What technology was available to the Aztec/Maya empires at their height?

[BroccoliRage]

Actually they did, they used it on toys, and, as was cited in this paper, may have used it for other purposes as well.

The Auld Grump

that paper is actually erroneous in some areas, but that doesnt matter. they had wheel on toys but they did NOT use them in transit. one of the reasons people dont like to acknowledge that is because it paints native americans in an unfavorable light and narrow minded racists will use iit as a justification for gods only knows what. they also did not have alcohol, but they had an unknown method for working gold. and they invented cocoa!

its also true that when the toltecs and other meso americans moved south they devastated the animal life along the way, using more primitive methods of hunting, such as cliffs and stampedes. this was common to all primitive man.

they had a calendar and some interesting glyphs but an incomplete writing system, and the aztecs in particular had a strict caste society, very religious oriented.

my pointing out these facts in NO way justifies any form of racism, it only illustrates how several types of people cut off from the rest of the world evolved on their own.

but then were they cutoff entirely? its quite possible they had contact with many polypeniasian tribes which could make for an interesting historical fiction fantasy campaign...

 

[D.Shaffer]

they also did not have alcohol,

Are you talking about the Maya? Because the Aztecs most definitely had alchohol. They also had pretty strict laws against public drunkenness.

Other tidbits I havent heard mentioned yet...
Domesticated animals included the turkey,the dog in several forms, and an insect I forget the name of used for dyes.
Crops included cocoa, vanilla, bananas, squash, pumpkin, beans, chili, tobacco, onions, red tomatoes, green tomatoes, sweet potatoes, jicama, huautli and maize
The Aztecs also has a pretty good system of roads and military logistics.
They had a much better regard for sanitation then Europe did at the time and arguably had a better degree of practical medical knowledge.