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A comment on Largest Known Maya Structure Found. Parent comment

Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by monocasa on Sunday June 07, 2020 @06:04PM (#23451296)
It's a yes and no kinda thing, last time I checked in on it. There are examples of children's toys with wheels made by Mayans, but examples of wheeled vehicles don't exist. There's an argument that they lacked suitable beasts of burden to pull vehicles (at best is a llama, which isn't really great at pulling), so that might be why, but that's ultimately conjecture.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by BurningFrog on Sunday June 07, 2020 @08:47PM (#23452473)
Aren't Llamas South American mountain animals?

Were they really walking around the tropical jungles of Mexico?

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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by steve_adams_86 on Monday June 08, 2020 @01:26AM (#23453835)
You're right that Llamas are South American (though they weren't always - the fossil record shows Llama-like animals as far north as the southern states ~20K years ago), but mexico is so much more than just tropical jungles! Some parts see snow every year, and there are piles of mountains all over the country. It's such an incredible place.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by monocasa on Monday June 08, 2020 @01:12AM (#23453762)
Mayans traded via boat with South America. They had a pretty good idea what existed down there.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 07, 2020 @06:29PM (#23451538)
Note that China made extensive use of undrawn sailbarrows to carry things over long distances.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by colordrops on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:38PM (#23452073)
What's an "undrawn sailbarrow"? Your comment is the only thing that shows up on Google search.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by Someone on Monday June 08, 2020 @03:47AM (#23454490)
For examples, see https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbar...
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by pengaru on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:47PM (#23452122)
It's a fairly conventional manned wheelbarrow, but with a sail to assist.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 07, 2020 @08:06PM (#23452251)
No; a conventional wheelbarrow rests its weight on a wheel at the front and on the human holding the handles at the other end (since it's impossible to balance on the front wheel).

The sailbarrow has a large central wheel that bears the weight, relieving the human of the need to personally support the weight of whatever's being carried.

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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by pengaru on Sunday June 07, 2020 @09:58PM (#23452850)
In the case of the Chinese wheelbarrow, that is correct, but the sail is an improvement added later to the existing conventional design of the region and era which happened to use a central wheel.

I'm no expert on international wheelbarrow histories, but assume that the term "sailbarrow" being so general applies to any wheelbarrow having a sail. The historic precedent of the Chinese incarnation is literally their conventional wheelbarrow with a sail added.

I assume the same approach can be (and probably has been) used on any wheelbarrow in appropriate conditions.

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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by WalterBright on Sunday June 07, 2020 @10:47PM (#23453120)
Haha, when riding my bike downwind, I'd sometimes open my jacket wide and let the wind do the work.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by bryanrasmussen on Sunday June 07, 2020 @06:11PM (#23451347)
Llama is Incan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama#/media/File:Lama_glama_V...
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by monocasa on Sunday June 07, 2020 @06:25PM (#23451490)
Sure, but the Mayans vaguely knew about them.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by jcranmer on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:11PM (#23451902)
The Mayan collapse occurred 700 years before the Inca Empire was founded (and the Aztec Empire, for what it's worth).
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by ratfaced-guy on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:22PM (#23451968)
Did the Inca genetically engineer llamas? Clearly they were around before the Inca, just like they are still around, even after the Inca.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by stan_rogers on Sunday June 07, 2020 @07:46PM (#23452118)
It's a domestic species, just like, say, modern cattle are domesticated aurochs. The wild equivalents are the guanacoes. They may be physically very similar, but they're different behaviourally.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by mkl on Monday June 08, 2020 @09:04AM (#23456120)
It's a domesticated species, but it was domesticated well before the Inca civilisation.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by ncmncm on Monday June 08, 2020 @06:09PM (#23461364)
There was civilization in the Andes for thousands of years before the Inka. We just know little about them. Likewise in the Maya homelands.

People who live in Peru and study the ruins distinguish three megalithic stonework traditions, with the Inka the least sophisticated. The Inka's predecessors routinely handled rocks of tens, and up to hundreds of tons, slicing them into non-convex polygonal shapes and fitting them like puzzle pieces. The Inka worked only much smaller rocks.

Originally, the king was the Inka. No name for the civilization he ruled has surfaced.

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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by libria on Sunday June 07, 2020 @06:16PM (#23451397)
Any wheeled tools at least? I may not have a horse to drag a refrigerator to my new apartment, but I'd rather use a hand truck than bear it manually.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by monocasa on Sunday June 07, 2020 @06:27PM (#23451512)
They rolled large blocks on logs via the same methods you see with all the pyramid building cultures.
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Re:Largest Known Maya Structure Found by m4rtink on Sunday June 07, 2020 @11:11PM (#23453240)
IIRC Viking used logs as well to transport their ships between rivers, so they can raid the usually very surprised towns and vilages downstream, especially for rivers going south.
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