Mayans and Egyptians: Possible knowledge of one-another?

Question

I have a small curiosity and it's rather regarding the history or Geography. Looking at the architecture between the Mayans and the Egyptians; they prove to be similar if not the same almost. It's hard to imagine how two civilizations a sea apart can both build pyramids and both share a religion belief in more than one God. Though looking at the opposites between the two civilizations you would notice the Mayans lived more natural life and the Egyptians lived a more luxurious life obviously.

However it has come to my attention both use astronomy and other common sciences. Both had vast astronomical knowledge along with biological more on the terms on medicine. Is there a possibility that the two civilizations knew of each other? It cannot be that we've discovered North America 500 years ago? I mean theoretically speaking we must of known of each other for a long time but disconnected in the middle ages. During the Middle Ages we disconnected from science and everything else, the only reason I can imagine why we never mapped North America is because we didn't deem it necessary. But the main point of the question is that is there a possibility that we geographically knew of North America, yet sadly never ever recorded it in a map due to the lack of mapping ability. We did focus on using the sun and stars as a guide if I am not mistaken.

Answer 1

Egyptians: 3000 BC to: AD? Civilisation dying out by Roman times after 30 BC.



Maya? Civilisation only started AD.



So - NO. Forget it.

Answer 2

I completely agree - especially with the Ziggurats the Mayans built. There are far too many similarities. And if one believes in well, what we may still define as science fiction, then extra terrestrial visitations surely may explain the commonalities, but without any proof, we are left to guess.



But, that's assuming there was some kind of contact - the similarities may simply be the development of the creative mind and the process of that development. In the way that all children crawl first before walk, intellect and its development take small steps first. What it may be that we are seeing is the process of development - and in that process there are steps that the intellect takes to get from point A to point B - and those points are what create the similar thought processes. There was certainly far more going on that we may ever understand.



If you haven't done it yet, start googling searches like one I had done that got good results - 'similarities mayans egyptians' or 'mayans vs (versus) egyptians' there are some quite interesting articles there.



Edit: Regarding the time element, I'm not sure where some people got information, but there was overlap of both civilzations at the same time. Granted they don't overlap in the heights of their civilizations but well, there is a remote possibility. Alexander the Great invaded Egypt in 332 BCE, and that time would have been mid preclassic Maya, and the time of Cleopatra and Augustus Caesar would have been around 30BCE. Maya were still in late preclassic era, but the Roman conquest of Egypt and that period from 30BCE to 395AD definitely meshed in a timeline with the classic Maya period. I did check dates to confirm that there was overlap, I didn't have specific information but you can see the info at these two sites:

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3191-the-mayan-civilization-time-line

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/EGYPT/TIMELINE.HTM

Answer 3

Some archeologist have theorized (I wouldn't argue proven) that people from Africa sailed across the Atlantic ocean and never returned from modern day Mexico. And, that some Pacific Islanders/Asians sailed to the west coast (California and Mexico) and never returend either. But, it is mostly not accepted as fact.



http://www.amazon.com/They-Came-Before-Columbus-Presence/dp/0394402456

http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/chinese-beat-columbus.htm/printable



Also, several American Indian tribes near the coasts have legends/stories of black peoples (on Atlantic side) and Asians (on Pacific side) who came by boat and assimilated into the tribe.

Answer 4

The answer is no. As other had mentioned, these two civilizations do not overlap. Egypt was not sea surfing nation, it was landlocked and did not had naval forces, nor ships that were capable to travel over Atlantic. At the time when Egypt civilization peaked, the sea was domain of Minoan and later Phoenician sea/trading empire. Phoenicians were able to circumnavigate around Africa, but we do not have any information that they had ventured beyond Atlantic. Development of maritime relationship between Egypt and India also started when Egypt was conquered by Persia, and trade was later handled by Greek colonies in Berenice and India. There is again no evidence that Egyptians, Persians, Greek and Romans had knowledge of Mayans.



Middle Ages were not scientifically disconnected; actually they were more advanced technologically than any ancient civilization. Medieval Europe with knowledge of optics, mechanics, wind and water mills, calculus, navigation was far ahead of that Romans. Romans did not know lenses, nor knew windmills. Cartography was pretty much advanced in medieval times, even Mercator (lived in 16th century) actually used system that was developed by Greeks and was utilized by entire medieval civilization. Medieval trade network through seas spanning from Baltic and Northern Sea all the way to Mediterranean had advanced cartography, so if the Europeans were knowledgeable about Maya in their medieval peak (1250), they would recorded it. However, with all these universities that existed, nobody had passed the knowledge down.. They were not aware that there was any continent west of Europe.

Answer 5

As has already been pointed out, Mayan civilization began long after that of ancient Egypt had passed it peak,and Egypt been taken over by Persian,Macedonian,and then Roman rulers.



There's no reason to suppose that different civilizations can't independently develop similar cultural, architectural and scientific techniques,knowledge,and methodology. River valley civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China,and India developed at similar times without any suggestion from anybody that they were necessarily in contact with each other at the time.



Ancient Egypt had a written language,and extensive records survive - none of which even hint at contact with the Americas.

Answer 6

-I'm reading a book on this, and the Mayans did have knowledge of the Egyptians.

-I'm not finished with the book, so I can't really tell you, many facts

so I thin you should Check out "They Came Before Columbus" The African Presence in America





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