View source for Mesoamerican writing systems

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{{Use American English|date=March 2019}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2008}}
[[Mesoamerica]], along with [[Cuneiform|Mesopotamia]] and [[Oracle bone script|China]], is one of three known places in the world where writing is thought to have [[Invention of writing|developed independently]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195076189 |page=762 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA762}}</ref> Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combination of [[logographic]] and [[syllabary|syllabic]] systems. They are often called hieroglyphs due to the iconic shapes of many of the glyphs, a pattern superficially similar to [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]. Fifteen distinct writing systems have been identified in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many from a single inscription.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macri |first1=Martha J. |title="Maya and Other Mesoamerican Scripts," in The World's Writing Systems |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford |location=England |pages=172–182}}</ref> The limits of archaeological dating methods make it difficult to establish which was the earliest and hence the progenitor from which the others developed. The best documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and the most widely known, is the classic [[Maya script]]. Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the [[Olmec hieroglyphs]], the [[Zapotec script]], and the [[Isthmian script]], all of which date back to the 1st millennium BC. An extensive [[Mesoamerican literature]] has been conserved, partly in indigenous scripts and partly in postconquest transcriptions in the [[Latin script]].

After the [[conquest of Mexico|Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]] in 1521, [[Viceroyalty of New Spain|Spanish colonial authorities]] and [[Twelve Apostles of Mexico|Catholic Church missionaries]] aimed to purge indigenous culture, religion and traditional institutions, which included the destruction of texts of Mesoamerican and pre-Colombian origin. However, some Mesoamerican texts were spared, particularly from the [[Yucatán region|Yucatán]] of southern Mexico, recording the languages of the area. These surviving texts give anthropologists and historians valuable insight into the origins of [[Mesoamerican languages]], [[Mesoamerica|culture]], [[Mesoamerican religion|religion]], and [[Maya civilization#Politics|government]]. Languages recorded in Mesoamerican writing include [[Classic Maya language|Classical Maya]], [[Classical Nahuatl]], [[Zapotec language|Zapotec]], [[Mixtec language|Mixtec]], and various other languages, particularly of the [[Oto-Manguean languages|Oto-Manguean]] and [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] families.

== Pre-Classic and Classic periods ==
In Mesoamerica, writing emerged during the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Pre-classic Period]], with Zapotec and Maya writing flourishing during the [[Mesoamerican chronology#Classic Period|Classic Period]].
[[File:Cascajal-text.svg|thumb|right|upright|The 62 glyphs of the [[Cascajal block]]]]

=== Olmec writing ===
{{Main|Olmec hieroglyphs}}

Early [[Olmec]] ceramics show representations of something that may be codices, suggesting that [[amatl]] bark codices, and by extension well-developed writing, existed in Olmec times.{{citation needed|date=July 2008}} It was also long thought that many of the glyphs present on Olmec monumental sculpture, such as those on the so-called "Ambassador Monument" (La Venta Monument 13), represented an early Olmec script. This suspicion was reinforced in 2002 by the announcement of the discovery of [[San Andrés (Mesoamerican site)#Indications of an Olmec writing system|similar glyphs]] at [[San Andres (Mesoamerican site)|San Andres]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1078474|title=Olmec Origins of Mesoamerican Writing|journal=Science|date=6 December 2002|last1=Pohl|first1=Mary E. D.|last2=Pope|first2=Kevin O.|last3=Nagy|first3=Christopher von|volume=298|issue=5600|pages=1984–1987|doi=10.1126/science.1078474|pmid=12471256|bibcode=2002Sci...298.1984P |s2cid=19494498|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In September 2006, a report published in [[Science (journal)|''Science'' magazine]] announced the discovery of the [[Cascajal block]], a writing-tablet-sized block of [[Serpentinite|serpentine]] with 62 characters unlike any yet seen in Mesoamerica. This block was discovered by locals in the [[Olmec heartland]] and was dated by the archaeologists to approximately 900 [[Common Era|BCE]] based on other debris. If the authenticity and date can be verified, this will prove to be the earliest writing yet found in Mesoamerica.
[[File:Monument 3, San Jose Mogote.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Monument&nbsp;3 at San José Mogote. The two shaded [[glyph]]s between his legs are likely his name, Earthquake&nbsp;1.]]

=== Zapotec writing ===
{{Main|Zapotec script}}

Another candidate for earliest writing system in Mesoamerica is the writing system of the [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]] culture. Rising in the late [[Mesoamerican chronology|Pre-Classic era]] after the decline of the Olmec civilization, the Zapotecs of present-day Oaxaca built an empire around [[Monte Albán]]. On a few monuments at this archaeological site, archaeologists have found extended text in a glyphic script. Some signs can be recognized as calendric information but the script as such remains undeciphered. Read in columns from top to bottom, its execution is somewhat cruder than that of the later Classic Maya and this has led epigraphers to believe that the script was also less phonetic than the largely syllabic Maya script. These are, however, speculations.

The earliest known monument with Zapotec writing is a "Danzante" stone, officially known as Monument&nbsp;3, found in [[San José Mogote]], [[Oaxaca]]. It has a relief of what appears to be a dead and bloodied captive with two glyphic signs between his legs, probably representing his name. First dated to 500–600 BCE, this was earlier considered the earliest writing in Mesoamerica. However, doubts have been expressed as to this dating, and the monument may have been reused. The Zapotec script went out of use only in the late Classic period.
[[File:La Mojarra Estela 1 (Escritura superior).jpg|thumb|upright|right|Detail showing glyphs from 2nd century CE [[La Mojarra Stela&nbsp;1]]. The left column gives a Long Count date of 8.5.16.9.9, or 162 CE. The other columns are glyphs from the [[Epi-Olmec script]].]]

Zapotec scribes were conflated with artists and were often called ''huezeequichi'', meaning 'an artist on paper'.<ref name="unr">{{Cite thesis|last=Nolte|first=Jaycob|date=May 2021|title=Writing of the Americas|url=https://scholarworks.unr.edu/handle/11714/7818|type=MA thesis |publisher=University of Nevada|via=ScholarWorks|access-date=2022-04-13}}</ref> This suggests that writing may have developed out of an older artistic tradition, in which abstract concepts were represented with symbols, which later more concretely came to represent spoken language. The Zapotec developed a highly advanced 260-day ritual calendar, and a 365-day secular calendar from their knowledge in astronomy.

=== Epi-Olmec or Isthmian script ===
{{Main|Isthmian script}}

A small number of artifacts found in the [[Isthmus of Tehuantepec]] show examples of another early Mesoamerican writing system. They can be seen to contain calendric information but are otherwise undeciphered. The longest of these texts are on [[La Mojarra Stela 1]] and the [[Tuxtla Statuette]]. The writing system used is very close to the Maya script, using affixal glyphs and Long Count dates, but is read only in one column at a time as is the Zapotec script. It has been suggested that this [[Isthmian script|Isthmian or Epi-Olmec script]] is the direct predecessor of the Maya script, thus giving the Maya script a non-Maya origin. Another artifact with Epi-Olmec script is the Chiapa de Corzo stela which is the oldest monument of the Americas inscribed with its own date: the [[Maya calendar#Long Count|Long Count]] on the stela dates it to 36 BCE.

In a 1997 paper, John Justeson and Terrence Kaufman put forward a decipherment of Epi-Olmec. The following year, however, their interpretation was disputed by Stephen Houston and [[Michael D. Coe]], who unsuccessfully applied Justeson and Kaufman's decipherment system against epi-Olmec script from the back of a hitherto unknown mask. The matter remains under dispute.
[[File:Abaj_Takalik_Stela_5.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Stela 5 from Abaj Takalik]]

=== Abaj Takalik and Kaminaljuyú scripts ===

In the highland Maya archaeological sites of [[Abaj Takalik]] and [[Kaminaljuyú]] writing has been found dating to [[Izapa]] culture. It is likely that in this area in late Pre-Classic times an ancient form of a [[Mixe–Zoquean languages|Mixe–Zoquean language]] was spoken, and the inscriptions found here may be in such a language rather than a Maya one. Some glyphs in this scripts are readable as they are identical to Maya glyphs but the script remains undeciphered. The advanced decay and destruction of these archaeological sites make it improbable that more monuments with these scripts will come to light making possible a decipherment.
[[File:Palenque glyphs-edit1.jpg|thumb|Maya glyphs in stucco at the ''Museo de sitio'' in [[Palenque]], Mexico|alt=]]

=== Maya writing ===
{{Main|Maya script}}

Maya writing is attested from the mid-preclassic period in the center of Petén in the Maya lowlands, and lately scholars have suggested that the earliest Maya inscriptions may in fact be the oldest of Mesoamerica. The earliest inscriptions in an identifiably Maya script date back to 200–300 BCE. Early examples include the painted inscriptions at the caves of [[Naj Tunich]] and La Cobanerita in [[El Petén]], [[Guatemala]]. The most elaborate inscriptions are considered to be those at classic sites like [[Palenque]], [[Copán]] and [[Tikal]].

The [[Maya script]] is generally considered to be the most fully developed Mesoamerican writing system, mostly because of its extraordinary aesthetics and because it has been partially deciphered. In Maya writing, logograms and syllable signs are combined. Around 700 different glyphs have been documented, with some 75% having been deciphered. Around 7000 texts in Maya script have been documented.

Maya writing first developed as only utilizing logograms, but later included the use of phonetic complements in order to differentiate between the semantic meanings of the logograms and for context that allows for syllabic spelling of words.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=L. |last2=Kaufman |first2=T. |date=1985 |title=Maya Linguistics: Where Are We Now? |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=187–198 |doi=10.1146/annurev.an.14.100185.001155}}</ref>

Post-classic inscriptions are found at the Yucatán peninsula in sites such as [[Chichén Itza]] and [[Uxmal]] but the style is not nearly as accomplished as the classic Maya inscriptions.

=== Other potential Mesoamerican writing systems ===
Two other potential writing systems of the pre-classic period have been found in Mesoamerica: The Tlatilco cylinder seal was found during the time frame of the Olmec occupation of Tlatilco, and appears to contain a non-pictographic script. The Chiapa de Corzo cylinder seal found at that location in Mexico also appears to be an example of an unknown Mesoamerican script.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kelley |first1=David H. |title=A Cylinder Seal from Tlatilco |journal=American Antiquity |date=1966 |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=744–46|doi=10.2307/2694503 |jstor=2694503}}</ref>

Certain iconographic elements in [[Teotihuacan]]o art have been considered as a potential script,<ref name=":0">Taube, Karl A. (2000), [http://www.mesoweb.com/bearc/caa/AA01.pdf The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan.] Center for Ancient American Studies, Barnardsville, NC.</ref> although it is attested sparsely and in individual glyphs rather than texts. If it indeed is a writing system, it is "one whose usage is non-textual and only restricted to naming people and places".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/teotihuacan.html|title=Ancient Scripts: Teotihuacan|website=www.ancientscripts.com|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref> In this aspect, it resembles later Central Mexican writing systems such as Mixtec and Aztec.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

== Post-Classic period ==
During the [[Mesoamerican chronology|post-classic period]], the Maya glyphic system continued to be used, but much less so. Other post-classic cultures such as the [[Aztec codices|Aztec]] did not have fully developed writing systems, but instead used [[semasiographic]] writing.

=== Mixtec writing ===
{{Main|Mixtec writing}}
[[File:Códice_Vindobonensis.jpg|thumb|Line 37 of the Códice Vindobonensis or Yuta Tnoho|alt=]]
Mixtec writing emerged during the 13th century, much later than the systems previously mentioned. Mixtec is a [[Semasiography|semasiographic]] system that was used by the pre-Hispanic [[Mixtec]]s. Many of its characteristics were later adopted by the Mexica and Mixteca-Puebla writing systems. The origin of the Mixteca-Puebla is the subject of debate amongst experts. The [[Mixtec writing|Mixtec writing system]] consisted of a set of figurative signs and symbols that served as guides for storytellers as they recounted legends. These storytellers were usually priests and other members of the Mixtec upper class.

Mixtec writing has been categorized as being a mixture of pictorial and logographic, rather than a complete logogram system.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kubler|first=George|date=1974|title=Review of Picture Writing from Ancient Southern Mexico: Mixtec Place Signs and Maps|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=76|issue=3|pages=670–672|doi=10.1525/aa.1974.76.3.02a00840|jstor=674740}}</ref>

Mixtec writing has been preserved through various archaeological artifacts that have survived the passage of time and the destruction of the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish conquest]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pohl|first=John M. D.|year=2005|title=The Griffin Fragment: A Mixtec Drinking Vessel Portraying the Pace Sign for 'Hill of the Turkey|journal=Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University|volume=64|pages=81–90}}</ref> Among these objects are four pre-Hispanic [[Codex|codices]] written on tanned deer skin covered with [[stucco]]. These codices are read in [[boustrophedon]], a zigzag style in which the reader follows red lines that indicate the way to read.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jansen|first=Marten|title=Huisi Tacu. Estudio interpretativo de un libro mixteco antiguo. Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I|publisher=Centro de Estudios y Documentación Latinoamericanos|year=1982|location=Amsterdam}}</ref> Most of the current knowledge about the writing of the Mixtecans is due to the work of [[Alfonso Caso]], who undertook the task of deciphering the code based on a set of pre-Columbian and colonial documents of the Mixtec culture.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fagan|first=Brian|title=The Great Archaeologists|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2014|isbn=978-0-500-05181-8|location=New York|pages=110–114}}</ref>

Although the Mixtecs had a set of symbols that allowed them to record historical dates, they did not use the [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar|long count calendar]] characteristic of other southeast Mesoamerican writing systems. Instead, the codices that have been preserved record historical events of this pre-Columbian people, especially those events related to expansionism in the era of [[Eight Deer Jaguar Claw|Ocho Venado]], lord of [[Tilantongo]].<ref>{{cite book|last=López Ramos|first=Juan Arturo|title=Esplendor de la antigua Mixteca|publisher=Editorial Trillas|year=1987|isbn=968-24-2613-8|location=México|pages=99–109}}</ref>

=== Aztec writing ===
{{main|Aztec writing}}
[[File:aztlan codex boturini.jpg|thumb|Detail of first page from the Aztec ''Boturini Codex'', showing the use of semasiological writing combined with phonetic glyph elements.|alt=|left]]
The Aztec writing system is adopted from writing systems used in Central Mexico. It is related to [[Mixtec writing]] and both are thought to descend from [[Zapotec writing]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Justeson, John S.|author-link=John S. Justeson|date=February 1986|title=The Origin of Writing Systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica|url=http://history.missouristate.edu/chuchiak/template/Justeson.pdf|url-status=dead|format=online facsimile|journal=[[World Archaeology]]|location=London|publisher=[[Routledge & Kegan Paul]]|volume=17|issue=3|pages=449|doi=10.1080/00438243.1986.9979981|issn=0043-8243|oclc=2243103|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122144434/http://history.missouristate.edu/chuchiak/template/Justeson.pdf|archive-date=2009-11-22|access-date=2009-06-09}}</ref> The [[Aztec codices|Aztecs]] used [[semasiographic]] writing, although they have been said to be slowly developing phonetic principles in [[Aztec writing|their writing]] by the use of the [[rebus]] principle. [[Aztec]] name glyphs for example, do combine logographic elements with phonetic readings.

== Post-Columbian period ==
When Europeans arrived in the 16th century, they found several writing systems in use that drew from Olmec, Zapotec, and Teotihuacano traditions.<ref>Robert T. Jiménez, & Patrick H. Smith. (2008). Mesoamerican Literacies: Indigenous Writing Systems and Contemporary Possibilities. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(1), 28.</ref> Books and other written material were commonplace in Mesoamerica when [[Hernán Cortés]] arrived in 1519. Archaeologists have found inside elite Mayan homes personal objects inscribed with the owners' names. In public areas large stone pillars and inscribed monuments have been found clearly meant for the general public.<ref>M.R. Romero. (2003). Los zapotcos, la escritura y la historia [The Zapotecs, writing and history]. In M.A. Romero Frizzi (Ed.), ''Escritura zapoteca: 2,500 anos de historia'' [Zapotec writing:2500 years of history] Mexico, DF: Centro de Investigacion y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social.</ref>

Early post-Columbian sources preserve and document aspects of indigenous literature (e.g., [[Francisco Ximénez|Ximenez]]'s manuscript of the [[Popol Vuh#Father Ximénez's manuscript|Popol Vuh]]) and writing ([[Diego de Landa]]'s ''[[Relación de las cosas de Yucatán]]'' contained Maya calendar signs and a syllabary). As European Franciscan missionaries arrived they found that the Cholutecans used the [[rebus principle]] as a way to translate information into Latin as a teaching aid for the natives to learn Christian prayers.<ref>Mendieta, G.de (1971). Historia Eclesiastica Indiana [A religious History of the Indians]. Mexico, DF: Editorial Porrua (Original work published 1945)</ref> A number of colonial-era [[Aztec codices]] are preserved, most notably the [[Codex Mendoza]], the [[Florentine Codex]], and the works by [[Diego Durán]]. Codex Mendoza (around 1541) is a mixed pictorial, alphabetic Spanish manuscript.<ref>Berdan, Frances, and [[Patricia Rieff Anawalt]]. The Codex Mendoza. 4 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.</ref>  The [[Florentine Codex]], compiled 1545–1590 by Franciscan friar [[Bernardino de Sahagún]] includes a history of the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]] from the Mexica viewpoint,<ref>Sahagún, Bernardino de. ''El Códice florentino: Manuscrito 218-20 de la Colección Palatina de la Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana''. Fascimile ed., 3 vols. Florence: Giunti Barbera and México: Secretaría de Gobernación, 1979.</ref> with bilingual Nahuatl/Spanish alphabetic text and illustrations by native artists.<ref>Sahagún, Bernardino de. ''General History of the Things of New Spain: Florentine Codex.'' Translated by Arthur J. O Anderson and Charles E Dibble. 13 vols. Monographs of the School of American Research 14. Santa Fe: School of American Research; Salt Lake City: University of Utah, 1950–82.</ref> There are also the works of Dominican [[Diego Durán]] (before 1581), who drew on indigenous pictorials and living informants to create illustrated texts on history and religion.<ref>Durán, Diego. ''The History of the Indies of New Spain.'' Translated by Doris Heyden. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Durán, Diego. ''Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar''. Translated by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.</ref> The colonial-era codices often contain Aztec pictograms or other pictorial elements.

Later indigenous literature employed Latin script exclusively, e.g., the Books of [[Chilam Balam]] that date from the 17th c. onwards. Already by the mid-16th c., use of the Latin script for Mesoamerican languages seems to have been well established.<ref name=":2" /> For writing Maya, colonial manuscripts conventionally adopt a number of special characters and diacritics thought to have been invented by Francisco de la Parra around 1545.<ref name=":2">Joseph DeChicchis (2012), Current Trends in Mayan Literacy, In: John C. Maher, Jelisava Dobovsek-Sethna, and Cary Duval (eds.), [http://lib.mainit.org/153/1/literacy-for-dialogue-in-multilingual-societies-2011.pdf Literacy for Dialogue in Multilingual Societies. Proceedings of Linguapax Asia Symposium 2011], Tokyo 2012, p. 71-82</ref><ref>''Francisco de la Parra'' [con [[Pedro de Betanzos]]]: ''Arte, pronunciación y orthographia de'' ... cakchequel. ms.</ref> The original manuscript of the Popol Vuh is also dated to this period (but only indirectly, by its content). The first major work of Mayan literature known to be originally written in Latin script are the [[Annals of the Cakchiquels]] (since 1571).<ref name=":2" />

Since the mid 1990s, Maya intellectuals attended workshops organized by [[Linda Schele]] to learn about Maya writing,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/ma_ws.html|title=Ancient Scripts: Mesoamerican Writing Systems|website=www.ancientscripts.com|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref> and with digital technologies, Maya writing may indeed face a resurrection.<ref name=":2" /> Most notably, this includes work on the representation of Maya glyphs in [[Unicode]] since 2016 (not yet concluded by 2020).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/sei/progress-overview.html|title=progress overview|website=linguistics.berkeley.edu|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref> The goal of encoding Maya hieroglyphs in Unicode is to facilitate the ''modern'' use of the script. For representing the degree of flexibility and variation of '''classical''' Maya, the expressiveness of Unicode is insufficient (e.g., wrt. the representation of infixes), so, for philological applications, different technologies are required.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Franziska|last1=Diehr|first2=Sven|last2=Gronemeyer|first3=Elisabeth|last3=Wagner|first4=Christian|last4=Prager|first5=Katja|last5=Diederichs|first6=Uwe|last6=Sikora|first7=Maximilian|last7=Brodhun|first8=Nikolai|last8=Grube|chapter-url= https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1965/0e9b45f8542d4b459e4a48d47d51d322fa32.pdf|chapter= Modelling vagueness-A criteria-based system for the qualitative assessment of reading proposals for the deciphering of Classic Mayan hieroglyphs|title=Proceedings of the Workshop on Computational Methods in the Humanities 2018 (COMHUM 2018)|date=2018|s2cid=67865187|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208125552/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1965/0e9b45f8542d4b459e4a48d47d51d322fa32.pdf|archive-date=2020-02-08|display-authors=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|display-authors=1|first1=Christian|last1=Prager|first2=Nikolai|last2=Grube|first3=Maximilian|last3=Brodhun|first4=Katja|last4=Diederichs|first5=Franziska|last5=Diehr|first6=Sven|last6=Gronemeyer|first7=Elisabeth|last7=Wagner|url= https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/539945|title=Crossing Experiences in Digital Epigraphy: From Practice to Discipline|date=2018|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-060720-8|editor-last=De Santis|editor-first=Annamaria|pages=65–83|language=en|chapter=The Digital Exploration of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing and Language|editor-last2=Rossi|editor-first2=Irene}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Canadian Aboriginal syllabics]]
* [[Cherokee syllabary]]
* [[Quipu]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* Michael D. Coe and Justin Kerr, ''The Art of the Maya Scribe'', Thames and Hudson. 1997.
* Martinez, Ma. del Carmen Rodríguez; Ponciano Ortíz Ceballos; Michael D. Coe; Richard A. Diehl; Stephen D. Houston; Karl A. Taube; Alfredo Delgado Calderón; "Oldest Writing in the New World", in ''Science'', 15 September 2006, {{abbr|vol.|volume}} 313, no. 5793, pp.&nbsp;1610–1614.
* Nielsen, Jesper, ''Under slangehimlen'', Aschehoug, Denmark, 2000.
* Sampson, Geoffrey. ''Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction''. Hutchinson (London), 1985.

== External links ==
{{Portal|Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Writing|Society}}
* [http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/24 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions Program, at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927062939/http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/24 |date=2011-09-27 }}
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/results-list.php?collection=1210 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, volumes 1–9. Published by the Peabody Museum Press and distributed by the Harvard University Press.]

{{Pre-columbian cultures and civilizations}}
{{List of writing systems}}

[[Category:Mesoamerican writing systems| ]]
[[Category:Logographic writing systems]]
[[Category:Proto-writing]]
[[Category:History of writing]]