Uncontacted contemporaries · 553 overlapping years

Byzantine Empire Postclassic Maya (Chichén Itzá era)

For 553 years — from 900 CE to 1453 CE — both civilizations existed simultaneously. Neither this dataset nor the historical record shows any documented trade, war, or diplomatic contact between them.

Byzantine Empire

Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia

The Greek-speaking continuation of the Roman Empire in the east, surviving for nearly a millennium after Rome's fall.

Postclassic Maya (Chichén Itzá era)

Northern Yucatán

The northern Maya world that flourished for centuries after the southern lowland cities of the Classic era were abandoned.

Traits both developed independently

With no documented contact, any shared trait below represents independent development rather than transmission from one to the other.

Byzantine Empire only

  • Bronze metallurgy
  • Iron metallurgy
  • Codified law

Postclassic Maya (Chichén Itzá era) only

No traits unique to Postclassic Maya (Chichén Itzá era) in this comparison.