Mesoamerican Technologies

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

For Mesoamerican civs, we need techs that are analogous to the ones in the core game and even some special techs. For instance, instead of "Iron Weapons" there would be "Obsidian Weapons." Instead of "Wheelbarrows" there would be "_______." Instead of generic "Javelin Thong" there would be "Atlatl." etc.

[Lion.Kanzen]

For stones they uses other techniques. and 

https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160502/submitted/160509869/

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Large building blocks were rolled on logs. Roads, called sakbe (singular) or sakbeob (plural), were made of rock base covered in cement mixed from heated limestone. Most roads connected neighborhoods within cities and some connected the city-states. Today, many ancient Maya pyramids still stand and some sakbeob remain intact

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

They using same method as Egypt or Easter  Island (Rapa nui.) 

 

For trading they use riveras, but they don't  have animals to carry things. like the Andineans.

[Lion.Kanzen]

 

Tarde routes around America(pre Columbia)

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that the (...) civilization was carried chiefly by the trader is proved not only by Columbus’ specific references but also by the presence of the African merchant, the tangoman, as tiangizman in Mexico, hence Aztec tiangiz “markets”, and by the universality of the blue and white shell money from Canada to La Plata, and the use of shells as a coin in the Peru-Guatemala trade” (p.365).

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The Putun established numerous trading posts in the United States on their way to Canada. This is supported by the discovery of Itza Maya, Yucatec Maya, and Totonac words present in Putun and in the Creek language which was formerly spoken in the Carolinas and Florida. In addition to Putun words in Creek, archaeologists have found attapulgite mined in Georgia that matched Maya Blue stucco, artifacts, horseshoe shaped ball courts, and earthen mounds like those found in contemporary Chontalpa in the Swift Creek Culture of the Southeastern United States.

The Putun boats were made of wooden planks. These seaworthy ships sailed along the rivers of Mexico and up the coast all the way to Canada. The Putun canoes were usually hollowed out from trees.  R. Shatto, in ‘Maritime Trade and Seafaring of the PreColumbian Maya’, reported that Diaz del Casillo saw Maya canoes that could carry as many as 50 people. The ships were steered by rudders. On the deck, the Putun placed a cabin. The ships were propelled by oarsmen and sails. Other Putun sea craft was used to travel throughout the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean Islands. The ships built for long distance trade were usually 60 feet (18.29 meters) long.

Most of post talk about Olmecs were Africans descendants.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/forgotten-voyagers-ancient-mexican-merchants-who-took-seas-008591

 

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What techniques were used to help people utilize the natural resources?

• That they had three techniques to aquire natural resources:

1. Slash and Burn
   They Burn the growth in the area, then the burn and use it as nutrition for the soil.
2. Terrace Farming
   To farm in mountainous areas, they make terraces in mountains.
3. Raised Field Farming
   In low lands they dug up the mud and shaped it into raised fields that rose 2 to 4 feet above the water canals that surrounded them. Fish swam in these canals and provided fertilizer via their droppings. Plants grew on the canals like the water lily, helping to keep the canals from drying up, and farmers would use the plants as fertilizer.

Mayan house.

How carry goods... Mayan "Tumpline"

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The indigenous natives in Mexico (and other Latin American countries) traditionally have used the tumpline for carrying heavy loads, such as firewood, baskets (including baskets loaded with construction materials and dirt for building), bird cages, and furniture. In the 1920s there was a man in Mexico City who delivered pianos on his back using a tumpline. In Mexico a common name for tumpline is "mecapal". Modern highland Mayans of southern Mexico use tumplines for various pedestrian transport.^[2] During World War Two, the Canadian Army developed special supply packs with tumplines for moving supplies over rough terrain

 

Edited September 4, 2018 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

Burn and deforestation have consequences.

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The evidence for the drought explanation has been growing in recent years. In 2012, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science , found that severe reductions in rainfall were coupled with an rapid rate of deforestation, as the Maya burned and chopped down more and more forest to clear land for agriculture.  Another study the same year, published in the journal Science, analyzed a 2,000-year-old stalagmite from a cave in Belize and found that a sharp drop in rainfall coincided with the decline of the Maya civilization.  Now a new study, reported by Live Science , further strengthens the case that drought contributed to the downfall of the once powerful Maya.

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Cacao was cultivated by Mayas more than 2,500 years ago and it was called “Ku-Ku”. Ku in Mayan Language means Sacred and Ku-Ku “above sacred”. Aztecs learned from Mayas how to cultivate and prepare it, they called Cacao “Cacahuatl” and the bitter drink that they obtained from his fruits “Xocolatl”. This drink was consumed just by Emperor and Nobility and is called Kakaw in Mayan Language that means “Drink of the Gods”.

We prepare Cacao through a Special Ancestral Mayan Recepy, that we received from a Mayan Family in Chiapas, a 600 years old Recepy, used in Prehispanic Times (before Spanish Invasion).

We work on the Seeds for 7 days, we peel seeds one by one (we need aproximately 7 hours and 6 hands to peel Cacao for 20 people), everything is completely hand made. With the process that we follow we trasform Cacao into medicinal and ceremonial Cacao, that has up to 90% more properties than Chocolate you will find at the Store.

In this picture you can see on the right a mayan gliph, that explains the process of medicinal Cacao and his sacred preparation. While we prepare Cacao we need to be relaxed, to send Good Thoughts to the Seeds and to sing some native Songs that will potenzialize  his properties.

 

According to Mayan Elders and Archeologists, Spirit of Cacao is one of the most powerful Deities of Mayan Cosmology. With the Spirit of Cacao we can travel towards our Innerself where our Wisdom and Love live. This ceremony is oriented to reconnect with Beauty, Sweetness and Love in ourselves. Cacao Goddess will be our magic companion that will invite us to open the Heart Door: it is up to us and our level of consciousness if we will be able to cross the Door.

Mayan Mathis.

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The importance of astronomy and calendar calculations in Mayan society required mathematics, and the Maya constructed quite early a very sophisticated number system, possibly more advanced than any other in the world at the time (although the dating of developments is quite difficult).

The Mayan and other Mesoamerican cultures used a vigesimal number system based on base 20 (and, to some extent, base 5), probably originally developed from counting on fingers and toes. The numerals consisted of only three symbols: zero, represented as a shell shape; one, a dot; and five, a bar. Thus, addition and subtraction was a relatively simple matter of adding up dots and bars. After the number 19, larger numbers were written in a kind of vertical place value format using powers of 20: 1, 20, 400, 8000, 160000, etc (see image above), although in their calendar calculations they gave the third position a value of 360 instead of 400 (higher positions revert to multiples of 20).

The pre-classic Maya and their neighbours had independently developed the concept of zero by at least as early as 36 BCE, and we have evidence of their working with sums up to the hundreds of millions, and with dates so large it took several lines just to represent them. Despite not possessing the concept of a fraction, they produced extremely accurate astronomical observations using no instruments other than sticks, and were able to measure the length of the solar year to a far higher degree of accuracy than that used in Europe (their calculations produced 365.242 days, compared to the modern value of 365.242198), as well as the length of the lunar month (their estimate was 29.5308 days, compared to the modern value of 29.53059).

However, due to the geographical disconnect, Mayan and Mesoamerican mathematics had absolutely no influence on Old World (European and Asian) numbering systems and mathematics.

Mayan Calendar.

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The Mayans discovered careful objective facts of heavenly bodies, recording cosmic information on the developments of the sun, moon, Venus and the stars. In spite of the fact that there were just 365 days in the Haab year, they knew that a year is somewhat longer than 365 days. The Mayans ascertained the length of the year to be 365.2420 days (genuine approx. estimate is 365.2422 days). This is more precise than the estimation of 365.2425 that is utilized as a part of the Gregorian logbook. The Mayans were, along these lines, nearer than our present date-book. Mayans stargazers figured that 81 lunar months endured 2392 days. This gives the length of the lunar month as 29.5308 days, astoundingly near the present day estimation of 29.53059 days. They gauged the 584-day Venus cycle with a slight difference of only two hours. The Mayans likewise took after the developments of Jupiter, Mars and Mercury; and recorded galactic information like obscurations. Mayans cosmic learning was more precise and a long ways in front of Europe.