Why do we have no real historical documents from the Mayans and Aztecs?

Question

Was it because of the Spanish Priests or because their paper was so fragile it was burned in the conquest?

Answer 1

They did not have writings as we know it.  They worked in pictographs on clay and stone, of which we have many examples, but we do not have historical documents as they were not used.  Also, I would think that if there were paper records, that the Spanish Priests and the Conquistadors would have burnt all they could as they would have represented 'writings of the devil' in their minds.

Answer 2

Apparently some documents would had to have been preserved for us to have so much knowledge of the Mayan calendar and such.

They had a different language and when Spanish Conquiestadors overtook the land, much of the gold and treasures that the Mayans and Aztecs held dear were melted down and/or changed into Spanish treasures.

After the priests came along there were mass slaughters of these native people because they chose not to convert. Therefore most documents could have been destroyed.

I'm sure there are others that have been kept hidden or untranslated. But most of them were destroyed.

d**n spaniards couldn't tear down the pyramids!

Answer 3

THat is not even close to being the truth.... The Catholic Priest burned their knowledge because they consider their works the works of pagans... And the knowledge that was destroyed by the Catholic Church could never be replaced... It was just another crime against the world that the Catholic Church is known for......................

Answer 4

There are real historical documents from the Mayans and Aztecs.  They aren't in the form of written books but in the form of carvings.

Answer 5

They didn't have a written language.

Answer 6

There are a fair few codex available even online for Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, Mixtec,Zapotec....its just that generally people are now undecided as how to "read" them. They take the form of pictures and drawings and are also featured as carvings, some of the images have been deciphered as gods, rulers etc but most are not understood and those that are are mostly understood in the form of educated guesses.

Undoubtedly the codex in acknowledged existence are proportionally few in comparison to those that were made, lost due to time, deterioration and a turbulent history.  Some can be found at the Museo Nacional de Antropologica in Mexico city, which also houses the Aztec "Stone of the Sun" or calendar

Answer 7

Christian Missionaries thought the blood sacrifices of the Aztecs were of the devil and burned the whole of their libraries, I think I heard something like a total of 9 Aztlani books were saved from the fires.  The Mayans have a mythicaldisappearance and we are just now learning how to read their writings, like the Aztecs, many of the Mayan texts were destroyed by the Old World religionists, thankfully the Mayans were not first on their lists.

Answer 8

many of them were taken as loot by conquistadors

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Answer 9

There was some paper that survived, but precious little in the form of codexes( probably mispelled) & in their art /building. The spanish destroyed alot and alot of the metals were melted & turned into ingets for easier tranportation back to spain.Some priests hid some back , but time has lost many documents & more are yet to be discovered.The Spanish did not consider what they were doing a complete eradication of a culture or people but a bringing of civillization & religion to a savage race. Kind of like what we did to the Indians, huh?