BOOK REVIEW: FIVE STARS
The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology by James A. O'Kon
The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology is an extensive compendium of the stand alone scientific knowledge base that impacts the world’s economic and health environment to this day handed down to us by the ancient Olmec/Mayan civilizations.
This was an excellent book except for the following that were important to development of the world’s economic health and overlooked in the book: 1. Nixtamalization of maize (Indian corn) and numerous medicines such as hypnotic drugs like morning glory blossom seeds. If you eat four seeds you will feel good, but if you ingested forty you will begin building pyramids.
2. The Chontal Maya and their extensive sea going trade network to North America, South America and the Caribbean Sea. Copper from upper Michigan, Inca produce and craftsmanship plus the sharing of sustaining agricultural technology...just a few of the multitude of acquired and innovated achievements that being the hemisphere’s largest exporter of sea salt. This sea salt trade was commandeered from the Maya by the conquistador Spanish and continues production in northern Yucatan to this day.
EXCERPTS:
At the height of their civilization, their scientific and technological achievements were more advanced than any other culture on the planet.
Maya created written almanacs of solar and lunar cycles of Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn with great precision.
Maya mathematical system used a base of 20, rather than a base of 10 (used in European mathematics), and enabled the calculation of massive numbers using only three symbols in addition to the basic functions. Their development of positional mathematics enabled the calculation of numbers in magnitudes of the hundreds of trillions.
These masters of the written word not only chronicled the history of the Maya and executed daily correspondence that managed the city-state, but they wrote thousands of books dealing with numerous and diverse subjects including history, royal lineage, matters of astronomy, mathematics, calendars, technology, medicine, law, ritual, music, and the natural history of plants and animals, among other subjects. During the Classic Period, from AD 250 to AD 900, the sophistication of Maya arts and sciences soared while Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages. When the Maya were enjoying the good life in their grand cities with populations of 100,000, London was a swampy river trading town with 9,000 inhabitants.
A popular part of American and world history books, the chronicles of the King under Spanish Colonial rule, and best-selling novels, all of which brought the romantic story of the Inca and their bridges to the attention of the world. This was not the case for the Maya, whose civilization had collapsed 600 years before the conquest and did not have Spanish chronicles describing examples of their lost technology.????? (only in the state of Yucatan)
Because of the records left by the Spanish chronicles, the Inca had a historic advantage over other pre-Columbian cultures, with the exception of the Aztecs. The Maya did not have this advantage. The Maya civilization and its technology had collapsed 600 years before the conquest. ???? (not so)
Maya society optimized their disposable time for advancing science and expanding ideas. This disposable time was made possible by the bountiful harvests that enabled city dwellers freedom from farm labor. Nixtamalization?
Maya cities were masterpieces of artistic and technological creativity brought to realization by the invention of cast-in-place concrete, tall structures, efficient infrastructure, and city planning. The urban city-states were a tour de force of Maya intellectualism. The Maya transportation systems with all-weather roads and seagoing vessels brought wealth to the city-states by enabling successful trade throughout Mesoamerica and across the seas. Chontal Maya?
Fortune turned against the Maya: between the fateful period of AD 790 to AD 910 the greatest drought in 7,000 years engulfed the Yucatan, brought about demographic devastation on a scale unparalleled in world history, and destroyed their exquisite scientific civilization. (only in the northwestern Yucatan)
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