Mesoamerican writing systems

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Mesoamerica, along with Mesopotamia and China, is one of three known places in the world where writing is thought to have developed independently. [1] Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combination of logographic and 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. [2] 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.

Contents

After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, Spanish colonial authorities and 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 of southern Mexico, recording the languages of the area. These surviving texts give anthropologists and historians valuable insight into the origins of Mesoamerican languages, culture, religion, and government. Languages recorded in Mesoamerican writing include Classical Maya, Classical Nahuatl, Zapotec, Mixtec, and various other languages, particularly of the Oto-Manguean and Uto-Aztecan families.

Pre-Classic and Classic Period

In Mesoamerica, writing emerged during the Pre-classic Period, with Zapotec and Maya writing flourishing during the Classic Period.

The 62 glyphs of the Cascajal block Cascajal-text.svg
The 62 glyphs of the Cascajal block

Olmec writing

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 ] 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 similar glyphs at San Andres. [3]

In September 2006, a report published in Science magazine announced the discovery of the Cascajal block, a writing-tablet-sized block of 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 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.

Monument 3 at San Jose Mogote. The two shaded glyphs between his legs are likely his name, Earthquake 1. Monument 3, San Jose Mogote.JPG
Monument 3 at San José Mogote. The two shaded glyphs between his legs are likely his name, Earthquake 1.

Zapotec writing

Another candidate for earliest writing system in Mesoamerica is the writing system of the Zapotec culture. Rising in the late 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 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.

Detail showing glyphs from 2nd century CE La Mojarra Stela 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. La Mojarra Estela 1 (Escritura superior).jpg
Detail showing glyphs from 2nd century CE La Mojarra Stela 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'. [4] 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

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 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 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.

Stela 5 from Abaj Takalik Abaj Takalik Stela 5.jpg
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 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.

Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico Palenque glyphs-edit1.jpg
Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico

Maya writing

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. [5]

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. [6]

Certain iconographic elements in Teotihuacano art have been considered as a potential script, [7] 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". [8] In this aspect, it resembles later Central Mexican writing systems such as Mixtec and Aztec. [7] [8]

Post-Classic Period

During the post-classic period, the Maya glyphic system continued to be used, but much less so. Other post-classic cultures such as the Aztec did not have fully developed writing systems, but instead used semasiographic writing.

Mixtec writing

Line 37 of the Codice Vindobonensis or Yuta Tnoho Codice Vindobonensis.jpg
Line 37 of the Códice Vindobonensis or Yuta Tnoho

Mixtec writing emerged during the 13th century, much later than the systems previously mentioned. Mixtec is a semasiographic system that was used by the pre-Hispanic Mixtecs. 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 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. [9]

Mixtec writing has been preserved through various archaeological artifacts that have survived the passage of time and the destruction of the Spanish conquest. [10] Among these objects are four pre-Hispanic 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. [11] 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. [12]

Although the Mixtecs had a set of symbols that allowed them to record historical dates, they did not use the 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 Ocho Venado, lord of Tilantongo. [13]

Aztec writing

Detail of first page from the Aztec Boturini Codex, showing the use of semasiological writing combined with phonetic glyph elements. Aztlan codex boturini.jpg
Detail of first page from the Aztec Boturini Codex, showing the use of semasiological writing combined with phonetic glyph elements.

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. [14] The Aztecs used semasiographic writing, although they have been said to be slowly developing phonetic principles in 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. [15] 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. [16]

Early post-Columbian sources preserve and document aspects of indigenous literature (e.g., Ximenez's manuscript of the 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 rebus principles as a way to translate information into Latin as a teaching aid for the Indians to learn Christian prayers. [17] 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. [18] 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, [19] with bilingual Nahuatl/Spanish alphabetic text and illustrations by native artists. [20] 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. [21] 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. [22] 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. [22] [23] 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). [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] Most notably, this includes work on the representation of Maya glyphs in Unicode since 2016 (not yet concluded by 2020). [25] 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. [26] [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican chronology</span> Divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods

Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian ; the Archaic, the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – 250 CE), the Classic (250–900 CE), and the Postclassic (900–1521 CE); as well as the post European contact Colonial Period (1521–1821), and Postcolonial, or the period after independence from Spain (1821–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican calendars</span>

The calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, primarily a 260-day year, were used in religious observances and social rituals, such as divination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican languages</span> Languages indigenous to Mesoamerica

Mesoamerican languages are the languages indigenous to the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers southern Mexico, all of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The area is characterized by extensive linguistic diversity containing several hundred different languages and seven major language families. Mesoamerica is also an area of high linguistic diffusion in that long-term interaction among speakers of different languages through several millennia has resulted in the convergence of certain linguistic traits across disparate language families. The Mesoamerican sprachbund is commonly referred to as the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya script</span> Writing system of the Maya civilization

Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala. Maya writing was in continuous use throughout Mesoamerica until the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th and 17th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isthmian script</span> Ancient Mesoamerican writing system

The Isthmian script is a very early Mesoamerican writing system in use in the area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from perhaps 500 BCE to 500 CE, although there is disagreement on these dates. It is also called the La Mojarra script and the Epi-Olmec script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerica</span> Pre-Columbian cultural area in the Americas

Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and small parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Mojarra Stela 1</span>

La Mojarra Stela 1 is a Mesoamerican carved monument (stela) dating from 156 CE. It was discovered in 1986, pulled from the Acula River near La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico, not far from the Tres Zapotes archaeological site. The 4+1⁄2-foot-wide (1.4 m) by 6+1⁄2-foot-high (2.0 m), four-ton limestone slab contains about 535 glyphs of the Isthmian script. One of Mesoamerica's earliest known written records, this Epi-Olmec culture monument not only recorded this ruler's achievements, but placed them within a cosmological framework of calendars and astronomical events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican literature</span> Extensive body of literature from 1st mil. BCE times

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapotec civilization</span> Indigenous civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica

The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture originated at least 2,500 years ago. The Zapotec archaeological site at the ancient city of Monte Albán has monumental buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods, including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Albán was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica. It was the center of a Zapotec state that dominated much of the territory which today is known as the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascajal Block</span> Tablet-sized slab in Mexico with characters of possibly the first New-World writing system

The Cascajal Block is a tablet-sized writing slab in Mexico, made of serpentinite, which has been dated to the early first millennium BCE, incised with hitherto unknown characters that may represent the earliest writing system in the New World. Archaeologist Stephen D. Houston of Brown University said that this discovery helps to "link the Olmec civilization to literacy, document an unsuspected writing system, and reveal a new complexity to [the Olmec] civilization."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Stuart (Mayanist)</span> American archeologist (born 1965)

David S. Stuart is an archaeologist and epigrapher specializing in the study of ancient Mesoamerica, the area now called Mexico and Central America. His work has studied many aspects of the ancient Maya civilization. He is widely recognized for his breakthroughs in deciphering Maya hieroglyphs and interpreting Maya art and iconography, starting at an early age. He is the youngest person ever to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, at age 18. He currently teaches at the University of Texas at Austin and his current research focuses on the understanding of Maya culture, religion and history through their visual culture and writing system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican Long Count calendar</span> Calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures

The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating base-20 and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is often known as the MayaLong Count calendar. Using a modified vigesimal tally, the Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since a mythical creation date that corresponds to August 11, 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. The Long Count calendar was widely used on monuments.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Undeciphered writing systems</span> Writing systems that are yet to be understood

Many undeciphered writing systems exist today; most date back several thousand years, although some more modern examples do exist. The term "writing systems" is used here loosely to refer to groups of glyphs which appear to have representational symbolic meaning, but which may include "systems" that are largely artistic in nature and are thus not examples of actual writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zapotec script</span> Mesoamerican writing system

The Zapotec script is the writing system of the Zapotec culture and represents one of the earliest writing systems in Mesoamerica. Rising in the late Pre-Classic era after the decline of the Olmec civilization, the Zapotecs of present-day Oaxaca built an empire around Monte Albán. One characteristic of Monte Albán is the large number of carved stone monuments one encounters throughout the plaza. There and at other sites, archaeologists have found extended text in a glyphic script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixtec writing</span> Logographic writing system

Mixtec writing originated as a logographic writing system during the Post-Classic period in Mesoamerican history. Records of genealogy, historic events, and myths are found in the pre-Columbian Mixtec codices. The arrival of Europeans in 1520 AD caused changes in form, style, and the function of the Mixtec writings. Today these codices and other Mixtec writings are used as a source of ethnographic, linguistic, and historical information for scholars, and help to preserve the identity of the Mixtec people as migration and globalization introduce new cultural influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guiengola</span>

Guiengola is a Zapotec archeological site located 14 km (8.7 mi) north of Tehuantepec, and 243 km (151 mi) southeast of Oaxaca city on Federal Highway 190. The visible ruins are located between a hill and a river, each carries the name of Guiengola. The name means "large stone" in the local variant of the Zapotec language. There are two main tombs that have been excavated, and both seem to be family interment sites. Both have front chambers that are for religious idols, while the rear chambers are for the burial of important people. The site also has fortified walls, houses, ballgame fields, other tombs and a very large "palace" with remains of artificial ponds and terraces. In the center of the site are 2 plazas, one lower than the other, and 2 pyramids, one to the east and one to the west.

Olmec hieroglyphs designate a possible system of writing or proto-writing developed within the Olmec culture. The Olmecs were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing during the formative period in the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. The subsequent Epi-Olmec culture, was a successor culture to the Olmec and featured a full-fledged writing system, the Isthmian script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huamelulpan (archaeological site)</span> Archaeological site in Oaxaca, Mexico

Huamelulpan is an archaeological site of the Mixtec culture, located in the town of San Martín Huamelulpan at an elevation of 2,218 metres (7,277 ft), about 96 kilometres (60 mi) north-west of the city of Oaxaca, the capital of Oaxaca state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixtec culture</span> Pre-Hispanic archaeological culture

The Mixtec culture was a pre-hispanic archaeological culture, corresponding to the ancestors of the Mixtec people; they called themselves ñuu Savi, which means "people or nation of the rain". It had its first manifestations in the Mesoamerican Middle Preclassic period and ended with the Spanish conquest in the first decades of the 16th century. The historical territory of this people is the area known as La Mixteca, a mountainous region located between the current Mexican states of Puebla, Oaxaca, and Guerrero.

References

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  7. 1 2 Taube, Karl A. (2000), The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan. Center for Ancient American Studies, Barnardsville, NC.
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  14. ↑ Justeson, John S. (February 1986). "The Origin of Writing Systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica" (PDF). World Archaeology . London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 17 (3): 449. doi:10.1080/00438243.1986.9979981. ISSN   0043-8243. OCLC   2243103. Archived from the original (online facsimile) on 2009-11-22. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
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  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ Mendieta, G.de (1971). Historia Eclesiastica Indiana [A religious History of the Indians]. Mexico, DF: Editorial Porrua (Original work published 1945)
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  22. 1 2 3 4 Joseph DeChicchis (2012), Current Trends in Mayan Literacy, In: John C. Maher, Jelisava Dobovsek-Sethna, and Cary Duval (eds.), Literacy for Dialogue in Multilingual Societies. Proceedings of Linguapax Asia Symposium 2011, Tokyo 2012, p. 71-82
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  25. ↑ "progress overview". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
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  27. ↑ Prager, Christian; et al. (2018). "The Digital Exploration of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing and Language". In De Santis, Annamaria; Rossi, Irene (eds.). Crossing Experiences in Digital Epigraphy: From Practice to Discipline. De Gruyter. pp. 65–83. ISBN   978-3-11-060720-8.
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