Chapter 1
The stone that spoke three tongues
Chapter 2
Cracking the clay code of Babylon
Chapter 3
Unraveling the mystery of Maya glyphs
Chapter 4
Lost scripts we still cannot read
Ch 3 · Unraveling the mystery of Maya glyphs
choko Maya Glyphs
The ancient stone has faded in the rain, But plaster casts can make it speak again.
choko A linguist in Russia cracked the Maya code using books saved from a burning library.
Fun Fact
Maya paper books: Only four authentic Maya bark-paper books survived Spanish book burnings, and none of them are currently in the British Museum.
choko Maya writing was long thought to be simple pictures rather than a sophisticated phonetic script.
Glossary
glyph (noun)
A carved or inscribed symbol, character, or hieroglyph. In the 1880s, Alfred Maudslay made plaster casts of these Mesoamerican carvings to aid in their decipherment.
A carved or inscribed symbol, character, or hieroglyph. In the 1880s, Alfred Maudslay made plaster casts of these Mesoamerican carvings to aid in their decipherment.
Quiz
What did scholars historically believe the Maya glyphs represented before they were deciphered?
Quiz
What medium did Alfred Maudslay use in the 19th century to safely preserve Maya inscriptions?