decipherment was only widely accepted until as recently as the 1970's[1]! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script#Decipherment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script#Decipherment
- ncmncm 6y agoApparently Richard Feynman made fundamental contributions, being more numerate than your average archaeologist.
- vkou 6y agoWheelbarrows (Both European, and Chinese) are very useful, and do not require large animals to pull. They aren't super-great in hilly terrain, though.
- WalterBright 6y agoHuman pulled carts are common, too. I live on a very steep hill, and use a dolly a lot to bring something up. It's a heluva lot easier than carrying stuff. Not even close. I can easily manage 4-5 times the weight on the dolly than I could carry. Even navigating stairs with a dolly is easier than carrying a heavy weight, and much safer, too. I'm utterly unconvinced by Jared Diamond's claim that lack of pack animals made the wheel irrelevant. Oh, and any significant construction site would find it useful to make a road to it, even if they only were carrying things. Even when barging heavy loads, to get the load off the barge and up to the site a dolly is still highly useful.
- catalogia 6y agoThe Mayans did in fact make roads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacbe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacbe
- monadic2 6y agoI don't believe we even have evidence whether or not the olmec culture had a state. If you're looking for a better narrative, "time" is a decent one. I don't believe there's much evidence of ergonomic hand carts until pretty much modern times. Personally I'm not holding my breath for a decent explanation, ever, especially when the wheel toys are concentrated in an area known for not preserving wood well sans mudslide. In any case, the baggage cart like you're describing, or maybe a hand truck, seem to be both artifacts coming out of industrialized society. I'm not sure how useful one would be on a steep hill if the cart itself, including the axle and wheels, were made of wood. You don't really see modern, usable baggage carts until the industrialized production of steel (I'd love to be corrected). Hand carts? Sure, but of a more significant weight:load ratio meant for longer distance, heavy load, flat hauling—remember these suckers often have brakes you wouldn't want to engage on a runaway cart, like a peg through the spoke or axle or a wedge under the wheels. I'd think some kind of carrying + strap frame like you see today would be a better fit for personal hauling and balsa might even work well for it.
- WalterBright 6y ago
- metrokoi 6y agoJust think: every single ounce of dirt and stone that comprises that structure was picked, carried, and placed with only human calories expended, likely in baskets carried on backs. I wonder what the amount of total calories expended to complete the project would be? Incredible to think about.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- GrumpyNl 6y agoIs rolling stuff on logs considered using wheels?
- mkl 6y ago> The Americas didn’t have domesticable large animals ... by then. They could have had horses, camels, and various others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_animals_extinct_in_the_Holocene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_animals...