Mayas and a Telescope??

Hey Nia... Thanks for the links. I am going to have a look now. I will be back later to post again and/or I will U2U you.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by NW111

 

Hiya Nia, I'd like to add that the Mayans didn't have glass. They hadn't the technology to create the glass with which to make lenses. No glass, no telescopes.

That's what the crystal skulls were for.

You point the skull's face at the sky all night, then download the collected information into grampa shaman's brain once he gets "in tune" with the skull.


Harte

Hiya Nia, I'd like to add that the Mayans didn't have glass. They hadn't the technology to create the glass with which to make lenses. No glass, no telescopes

Just to play devils advocate I would add, "that has been detected". However I would also add that the glass industries in Egypt, ME and elsewhere left definite traces and glass is virtually indestructible and easy to detect in the archaeological record.

If glass had existed it would have made it way into jewelry (as it did in all other cultures) - it didn't.

reply to post by Hanslune
The lack of glass in pre-Columbian America is another piece of evidence against the idea that trade routes were common between North Africa and N. America over two thousand years ago. Neither the technology or the artifacts have been found Of course, some take lack of evidence as the possibility that it was in fact...a fact!

reply to post by Kandinsky


Yeah lots of 'non' signs of a lack of cultural transfer.

Glass, glass is easily produced in a fire pit - I've always considered it odd that no one noticed that glass was formed from heated sands.

I remember a 1940 (?) excavation report that said bits of glass had been found in a hearth, but the Americans of the time didn't note it.

Originally posted by NW111

They knew exactly the ways of the planets.
But how?

I posted a thread before, out of a magazine, where was written: "the mayas knew the exactly way of moon, merkur, mars, venus, etc.."

How did they know those things? Without the technologie?

They had a written language, so they were able leave records of observations they made for posterity.
They had people solely dedicated to the interpretation of the skies.
They were around for a long time, so with these records that they wrote, they were able to make them more complete and precise each time. A kind of "observational science" if you will.
All without a telescope, just keen observation.

They had the time and patience (and again, the written records) to study the patterns of the movements of stars and planets, and also of the change in seasons.

[edit on 4/5/2009 by haika]

reply to post by haika


Yep I worked with uneducated (in the western modern sense) Miskito Indians who while doing night work and without a watch always knew when dawn was approaching. They did so by watching the rise and movement of a group of stars (sorry I've forgotten their name for them).

Not having watches they knew this as a way to know when dawn was approaching, an excellent thing to know for hunting, getting up for work or doing sneaky things.

After reading the articles provided by Nia, doing a little of my own research and some thinking, I have decided to play devil's advocate on behalf of Nia.

1st. Glass was present in pre-Colombia. Volcanic glass, it usually takes a form that we know as obsidian. Probably not too useful as a lens, but it can be used to make a mirror. I do not understand telescopes mechanics much, but I do know some use mirrors.

2nd. If a mirror is not enough and we need a lens for the telescope, how about quartz or beryl? Both are found in Colombia. Early eyeglasses were made of either quartz or beryl. Why couldn't a telescope lens be made from them?

I am not saying that the Mayans used any of these materials to make a telescope. However, I think it allows for the possibilty.

I am not sure if the Mayan's had a telescope, but they did have a Astrology/Astronomy building, we visited it at the Chichen Itza campus. The Mayans also had a great knowledge of the sun, as during sunset, the sun makes a serpent on the grand pyramid.

Just asking out loud, but did the Maya, not come from Earlier Peoples, like the Altai for one?

And wouldn't this sort of information be the MOST important type one could have?

The Maya's may have gotten their knowledge of the Heavens in this manner.

ciao

Shane

The Maya didn't need telescopes to record and predict the infiormation they recorded and predicted.

Every planetary position they noted and predicted was of planets one can easily see with the naked eye. Even having the most powerful telescope in the world wouldn't have helped them record the position of a star or a planet. That is done with respect to some earthly perspective, like lining it up with notches on the railing of the balconey of your observation tower, which was how the Sumerians did it in their ziggurats..

No need for a telescope to do any of the stuff they did, and a telescope wouldn't have helped them do it any better, either.

Case closed so quit yammering on about it.

Harte

Originally posted by Harte

Case closed so quit yammering on about it.

Harte

So uh..... case closed folks........buh-bye.

2nd ______