Writing was independently invented in five areas of the ancient world: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, and Mesoamerica. Among these systems of writing, the Maya glyphic system stands out, according to one scholar, “for its creation of syllabic and pictorial writing, in one of the most visually diverse scripts ever conceived.” Maya writing was recorded on a wide variety of media that include ceramics, stone, wood, shell, textiles, animal hides, and screen-fold codex books.
Guatemalan Highlands. Chama style.
Maya, AD 600–900.
Polychromed orange-gloss ceramic.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (16)
Photo ©Justin Kerr, Kerr Associates
The hunters in this scene wear hats, probably woven from plant fibers, and carry long blowguns. Scenes similar to this still occur in Yucatán today. After a hunt, villagers march home triumphantly carrying a prize deer, while blowing on conch shell trumpets to herald their return. As with a number of other vessels from this region, the text on this vessel is entirely pseudoglyphic—that is, the glyphs are not meant to be read, but merely represent the “idea” of writing. The glyphic sign below the tongue of one of the deer and in front of the mouth of one of the hunters may indicate the “last breath” glyph.
Guatemalan Lowlands. Maya, AD 600–900.
Red-rimmed, black-on-cream ceramic.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (22)
Photo ©Justin Kerr, Kerr Associates
The decorations on this vessel, from the heartland of Maya civilization in Northern Guatemala, are of a limited palette (red, black, and cream) and reflect a scribal theme. Writing was often used for solemn and sacred tasks, such as recording history, accounting for tributes, and writing of prayers and auguries. The figures on the vessel are a human scribe and Itzam, the god and patron of writing. The decipherable glyphs confirm who the figures on the vessel are and their stature.
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I.
Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (25)
In the Codex Vindobonensis, a manuscript that predates the Spanish Conquest, the Mixtec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, illustrate how their gods created the world. According to their cosmology, the first humans were the Primordial Twins. One Deer, shown here with the magic incense copal and ground tobacco, created the Mother and the Father of the Gods. Mother and Father then made four men and an entire constellation of spirits for crops, fire, smoke, forests, and other aspects of nature and the world. Displayed here is a facsimile of the original, which is in the Vienna National Library.