[Aztlan] "The Maya had no Wheel...."

[D. M. Urquidi]

One thing that is being forgotten is also the Aztec round bowls of pure stone. . . .
  A circle is a circle is a circle, unless you try to square it like da Vinci did.
   
  Dea
kim Goldsmith <kiminmexico at yahoo.com> wrote:
  I'm with Robert Evans and company. I think one of the
strongest indications we have that the prehispanic
cultures did indeed have the wheel come in the form of
the ceramic wheeled figurines.

I've been studying the clay figurines here at
Teotihuacan for over 25 years now, so I am very
familiar with these little critters (they are usually
animal effigies). They have four wheels and a space
for two axles; you put a string through them, pull
them around and they work just fine.

In my opinion it is simply ridiculous to look at the
complex technology that these civilizations had and
then think that they could figure out the wheel on a
"mini-scale" but never employ it to help haul some of
the stone, dirt, etc. around!

Not to mention that, if the wheeled figurines turn out
to be toys for childern (and there was good evidence
of that in a burial uncovered by Sergio Gomez at the
Atetelco area of Teo), isn't it true that normally the
children's toys are imitating what the adults already
have??

People ask me why we don't flat out find a life-sized
wheel here at Teo. My answer to them is that, to
start off with, the climate in this area is poor for a
strong preservation of organic material (such as
wood). Plus, you are dealing with a city here which
has been literally paved over for nearly 24 full
kilometers, with additional deforestation outside of
the immediate urban center. With the eventual
collapse of the city, as some of the initial
population stayed behind and additional scavanger
cultures came in, ANY wood that would have been found
laying around would have been reused to its utmost, as
well as used in fires for cooking, etc.

Lack of archaeological evidence does NOT automatically
mean that something didn't happen or didn't exist. 
Every time I consult for a t.v. show or give a tour, I
try hard to impress that upon people. In the case of
the wheel, I think that logic and common sense would
take us a long, long way.

Respectfully,

Kim C. Goldsmith, Ph.D.
Teotihuacan
Mexico

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D. M. Urquidi
dmu Ink
P.O. Box 49485
Austin, Texas 78765-49485
                  http://www.mayalords.org                   
               http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ancientamericas/               
 



 				
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