Did Mayans Invent the Fidget Spinner?

The ancient Mayans have long been considered one of the most impressive, technologically advanced ancient civilizations in world history. They were the only civilization in the pre-Columbian Americas to have a writing system and flourished in the realms of art and architecture. Additionally, they developed a calendar similar to the one we use today, though it infamously, if not unceremoniously, ended in 2012. But did they actually invent the most important device in the history of mankind millennia before science was able to recreate it? Did they invent the Fidget Spinner?

A viral tweet by Wired senior editor Arielle Pardes seems to suggest so:

Proof that there are no original ideas anymore pic.twitter.com/7zPxYha7QQ

— Arielle Pardes (@pardesoteric) July 31, 2017

The "Spinning Toy with Animal Heads" Pardes and several other people have noticed bears a striking resemblance to the modern fidget spinner is housed in the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. For its part, the Institute has taken the comparison in stride, joking that it is ahead of the curve when one passerby brought up the comparison.

Unfortunately, it appears the dream of a class of Mayans sitting in class playing with "Spinning Toys" to help their ADD is not to be. When The Verge investigated the Spinning Toy, the museum agreed that it looked like a fidget spinner, but was more likely the head of a mace.

Chief curator Jean Evans explained that the item was found near a temple, and as maces were considered “weapons of the gods,” it would make more sense for the item to be a weapon than a toy. Additionally, toys from the ancient Mayans exist, but none of the discovered toys resemble the “Spinning Toy” in the museum. The item’s days of being labeled a toy are numbered; as the museum prepares for its 100th birthday, the items are being relabeled, and the ancient Mayan “fidget spinner” will return to sit with its brethren on the weaponry shelf.