General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can We Please Get Over the End of the Mayan Calendar? [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)in toys. There is a good reason why not full fledge full sized ones were not used.
Draft animals did not exist until Columbus made that astounding navigational error, and was followed by others in search of Gold. So having a wheel, regardless of the mechanical advantage, on a cart, made zero sense.
For example, the Aztec Emperors had fresh fish from the Gulf of Mexico often. That fish was taken in the morning and arrived to Tenochtitlan in the afternoon. They used runners, who ran 20 kilometer or so legs, and it took a day to get it. Try that, given the inclination to get over the Sierra, with pulled on carts with humans, it would have been much slower.
Oh and the Observatory (so named since it's form is very similar to a modern day one and function was the same), near Merida should tell you that yes, they knew about the wheel.
Oh and did I mention they had a far more advanced calendar than what we use even today for our civil calendar? The Maya calendar does take into account silly shit like the fact that the day is NOT 24 hour hours long.
At the height in the Classic period they were probably the most advanced culture in the world.
Now did they have their problems? Like all other cultures yes. Their religion, which requires sacrifice, could be seen as a major problem, but the same priests were involved in some pretty advanced astronomy.
Oh and natural medicine and herbology... some medical remedies used by the Maya and Aztec are now currently under research. The active components are actually like for real.