Maya script: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:56, 5 October 2005

Revision as of 04:13, 14 October 2005

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== The linguistic breakthroughs ==

What was only in retrospect widely-recognized as a major breakthrough was made by [[Yuri Knorosov]] in the [[1950s]], when he published a paper arguing that the so-called "de Landa alphabet" contained in [[Bishop Diego de Landa]]'s manuscript ''Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán'' was actually made of [[syllabary|syllabic]], rather than [[alphabet]]ic symbols. As Knorosov's early essays contained few new readings, and the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] editors added propagandistic claims to the effect that Knorosov was using a peculiarly "[[Marxism|Marxist]]-[[Leninism|Leninist]]" approach to decipherment, many Western Mayanists[[Mayanist]]s simply dismissed Knorosov's work. However in the 1960s more came to see the syllabic approach as potentially fruitful, and possible phonetic readings for symbols whose general meaning was understood from context began to be developed. Prominent older epigrapher [[J. Eric S. Thompson]] was one of the last major opponents of Knorosov and the syllabic approach. Thompson's disagreements are sometimes said to have held back advances in decipherment.

However, it was the combination of the work of Knorosov with a historically-oriented approach first outlined by Russian-American scholar [[Tatiana Proskouriakoff]] that truly set in motion the winds of change in Maya decipherment. In [[1959]], examining what she called "a peculiar pattern of dates" on stone monument inscriptions at the Classic Maya site of [[Piedras Negras, Guatemala|Piedras Negras]], Proskouriakoff determined that these represented events in the life-span of an individual, rather than relating to religion, astronomy, or prophesy, as held by the "old school" exemplified by Thompson. This proved to be true of many Maya inscriptions, and revealed the Maya [[epigraphy|epigraphic]] record to be one relating actual histories of ruling individuals: dynastic histories similar in nature to those recorded in literate human cultures throughout the world. Suddenly, the Maya entered written history.