HISTORY'S HISTORIES
You are history. We are the future.
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Unit Lessons
    • Early Humans >
      • Early Humans Ardipithecus and Australopithecus >
        • Early Humans Activity
      • Early Humans Homo Habilis
      • Early Humans Homo Erectus
      • Early Humans Homo Neanderthalensis
      • Early Humans Homo Sapien
      • Early Human Videos
    • Mesopotamia >
      • Mesopotamia Geography >
        • Mesopotamia Geography Activity
      • Mesopotamia Early Pioneers >
        • Mesopotamia Early Pioneers Activity
        • Mesopotamia Early Pioneers Self-Test
      • Mesopotamia 5 Traits of Civilization >
        • Mesopotamia 5 Traits Activity
      • Mesopotamia Sumerian City-States >
        • Mesopotamia Sumerian City-States Activity
      • Mesopotamia Cuneiform >
        • Mesopotamia Cuneiform Activity
      • Mesopotamia The Epic of Gilgamesh >
        • Mesopotamia Epic of Gilgamesh Activity
      • Mesopotamia Daily Life in Sumer
      • Mesopotamia Religion >
        • Mesopotamia Religion Activity
      • Mesopotamia Daily Life in Babylon >
        • Mesopotamia Babylon Activity
      • Mesopotamia Daily Life in Assyria
      • Mesopotamia Videos
    • China >
      • China Geography >
        • China Geography Activity
      • China Early Dynasties
      • China Three Philosophies
      • China Qin Dynasty >
        • China Qin Dynasty Activity
      • China Han Dynasty >
        • China Han Dynasty Activity
      • China Silk Road >
        • China Silk Road Activity
      • China Project >
        • Silk Road Instructions >
          • Silk Road Caravans
          • Your Silk Road Adventure
        • Silk Road Links >
          • Silk Road City Links
          • Silk Road Religions
          • Silk Road Travelers
        • Silk Road Souvenirs
        • Silk Road Trade Routes & Transportation >
          • Silk Road Overland Route >
            • Silk Road Transportation: Overland Route
            • Silk Road Transportation: Maritime Route
          • Silk Road: Maritime Route
        • 2021 Silk Road Travels
      • China Videos
    • India >
      • India Geography >
        • India Geography Activity
      • India 5 Traits of Civilization >
        • India 5 Traits of Civilization Activity
      • India Indus Valley Civilization >
        • India Indus Valley Civilization Activity
      • India Aryan Civilization >
        • India Aryan Civilization Activity
      • India Buddhism >
        • India Buddhism Activity
      • India Mauryan Empire >
        • India Mauryan Empire Activity
      • India Gupta Empire >
        • India Gupta Empire Activity
      • India Videos
    • Greece >
      • Greece Geography >
        • Greece Geography Activity
      • Greece The Minoans >
        • Greece The Minoans Activity
      • Greece The Age of Heroes >
        • Greece The Age of Heroes Activity
      • Greece The Rise of the City-State: Athens >
        • Greece The Rise of Athens Activity >
          • The Trial of Socrates
      • Greece The Rise of the City-State: Sparta >
        • Greece The Rise of Sparta Activity
      • Greece The Persian Wars >
        • Greece Persian Wars Activity
      • Greece Videos
    • Egypt >
      • Egypt Geography & the Gift of the Nile >
        • Egypt Geography Activity
      • Egypt The Double Crown and the Three Kingdoms >
        • Egypt the Double Crown and the Three Kingdoms Activity
      • Egypt Hieroglyphs and the Rosetta Stone >
        • Egypt Hieroglyphics Activity
      • Egypt Religion, Gods, and Goddesses >
        • Egyptian Gods & Goddesses Activity
      • Egypt Burial Practices >
        • Egypt Burial Practices & the Afterlife Activity
      • Egypt Tombs >
        • Egypt Tombs Activity
      • Egypt Temples >
        • Egypt Temples Activity
      • Egypt Life on the Nile: Jobs >
        • Egypt Life on the Nile Activity
      • Egypt Project: Gift of the Nile Tour >
        • Egypt Project Links >
          • Egypt Project Cities
          • Egypt Project Temples & Tourist Sites
          • Egypt Project People
          • Egypt Project Souvenirs
      • Egypt Videos
    • Rome >
      • Rome Geography >
        • Rome Geography Activity
      • Rome Early Settlers >
        • Rome Early Settlers Activity
      • Rome The Roman Republic >
        • Roman Republic Activity
      • Rome From Republic to Empire >
        • Roman Empire Activity
      • Rome Life in Ancient Rome >
        • Rome Daily Life Activity
      • Rome Early Christianity >
        • Rome Early Christianity Activity
      • Rome The Byzantine Empire >
        • Byzantine Empire Activity
      • Rome Barbarians Inside the Gates
      • Rome The Legacy of Rome >
        • Rome's Legacy Activity
      • Rome Videos
    • The Americas >
      • The Maya >
        • Maya Geography >
          • Maya Geography Activity
        • Maya Master Builders >
          • Maya Master Builders Activity
        • Maya Writing >
          • Maya Writing Activity
        • Maya Religion >
          • Maya Religion Activity
        • Maya Daily Life >
          • Maya Daily Life Activity
        • Maya Society >
          • Maya Society Activity
        • Maya Government >
          • Maya Government Activity
        • Maya Achievements and Inventions >
          • Maya Achievements and Inventions Activity
        • Maya The Collapse of Maya Civilization >
          • Maya The Collapse of Maya Civilization Activity
      • The Inca >
        • Inca Geography >
          • Inca Geography Activity
        • Inca Early Settlers >
          • Inca Early Settlers Activity
        • Inca The Sapa Inca >
          • Inca Sapa Inca Activity
        • Inca Government >
          • Inca Government Activity
        • Inca Daily Life >
          • Inca Daily Life Activity
        • Inca Religion >
          • Inca Religion Activity
        • Inca Science, Innovation & Technology >
          • Inca Science, Innovation & Technology Activity
      • The Americas Videos
      • The Americas Student Tutorials
  • Important Stuff
    • Syllabus
    • Student Jobs
    • Get Good Grades
    • IF Project
    • Essential Themes
    • Research Tips and Tricks
    • Writing a Strong Paragraph
    • Current Events
    • Game of Chrons
  • H.I.T. Picks of the Week!
  • Game of Chrons Leaderboard
  • 2020 Mesopotamia Projects
  • 2022 Silk Road Travels
    • Silk Road Randomizers
  • The Achilles Rap Decider
  • The Athens Vs. Sparta Decider
  • Create A Greek City State
  • 2022 Greek Olympics
  • The Age of Explorers Decider
  • ...with liberty and justice for all Decider

Maya Writing

Picture
Essential Themes

​Culture: ​How do we know what we know about human history?

Picture
From your lessons, you should remember that there are 5 traits of civilization. Those traits include specialized workers, complex institutions, advanced technology, record keeping, and advanced cities. In your last lesson on the Maya, you learned a bit about their cities. In this lesson, you will look at their writing, or record keeping system.

RECORD KEEPING
Record keeping was an important part of Maya culture. In fact, Maya culture depended on it. Record keeping was essential to their farming, astronomy and prophecy. By keeping records of the rainy and dry seasons, the Maya could determine the best times to plant and harvest their crops. By recording the movements of the sky deities (the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars), they developed accurate calendars that they used for prophecy.

In order to keep long-term records, not only did the ancient Maya develop their own, unique system of record keeping, the Maya invented the most advanced system of writing in the ancient Americas. The system they used was a form of hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics use pictures to represent objects, sounds and groups of sounds. In the beginning, Maya hieroglyphics used pictures of birds and animals. Soon, however, they developed a unique style all their own.​

Picture
Picture
Maya writing evolved from symbolic pictures of birds and other animals to a much more complex form. Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, Maya hieroglyphics were both written and carved.
Picture
Picture
With long-term records, the Maya were able to predict planetary cycles, the phases of the moon, and even eclipses. That knowledge was used to determine when their gods would be in positions to favor a variety of activities such as holding ceremonies, inaugurating kings, starting a new trading expedition, or waging wars. 

BRAINBOX: ​Why ​is a calendar important?

While the Maya used their unique writing to record their history - including their mythology and the actions of their kings - on stelae, on buildings, and in codices (the plural of codex, which means book), one of the most important uses for their hieroglyphics was their calendar. While you may have heard about the "Maya calendar," the Maya actually had three calendars that worked together like gears spinning in a great machine. The three calendars used by the Maya marked sacred events, as well as civic , mythological, and historical ones. 

PictureMaya books were filled with art as well as stories about their gods.
​Why ​do so few Maya books remain?

MAYA HIEROGLYHPICS 
The writing system the Maya invented was quite complex. It used about 800 symbols or glyphs. A glyph is a picture or a symbol that is used to represent a sound, a word, or perhaps a syllable. The word, hiero, comes from the Greek and means “sacred.” So, hieroglyphics basically means “sacred writing.”

The world of the Maya is one that is filled with demons, devils, gods, and ancestors, so it’s no wonder that the Maya wrote quite a lot about their gods. However, they also left records of their leaders, their daily life, and their special events. Maya books were not like the books we have today. The books that the Maya created were made of soft tree bark. The Maya treated the bark with lime to whiten the page and make it more smooth. Then, they folded the pages like a fan. The reader had to unfold them to read them. Maya text is written in paired vertical columns and read left to right and top to bottom. Maya books included illustrations and artwork, as well as glyphs. These books are called codices. A single book is called a codex. ​

​Because the natural material on which the Maya wrote did not hold up well in the humid rainforest environment, it would have been difficult to preserve such tender texts. Most of those that did survive were destroyed by the Spanish when they arrived in the 16th century. Because the first Spanish to the area destroyed so many Maya codices, only 4 in the world remain.

Fortunately, the Maya also covered their stelae with hieroglyphics. The Maya city of Copan has numerous great examples of stelae with hieroglyphics. The Maya also used hieroglyphics on temple walls and pillars, and they have been found carved into wood and jade, as well as painted onto ceramics. Although the Maya wrote everything down, until very, very recently interpreting their writing remained a mystery.

Picture
Examples of the Maya use of hieroglyphics. Above, carved in stone on a wall and on a stele. Below, hieroglyphics on ceramics and carved into jade.
Picture
PictureAbove is a mosaic depicting Bishop Diego de Landa burning the books of the Maya.
UNDERSTANDING MAYA HIEROGLYPHICS
When the Spanish arrived about 600 years after the Maya civilization had disappeared, they found many Maya codices. Unfortunately, the first Bishop of Yucatan - the Spanish priest, Diego de Landa - believed the books to be filled with pictures of demons and devils. As a result, he set about burning all of the books that could be found. Much was destroyed but, fortunately, not everything. 

Even though Bishop Landa was set on destroying all the Maya books that he could find, he also created the first alphabetic translation of Maya hieroglyphics. When he was writing a book about his life in the Yucatan, he included a very sketchy "summary" of Maya hieroglyphics. Apparently, de Landa assumed that the Maya, like the Spanish, wrote with an alphabet. When he asked his Maya translators how to write "a", "b", "c", and so forth, in Maya, the translators heard the syllables "ah", "beh", "seh" (as "a", "b," "c"... would be pronounced in Spanish). Naturally, the translators gave the glyphs with those phonetic values. So, in an ironic way, the man who wanted to destroy Maya books gave later scholars the first clues to deciphering  Maya text. The de Landa alphabet, as it is known, became the Rosetta Stone for understanding Maya hieroglyphics.

Deciphering Maya texts has become easier with the aid of computers and the knowledge gathered during scientific investigations over the last hundred years. So far, nearly 85 percent of known Maya hieroglyphics have been decoded. These writings have told us a great deal about the religion, government, and daily life of the ancient Maya. For me, at least, they also give me a deeper appreciation for the ingenuity of the ancient Maya.

Maya Writing Activity
Proudly powered by Weebly