What writing system did the Maya use?
Quick answer
The ancient Maya used Maya hieroglyphic script, often called Maya glyphs. It was a logosyllabic system, combining signs for whole words with signs for syllables. It’s the only fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas that has been largely deciphered.
How Maya writing worked
| Sign type | What it represents | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Logograms | Whole words or ideas | A glyph for “jaguar” (balam) |
| Syllabic signs | Sounds such as ba, la, ma | Used to spell words phonetically |
Scribes could write the same word in different ways: with a logogram, with syllables, or with a mix. Glyphs were arranged in blocks, usually read in pairs of columns, from left to right and top to bottom. There were about 800 different signs.
Where Maya writing appears
- Carved stone monuments (stelae) and temple walls
- Painted pottery
- Jade and bone objects
- Codices: folding books made of bark paper coated with lime plaster
The surviving codices
Spanish missionaries destroyed many Maya books. In 1562, the Bishop Diego de Landa burned dozens of codices in Maní, Yucatán. Only four codices are known to survive:
| Codex | Kept in |
|---|---|
| Dresden Codex | Dresden, Germany |
| Madrid Codex | Madrid, Spain |
| Paris Codex | Paris, France |
| Maya Codex of Mexico (formerly Grolier Codex) | Mexico City |
The Dresden Codex contains remarkably accurate astronomical tables, including Venus cycles and eclipse predictions.
Cracking the code
| Year | Breakthrough |
|---|---|
| 1952 | Russian linguist Yuri Knorozov shows the script is partly phonetic |
| 1960 | Tatiana Proskouriakoff shows inscriptions record real rulers’ histories |
| 1970s–1990s | Researchers such as Linda Schele and David Stuart decipher much of the script |
Today, scholars can read most surviving Maya texts. The Maya people and their languages are very much alive, with millions of speakers in Mexico and Central America.
Writing was also invented independently in Mesopotamia; see the first writing system. Another great Mesoamerican city: who built Teotihuacan.
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