And yet although
the Mayas knew about the wheel, they never used it. Neither did they use metals
other than copper. What is even more surprising is that they suddenly abandoned
many of their cities and built new ones in the jungle. Some time around AD 900,
Mayan civilization collapsed. By the year 1200, their last great capital,
Chichen Itza, was deserted.
Who were
these strange people and the even stranger gods they worshipped? What brought
about their sudden collapse? Some writers have tried to prove that the Mayas
had contact with visitors from space and even that they themselves came from
another planet. Some people believe that their civilization came to an end
because the Mayas never developed a proper resistance to local germs and
diseases. All we really know is that when the first Europeans appeared off
their coast, this great and misterious culture was only a memory.