The Lost Secrets of
Maya Technology
By James O'Kon
The
ancient Maya were avid sky watchers, after millennia of observations of the
heavens they gained an uncanny knowledge of time and the harmonious composition
of the cosmos. Their comprehension of the qualities of the universe, the
mysterious movements of astral bodies and the principals of time evolved into
their quadripartite philosophy of the cosmos; a belief system that inspired the
scientific culture that guided the Maya civilization.
It has been long been an
enigma how the Maya achieved such elevated scientific and technical levels in
the total isolation of a tropical rainforest. Why were the Maya so different
from other ancient civilizations? They appear to be out of time and space. The
Maya developed their corpus of scientific and technical knowledge in total
isolation without the aid of outside cultures. The Maya optimized their native
ingenium to become America?s first scientists and engineers. One of their great
advantages was time. Not only did the Maya venerate time, but time was on their
side. The 3000 year term of the civilization enabled Maya scientists, engineers,
and technicians to develop an idea or concept, assess the results, perfect their
work and utilize the scientific method, to finally get it right. . Their
scientific civilization was the result of their own cognitive thought process;
it did not result from outside influences or assistance from extraterrestrials,
but was a result of the genius of native intelligence.
They were far distant from
other cradles of civilization; they developed their own sciences independently.
Their captivation with time and the movement of cosmic bodies were the stimuli
for the development of their accurate astronomy, elegant mathematics and a
written language developed to record their calculations and ideas.
More than a thousand years
before Europeans landed on the shores of the Americas, the Maya developed a
science?based civilization in the total isolation of the tropical hot? lands of
the Yucatan Peninsula. The towering skylines of their magnificent high?rise
cities loomed above the emerald rainforest, creating awe?inspiring spectacles.
These architectural wonders, detailed with magnificently carved facades, were
resplendent in artistic relief and hieroglyphic inscriptions. These
sophisticated urban centers were the largest cities on the planet during the
middle of the first millennium AD; The Maya enjoyed their golden age while
Europe was wallowing in the dark ages
Maya technicians had the
intellectual capacity to solve abstract problems in technology with this
knowledge they built cities with structures towering above the rainforest,
reservoirs for storage of potable water, paved roads tracking through the
jungle. They built the longest bridge in the ancient world, overcame the lack of
metal tools, and beasts of burden. They built and launched sea going cargo
vessels that extended their lucrative trade routes for thousands of kilometers
over the shining seas.
The sprawling Maya
city?states were more than technically dazzling examples of art and architecture
conceived to overwhelm the observer with wonderment. These cities were centers
of power, incubators of science and technology, seats of learning, and the hub
of big business operations that generated wealth for the city states
The Maya sciences included
achievements in astronomy, mathematics, calendrics and a concise written
language. Their scientific and technological achievements were more advanced
than any other contemporary culture on the planet. Their mathematics and
astronomy enabled them to calculate the true meaning of December 21, 2012. They
have been compared to the Egyptians for their use of hieroglyphic characters in
their writing, to the Greeks for their development of advanced sciences, to the
Romans for construction paved highways and to the Phoenicians for long?range
trading in seagoing vessels.
Archaeologists have studied
the abandoned cities and the carved art that was inscribed into the facades of
the Classic Period buildings. These inscriptions have provided abundant evidence
of the historic accomplishments of this brilliant culture. Moreover,
accomplishments of the Maya have been revealed through translations of their
surviving books, carved inscriptions and other written documentation. Their
achievements continue to astonish the academic world. However, scholarly
research devoted to the Maya, has completely overlooked the technological
achievements of Maya engineers. These technological achievements enabled the
survival, good health, and favorable lifestyles of the inhabitants who populated
the world's densest urban centers. Technology enabled the survival and growth of
the Maya society in spite of their precocious tropical environment. They
suffered from an inconstant supply of rainwater, poor soil conditions, and a
lack of surface water. Maya engineers successfully developed efficient water
management systems and technologically advanced agriculture systems that
overcame the shortfalls of their environment and enabled the prosperity of the
society.
However, the Maya had an
artificially high population, which was the result of their advanced technology.
Then disaster struck the Yucatan Peninsula. A drought, the worst in 3500 years,
devastated the Maya. The same advanced technology which built the amazing cities
and enabled their large populations could not save the Maya. Catastrophe
occurred and the scientific civilization was no more.
The ruins of the grand cities
lay beneath the verdant shroud of jungle growth for over 1000 years. The remains
of the lost civilization lay untouched for a millennium; they were never
reoccupied and are intact and frozen in time. The remains are intact for study.
The author, a forensic
engineer, has spent 40 years exploring more than fifty remote sites of the
ancient Maya. Using forensic engineering techniques, remote sensing and digital
tools, he has uncovered and digitally reconstructed lost engineering
achievements and technology of the Maya. The technology of the Maya was a
brilliant extrapolation of their scientific cosmology. The author reveals a
series of surprising discoveries of Maya technologies that were thousands of
years in advance of similar European inventions.. He applied his engineering
skills to identify the tantalizing clues that lay hidden in plain sight, and has
assembled them into an intriguing mosaic for inclusion in the book.
He has revealed the
technological secrets that enabled this great scientific civilization to live in
a challenging natural environment. This book will detail how the Maya developed
specialized tools harder than steel; fabricated cement to build innovative
cast?in?place structural systems for high?rise buildings in their great cities;
water management systems that enabled a dependable water supply for potable and
agriculture usage; paved highways; a bridge system that enabled the longest
bridge in the world and a human transport system that was more efficient than
animal power.
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