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Maya writing used logograms complemented with a set of syllabic glyphs, somewhat similar in function to modern Japanese writing. Maya writing was called "hieroglyphics" or hieroglyphs by early European explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries who found its general appearance reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs, although the two systems are ...
The first major work of Mayan literature known to be originally written in Latin script are the Annals of the Cakchiquels (since 1571). [22] Since the mid 1990s, Maya intellectuals attended workshops organized by Linda Schele to learn about Maya writing, [24] and with digital technologies, Maya writing may indeed face a resurrection. [22]
The Maya writing system consists of about 1000 distinct characters or hieroglyphs ('glyphs'), and like many ancient writing systems is a mixture of syllabic signs and logograms. This script was in use from the 3rd century BCE until shortly after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
A well known example is the Codex Boturini. Screenfold A manuscript painted on a tira and folded like a screen in the fashion of an accordion. A classic example is the Codex Borgia. Roll A tira that has been rolled. An example is the Selden Roll. Lienzo A sheet of cloth, sometimes of grand format. The Lienzo de Quauhquechollan is a notable example.
Geoffrey Sampson distinguishes between two kinds of writing. One kind of writing he calls 'semasiographical', this covers kinds of pictorial or ideographic writing that is not necessarily connected to phonetic language but can be read in different languages, this kind of writing is for example used in roadsigns which can be read in any language.
Theirs was the most advanced writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, of which only three uncontested examples remain, the rest having been destroyed by the Spanish. In addition, a great many examples of Maya texts can be found on stelae and ceramics.
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The "alphabet", along with some passages of explanatory notes and examples of its use in Maya writing, was written as a small part of de Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán ("Account of the matters of Yucatán"), which also documented many aspects of the culture and practices of the indigenous Maya peoples that he had seen and been told ...