Beginning: Mayan Pyramids: General Purpose Structures.
When science and society are faced with some monumental monuments of ancient civilizations, along with other questions, one of the first questions that arise is "who built this?" Within the framework of the general scheme, the situation is developing with the Mayan pyramids, the question of whose creators is becoming the subject of more and more widespread discussions. True, these disputes, fueled by various put forward assumptions, proceed mainly outside the field of scientists …
Science is clear
This is exactly how the situation develops because for science as such, the problem of who built the Mayan pyramids, by and large, does not exist. The answer for experts lies on the surface - the pyramids of the Mayan civilization were built by the Maya themselves. Scientists have identified the entire technological chain of the construction of the pyramids - from quarries where building material was mined (mainly sandstone), to the ways of delivering stone to the construction site (often stone was mined nearby, but basically it had to be delivered hundreds, and sometimes thousands of kilometers). In addition, the process of producing lime, a necessary material for construction, is well known - since the pyramids created from relatively small stones with not too carefully processed edges of the pyramids needed a binder. It is for the production of the main component of this composition, lime,a huge amount of cut wood was burned.
For scientists, the other side of the problem is of much greater interest - who exactly from the Maya was the initiator of the construction of the pyramids. The direct work was carried out, of course, in any case, ordinary residents, farmers and artisans, as well as slaves. But until recently, it was taken for granted that the construction of the pyramids could only be the initiative of rulers or high priests. However, the studies of American scientists made it possible to put forward a hypothesis that the pyramids could be erected by less noble and wealthy people, to the extent that this or that rural community could jointly and on its own build a pyramid-temple to worship a deity. Such conclusions were made on the basis of the study of the pyramids, many of which were clearly inferior in the quality of building materials and the scale of construction to the "state" Mayan pyramids.
Atlanteans, Egyptians, Indians - who's next on the list of pyramid builders?
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The availability of clear scientific evidence on a particular issue has never prevented and does not prevent the adherents of the custom to put forward alternative versions on every occasion. So on the problem of "authorship" of the Mayan pyramids, there is a lot of speculation. It all starts, of course, with the most widespread assumption regarding any structures of antiquity, which sounds something like this: "ancient half-naked savages could not build such objects, and even with a surprisingly accurate astronomical orientation - so either aliens or an extinct civilization tried here." True, with regard to the Mayan pyramids, such arguments do not sound so effective, since all the evidence of the man-madeness of these pyramids is available, and the stone blocks here are not at all as huge and perfectly processed as, for example, in the Egyptian pyramids.so that for them it was necessary to attract aliens or Atlanteans. The only basis for the "alien" theory is found in some images of Mayan deities and mythological characters, which are interpreted as drawings of aliens and aircraft.
Other versions also have a fantastic character, but this time one way or another they connect the Maya with other civilizations. So, according to one of the hypotheses, the Mayan pyramids and the ancient Egyptian pyramids are the creations of the same civilization, the descendants of which settled in different parts of the world. At the same time, the argument is given that in both cases the pyramids were supposedly dedicated to solar deities. In both cases, this is not so - the pyramids of Egypt were not dedicated to the gods at all, they were magic tombs, and the Mayan pyramids were dedicated as temples to various gods, often having nothing to do with the Sun (only the god of water, rain and lightning, Chak, is worth what, to which the famous Pyramid of the Wizard in the city of Uxmal is dedicated).
But one of the most original versions is, of course, the assumption that the Mayan pyramids were created by people from India, representatives of the ancient Vedic civilization. This theory is based only on the fact that the dimensions of the Mayan pyramids partially coincide with the dimensions in ancient Indian length measures used in the construction of religious buildings in India. The fact that there are no other confirmations of this assumption (how could the Indians get to Central America, why would they go there, where there is at least some material evidence) does not bother the supporters of this version.