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

[DWirth8851 at aol.com]

I agree with Jean-Paul Herveg re: the "wheel" in Mesoamerica, that  "The 
Mayas were not using the wheel the way we do...."  

More than 70 terracotta wheeled figures have been  found in Mesoamerica, the 
earliest dating to c. 100 B.C. Previously termed  "toys", they have been found 
in burials of both adults and children. All the  animals that have wheels are 
associated with the sun, and since they were buried  with the dead, probably 
had to do with rebirth--in other words, a vehicle to  carry the dead to rise 
in the morning as the sun. These animals associated with  the sun include the 
dog, jaguar, deer, and monkey. 
 
    In addition, Mesoamericas were not novices in the  use of axles. Due to 
the fragile organic nature of wood, no axles survived to  our day, but scholars 
report that five ways to attach wheels were used. For  references to the 
wheel in Mesoamerica, see below:
 
Gordon D. Ekholm, "Wheeled Toys in Mexico," American Antiquity  11/3 (1946).
Staney H Boggs, "Salvadoran Varieties of Wheeled Figures,"  Contributions to 
Mesoamerican Anthropology, Pub. No. 1 (1973).
Stephan F. Borhegyi, "Wheels and Man," Archaeology 23 (January  1970).
 
Diane E. Wirth