Introduction - University of Florida



Introduction

Although it no longer exists, the ancient Maya culture is celebrated and gloriously depicted through its surviving architecture, codices, pottery, and steles. The society reflected by such artifacts existed from 900 B.C. up to 1519 A.D., the year of the Spanish conquest. Before its collapse, the Maya civilization established cities including Chichén Itzá, Tikal, Palenque, and Copán, all of which are located in the Yucatán peninsula in Central America. They were initially influenced by the Olmec people, followed by the Teotihuacan, Toltec, and ultimately by the Aztec (Longhena 2000: 14). The ancient Maya civilization is divided up into three periods, the Preclassic (900 B.C. to 250 A.D.), the Classic (250 A.D. to 900 A.D.), and the Postclassic (900 A.D. to 1500 A.D.) periods. Under the influence of the Olmec during the late Preclassic period, Mayan architecture expanded and became more complex. However, the civilization did not reach its pinnacle until the Classic period, in which distinguished works of art such as monumental sculptures, polychrome pottery, and ornaments flourished (Longhena 2000: 16). During the Postclassic period, the Maya civilization declined. Several factors are attributed to its collapse, including warfare and the disintegration of the environment. It is fortunate, however, that about half of Mayan writing can be deciphered. Finally having the ability to translate the inscriptions that are so prevalent in ancient Mayan architecture and pottery allows us to analyze and understand the mentality of this fallen civilization.

Aside from monuments and pottery, Mayan writing is also present in ancient manuscripts, or codices. Currently, there are four surviving codices: Paris, Grolier, Madrid and Dresden. The Paris and Madrid Codices are mostly divinatory in nature, while the Grolier and Dresden Codices have more of an astronomical content (Coe and Kerr 1998: 175-181). The mere presence of these concepts in the Paris, Grolier, Madrid, and Dresden codices hints at their significance; more importantly, the content in the codices itself remarkably reveals the complexity and brilliance of these calendrical and celestial systems used by the ancient Maya. Given the purpose of documenting Maya calendrical and celestial content, the Maya codices generally contain astronomical tables and sacred calendars that reflect the magnificence and ingenuity of the Maya.

The Maya Scribe

It is important to take into consideration the characteristics and importance of the Maya scribe in order to achieve a full understanding of the Maya script. Maya scribes bear the title of ah k’u hun or ah k’un, “he of the holy books” (Coe and Kerr 1998: 91-92). The translation of this title helped in identifying the Maya scribes and their status in ancient paintings as well as distinguishing the typical look of the Maya scribe. The occurrence of the ah k’u hun title typically coincides with the following physical appearance: hair wrapped with a head cloth, a “stick bundle” somehow attached to the forehead or head cloth, the occasional stick-like tool included in the headdress, and a sarong tied at the waist (its length may vary). Coe and Kerr suggest that the “stick bundles” are quill pens that are part of a calligrapher’s toolkit and that the presence of a “stick bundle” may also signify a literate person. Although the high status of the Maya scribe is graphically depicted on numerous paintings, such evidence also suggests that kings and queens were scribes as well. An inscription on a monument located at Copán translates a ruler, Popol Hol, proclaiming himself to be a “lettered person king” (Coe and Kerr 1998: 98). Moreover, a polychrome vase from the Late Classic period shows an enthroned leader wearing the ah k’u hun headdress. In addition to respecting scribes, the Maya also worshipped the gods of writing, one of them being rabbit god; an eighth century vase features the rabbit god writing on a folded codex with a brush.

Given that scribes were highly regarded in Mayan society, it is reasonable to conclude that Mayan writing and perhaps the content of these scripts bear a considerable degree of importance as well. In essence, Mayan script had little room for individual expression; it is used to depict histories, cycles, and other important data. Fundamentally, “their task was to record on stone the king’s actions and the heavenly cycles, and to write mythological and oracular texts on codices” (Longhena 2000: 24). As much as the scribe is allowed to apply his or her own style to the script, what is actually written is typically dictated or simply copied.

Mayan Writing Surfaces

Mayan writing is present on a wide array of surfaces, including limestone, volcanic rock, plaster, paper, pottery, wood, jade, bone, and shell (Coe and Kerr 1998: 130). Among these surfaces, unfortunately, wood is the least found; most of the woodcarvings that display Mayan script have decayed due to the humidity of the lowland area.

Monumental Stone: Limestone

Limestone is abundant in the Yucatán peninsula. Freshly excavated limestone is fairly soft and easily manipulated, but eventually hardens upon exposure to air (Coe and Kerr 1998: 130-131). Due to its malleability, limestone was the stone surface of choice by most Maya masons, artists, and scribes. Site examples include Palenque lithographic panels and inscribed columns from Xcalumkin. Although it was easy to work with, limestone varied in quality and therefore in some instances susceptible to poor preservation. The now illegible and faded carved stelae on the standing monuments of Calakmul were essentially made up of a poor-quality limestone.

Monumental Stone: Volcanic Rock

Interestingly, most of the rocks at Copán are volcanic and not sedimentary, like limestone (Coe and Kerr 1998: 131-132). In fact, limestone is rare in this region. The volcanic rock used by the Maya artists was extremely durable and produced magnificent three-dimensional sculptures and elaborate inscriptions. This includes a full-figured glyph from Stela D in Copán.

Accordingly, these stone surfaces were prepared, with the inscriptions first being painted on before being carved. Coe and Kerr (1998: 132-133) support this notion in that, “the most compelling evidence is in the nature of the writing itself, which clearly mimics in stone the movements of flexible brush tips.” Most stone inscriptions are limited to the Classic Period as well (Thompson 1985: 28).

Plaster

Plaster is a common material used on the walls of ancient Mayan architecture (Coe and Kerr 1998: 134). Plaster, or calcium carbonate, was used to protect the surface of the architectural material, with another thin layer of plaster slurry simultaneously serving as a surface for mural painting. Sascab, a sand-like and somewhat chalky material, is sometimes mixed with plaster to form this plaster slurry. Murals on plaster walls can be found in Bonampak; the murals there typically depict Maya hierarchy.

Paper

Amate is the paper used by the ancient Maya (Coe and Kerr 1998: 143). Previously assumed to originate from maguey fiber, amate derives from the inner bark of wild fig trees. The Mayan papermaking process is comparable to the process used in modern Mexican villages, which consists of the inner bark fibers boiled and soaked in lime, layered in grid formation, and then pounded to combine the layers. Plaster and /or gesso can be found on the surface of all four Maya codices, suggesting that “the scribes actually never wrote directly on paper at all, but on miniature mural surfaces laid over that paper: uncoated bark paper would simply have been simply have been too rough and porous for their delicate calligraphy, and for the instruments they were using” (Coe and Kerr 1998: 145). In addition, the bark paper is coated with ahar, a mixture of starch, rice powder, quince kernels, and other substances.

Other Surfaces: Wood, Jade, Bone, Shell, and Pottery

Wood may have been used more often as a surface than stone, but as mentioned earlier, most of these carvings have disappeared (Coe and Kerr 1998: 136). Sapodilla, a reddish-brown, durable wood, was the wood of choice, being manageable while still green and iron-hard after curing. Instances of Mayan script carvings on jade are extremely rare, and inscribed texts on bone and shell ornaments are typically undecipherable (Thompson 1985: 27). Potter vessels, on the other hand, often have highly decorative painted hieroglyphs on its surfaces.

Mayan Writing Tools

Carving and Incising Tools

The carving and incising tools used by the Maya on their monuments can only be surmised. Coe and Kerr (1998: 146-146) note that there is “absolutely no information” on such tools, and that the only thing that is certain is that metal was not used. The authors suppose that stone chisels were used. In terms of woodcarvings, bone, and shell, Coe and Kerr suggest that hafted obsidian blades were used, particularly because obsidian is capable of acting like a scalpel and able to slice through even the hardest materials.

Brush and Quill Pens

As with carving and incising tools, brush pens used by the Maya have not survived; the use of a brush is only assumed through paintings of scribes on pictorial ceramics. Apparently the supposed brush pens are similar to the traditional Chinese brush pen, which consists of a wooden tube-like handle and animals hairs inserted on one end to form a tip (Coe and Kerr 1998: 146-148). Quill pens were supposedly also used in Maya script, with this supposition similarly stemming from paintings of scribes on Classic vases. Also, the appearance of certain scripts (including the Dresden Codex) suggests that it is impossible for its style to be created with a brush pen.

Inkpots and Inks

The Maya used conch shells cut in half lengthwise as inkpots (Coe and Kerr 1998: 150-151). Black and red pigments were used in the codices. Particularly, hematite (an iron oxide pigment) was used in the Dresden, Madrid, and Grolier codices.

The Maya Codices

Currently there are four surviving Maya codices: the Paris, Grolier, Madrid, and Dresden. Only four remain because religious authorities destroyed many of them during the Spanish occupation. These religious missionaries believed that the Maya books perpetuated paganism (Sansores 1987: 17). It is also possible that the Mayas who converted to Christianity destroyed them. According to 16th century Spanish documentation, few codices also remain because some codices were buried with Maya priests (Thompson, 1985: 23). Remnants of painted lime flakes in tombs at Uaxactun provide evidence that codices were in there, since lime was used to coat the pages of a codex.

As mentioned earlier, the inner bark of wild fig trees were used to form the sheets of paper. Horizontal sheets were made and folded accordion-style to form the Maya books (Longhena 2000: 20). These folded sheets had script and illustrations on both sides and possibly wood or leather served as covers. As far as content, the glyphs in the four codices are phonetic rather than ideographic (thus relying more on sounds rather than symbols), making the script more complex and therefore harder to decipher. This suggests that writing had “become a domain of a restricted intellectual caste” (Longhena 2000: 21). Overall, the Maya books served a general purpose of presenting calendrical and celestial systems, including but not limited to: a 260-day sacred almanac, Venus cycle tables, eclipse tables, pictures of ceremonies and deities, rituals, and multiplication tables (Thompson 1985: 23). While the Maya codices record abbreviated information about celestial events and the like, it is interesting to note that none of the four Maya books document the activities of any historical people (Maxwell 1997).

The Paris Codex

The Paris Codex is also known as Codex Perez or Codex Peresianus, because when the codex was found by Leon de Rosny in 1859, it was wrapped in a piece of paper with “Perez” written on it (Thompson 1985: 25). This codex mostly details the divinatory aspects of katuns and tuns, the new year ceremonies, and a condensed 260-day almanac (Thompson, 1985: 65). Katuns or k’atuns are approximately twenty years while tuns are three hundred and sixty days. The grand cycle is one of thirteen katuns, and after thirteen katuns history is supposed to repeat itself (Coe and Kerr 1998: 181). The codex, however, only documents eleven katuns, because only eleven pages are intact, with one page per katun. In this case, at least two pages of the Paris Codex are missing, most likely the first and the last page because of its accordion-style folds. The center of each page of the codex has an image that depicts the deity that rules the particular katun documented on that page (Thompson 1985: 25). Additionally, a good amount of hieroglyphic text frames each image. The glyphs depict prophecies and other divine rituals (Longhena 2000: 21). In terms of appearance, the Paris Codex is in a rather poor condition, especially the reverse side of the codex (Thompson 1985: 25). Also, the paintings of the deities and the glyphs are not meticulously painted, suggesting that the codex was hastily copied from an earlier codex.

The Madrid Codex

The Madrid Codex is also called the Codex Tro-Cortes, because at some point the codex split into two parts and was found at separate occasions in Spain (Longhena 2000: 21). The first part was called the Tro manuscript and the second part was called Codex Cortes. Around 1875 Leon de Rosny recognized that the two parts made up one codex, and the Madrid Codex became whole again (Thompson 1985: 26). This codex seems to be a book purely about divination; it does not contain astronomy, prophecies, or multiplication tables. Madrid does contain a 260-day period, as well as almanacs and prophecies about daily rituals (Longhena 2000: 21). In comparison to the other codices, the images seem to be carelessly produced; the deities are portrayed in a grotesque and crude manner (Thompson 1985: 26). The glyphs are also hastily written, typically misshapen, and irregularly spaced.

The Grolier Codex

The Grolier Codex is a recent discovery and is mostly an astronomical book on the Venus cycle (Longhena 2000: 175). Only one half of the codex has been found, and as a whole, the codex deals primarily with the 584-day synodic cycle of Venus (Coe and Kerr 1998: 175). Each page is concerned with one part of the cycle, with a sinister deity dominating each phase of the cycle (Coe and Kerr 1998: 163). The deities are sinister because the Mesoamerican mentality considers all aspects of the planet as “ill-omened.”

The Dresden Codex

The Dresden Codex, out of the four codices, is the most examined and recognized codex of all. It is made up of an agave fiber strip, 141 inches in length, folded into 78 sides (Longhena 2000: 21). Most of the script is red or black, and the images of the deities and the glyphs were written with extreme care (Thompson 1985: 24). Coe and Kerr (1998: 177-178) claim that “the Dresden is entirely ritual-astronomical, and tied to the workings of the complex Maya calendrical system.” The codex also consists of several 260-day almanacs as well as Venus, Mars, eclipse, and multiplication tables. The Dresden almanacs were divided vertically into t’ols (Hofling 1989: 53). Each division corresponds to a sacred Maya year (sometimes called tzolkin) and each year is a period of 260 days, or a tonalpohualli (Sansores 1987: 18). Basically, each t’ol has a calendrical glyph with hieroglyphic text within four glyph blocks above it (Hofling 1989). Each calendrical glyph indicates a day in the sacred calendar, and right below it is an image of a god or some sort of protagonist, such as the Moon Goddess. Overall, Thompson (1985: 65) describes Dresden “as a mixture of simple divination and a compilation of astronomical data, doubtlessly used in the more important branches of that work--for matters of church and state--in contrast to the simple almanacs of everyday life. Most archaeologists agree that Dresden is the most valued of the extant Maya codices.

Conclusion

The differences and similarities among the Paris, Madrid, Grolier and Dresden codices illustrate that the purpose of Mayan writing, specifically in codices, is to document celestial events and calendrical systems. The fundamental difference among the three styles lies in their content, with the Grolier and Dresden codices dealing with more astronomical instances, the Paris Codex with katuns and tuns, and the Madrid Codex remaining purely divinatory. However, this difference suggests an underlying similarity that the content of the four codices all truly represent the remarkable achievements of the ancient Maya.

Bibliography

Coe, M. and J. Kerr

1998 The Art of the Maya Scribe. Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, New York.

Hofling, C.

1989 The Morphosyntactic Basis of Discourse Structure in Glyphic Text in the Dresden Codex. In Word and Image in Maya Culture: Explorations in Language, Writing and Representation, edited by W. Hanks and D. Rice, pp. 51-71, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Longhena, M.

2000 Maya Script: A Civilization Revealed Through the Signs. Abbeville Press Publishing, New York.

Maxwell, J.

1997 Discourse Strategies, Then and Now. In The Language of Maya Hieroglyphs, edited by M. Macri and A. Ford, pp. 97-110, Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.

Sansores, W.

1987 Maya Writing: Hieroglyphs, Books of Chilam Balams, Place Names. Produccion Editorial Dante, Mexico.

Thompson, J.

1985 Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

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