@ar-pharazon
The Maya kingdom of Tiho was already reestablishing a centralized state when the Spaniards fucked everything up. In a way, though, Tiho still succeeded; the city is just called Merida now.
I’m not sure utilitarian metallurgy will catch on. Metallurgy itself was already practiced throughout Mesoamerica in the form of copper, but obsidian is already there, and the association between metal and the divine might be too strong.
The interesting question is what happens after. Postclassic Mesoamerica was moving towards 1) agricultural intensification, 2) extensive commercialization at all levels, and 3) cultural, economic, and political unification of the region via the propagation of Central Mexican styles and ideologies, the growth of long-distance trade, and the rise of the Aztecs, the most powerful empire ever seen in Mexico.
This suggests that Mesoamerica could conceivably have been unified into a single Central Mexico-based empire absent European intrusion.
The Maya kingdom of Tiho was already reestablishing a centralized state when the Spaniards fucked everything up. In a way, though, Tiho still succeeded; the city is just called Merida now.
I’m not sure utilitarian metallurgy will catch on. Metallurgy itself was already practiced throughout Mesoamerica in the form of copper, but obsidian is already there, and the association between metal and the divine might be too strong.
The interesting question is what happens after. Postclassic Mesoamerica was moving towards 1) agricultural intensification, 2) extensive commercialization at all levels, and 3) cultural, economic, and political unification of the region via the propagation of Central Mexican styles and ideologies, the growth of long-distance trade, and the rise of the Aztecs, the most powerful empire ever seen in Mexico.
This suggests that Mesoamerica could conceivably have been unified into a single Central Mexico-based empire absent European intrusion.