玛雅沃美克文 (A) (B)
J. Eric S. Thompson (1898-1975)
J. Eric S. Thompson (1898-1975) Thompson did considerable work in deciphering of Maya hieroglyphics, gyp especially those related to the calendar and astronomy, as well as identifying some new nouns. He developed a numerical cataloguing system for the glyphs (the T-number system), which, with some expansions, is still used by Mayanists today. He initially supported Morley's contention that history was not to be found in the inscriptions, but changed his position in light of the work of Tatiana Proskouriakoff in the 1960s. His attempted decipherments were based on ideographic rather than linguistic principles. In his later years he resisted the notion that the glyphs have a strong phonetic component, as put forward by the Russian linguist Yuri Knorozov. After his death, for a time some younger Maya epigraphers blamed Thompson for holding back what became a very fruitful approach to the glyphs with his forceful and articulate disagreements.
Henrich Berlin (1915-1987) Emblem Glyphs
An "emblem glyph" is a kind of royal title. It consists of a word ajaw a Classic Maya term for lord of yet unclear etymology but well-attested in Colonial sources 5 and a place name that precedes the word ajaw and functions as an adjective. Sometimes, the title is introduced by an adjective k uhul ( holy, divine or sacred ), just as if someone wanted to say holy Boston lord. Of course, an "emblem glyph" is not a "glyph" at all: it can be spelled with any number of syllabic or logographic signs and several alternative spellings are attested for the words k uhul and ajaw, which form the stable core of the title. The term "emblem glyph" simply reflects the times when mayanists could not read Classic Maya inscriptions and had to come up with some nicknames isolating certain recurrent structural components of the written narratives. This title was identified in 1958 by Heinrich Berlin, 6 who coined the term "emblem glyph". Berlin noticed that the "emblem glyphs" consisted of a larger "main sign" and two smaller signs now read as k uhul ajaw. Berlin also noticed that while the smaller elements remained relatively constant, the main sign changed from site to site. Berlin proposed that the main signs identified individual cities, their ruling dynasties, or the territories they controlled.
Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909-1985) Event Glyphs
Landa list Image of the page from Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán These people used certain characters or letters with which they wrote in their books their ancient affairs and their sciences, and with these and with figures and some signs in the figures, they understood their affairs and they made others understand them and taught them. Of letters I will give here an A, B, C, since their ponderousness permits nothing more, for they use one character for all the aspirations of the letters and, later, they unite with it part of another and thus it goes on ad infinitum, as will be seen in the following example
Yuri V Knorosov (1922-1999)
Yuri Valentinovich Knorozov In 1940 at the age of 17, Knorozov left Kharkov for Moscow where he commenced undergraduate studies in the newly created Department of Ethnology at Moscow State University's faculty of History. He initially specialised in Egyptology. From 1943 to 1945 Knorozov served his term in the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War" in the Red Army as an artillery spotter. According to this version of the anecdote, when stationed in Berlin Knorozov came across the National Library while it was ablaze. Somehow Knorozov managed to retrieve from the burning library a book, which h remarkably enough turned out to be a rare edition containing i reproductions of the three Maya codices which were then known the Dresden, Madrid and Paris codices. Knorozov is said to have taken this book back with him to Moscow at the end of the war, where its examination would form the basis for his later pioneering research into the Maya script. However, in an interview conducted a year before his death, Knorozov provided a different version of the anecdote. As he explained to his interlocutor, t the Mayanist epigrapher Harri Kettunen of the University of Helsinki: "Unfortunately it was a misunderstanding: I told about it [finding the books in the library in Berlin] to my colleague Michael Coe, but he didn't get it right. There simply wasn't any fire in the library. And the books that were in the library, were in boxes to be sent somewhere else. The fascist command had packed them, and since they didn't have time to move them anywhere, they were simply taken to Moscow. I didn't see any fire there."
Yuri Valentinovich Knorozov When at the instigation of his professor, Knorozov wrote his dissertation on the "de Landa alphabet", a record produced by the 16th century Spanish Bishop Diego de Landa The prevailing view was that Mayan did not have such features as ancient Egyptian or cuneiform. Knorozov's studies in comparative linguistics drew him to the conclusion that the Mayan script should be no different from the others, and that purely logographic or ideographic scripts were not actually so. In 1952 Knorozov published a paper which was later to prove to be a seminal work in the field (Drevnyaya pis mennost Tsentral noy Ameriki, or "Ancient Writing of Central America".) The general thesis of this paper put forward the observation that early scripts such as ancient Egyptian and Cuneiform which were generally or formerly thought to be predominantly logographic or even purely ideographic in nature, in fact contained a significant phonetic component. That is to say, rather than the symbols representing only or mainly whole words or concepts, many symbols in fact represented the sound elements of the language in which they were written, and had alphabetic or syllabic elements as well, which if understood could further their decipherment.
Spoken Maya Languages
Madrid codex CU TZU
Linda Schele 1985 Floyd G Lounsbury 1988
David Stuart 1988
The Maya Glyph
Long Count Baktun (20 katun) 400 years 144,000 days Katun (20 tun) Tun (18 winal) Winal (20 kin) Kin 20 years 72,000 days 1 year 360 days 20 days 1 day Calendar round Tzolkin System 260-day cycle Haab System 365-day cycle Supplementary Series Lunar series and others
The 'zero on the Long Counter correlates with 4 Ahau 8 Cumku and corresponds with 13 August 3114 BC in our Gregorian calendar. For the Maya, it is 0.0.0.0.0 --- the beginning g of the latest Great Cycle of time. This is due to end on 23 December AD 2012. A Maya date therefore consists of a series of numerals, beginning with the number of the largest cycles of time elapsed since the 'zero' point, working through the numbers of successively shorter cycles, and finally correlating with the 52-'vague year' count. eg e.g.,the date9154648kan17muan 9.15.4.6.4.8 17 Muan, the first five numerals of which mean: 9 cycles of 144,000 days = 1,296,000 days 15 cycles of 7,200 days = 108,000 days 4 cycles of 360 days = 1,440 days 6 cycles of 20 days = 120 days 4 cycles f 1 day = 4 days TOTAL 1,405,564 days That is 1,405,564 days from the beginning of the latest Great Cycle (13 August a s, 05,56 days o e beg g o e a es G ea Cyce ( 3 ugus 3114 BC) --- which is 29 November AD 735.
LONG COUNT GLYPHS, from k'in to piktun in the head variants
Calendarical l System The Maya possess 260-day almanac and a 365- day annual calendar, which, running simultaneously, resulted in a 52-year cycle which we know as the "calendar round." The 260-day count (Tzolkin Sysyem) It consists of two permutating cycles. cles The 260-day count began with 1 Imix, followed by 2 Ik', 3Ak'bal, 4 K'an Kan, until 13 Ben had been reached; the day following was Ix, with the coefficient 1 again, leading to 2 Men, and son on. The last day of the 260-day cycle would be 13 Ahaw.
DAY GLYPHS in monument styles (Tzolkin)
DAY GLYPHS in codex styles (Tzolkin)
Tzolkin system
The 365 day count (HAAB System) The Maya expanded the 260-day count by meshing the named days with a third wheel representing the approximate year of 365 days. It consisted of 18 named months (compared to our 12), each of 20 days duration, and one month of 5 days called Uayeb, making altogether a 'vague year of (18 x 20) + (1x5) = 365 dayds: 'vague because the extra one quarter of a day in a solar year, which we solve by adding a leap year, the Maya chose to ignore.
MONTH GLYPHS in both monument and codex styles
Calendar Round Glyphs Tzolkin (13x 20 days)-> Haab (18 month x20 days) 6 Ak bal 11 Ch en 13 Ix 2 Mol 10 Kawak 17 Mak 3 Imix 9 Yax 8 Ik 0 Pop
PATRONS and the basic anatomy of the Initial Series Introductory Glyph
Initial Series 9.12.2.0.16 5 Kib 14 Yaxk in Stela 3 Piedras Negras
NIGHT GODS
LUNAR SERIES glyphs D & E, C & X, andb& A
Stela E at Quirigua 9.14.12.4.17
Homework 4 (1) Read Chapter 16 of Powell s book. Discuss your view on the finding of that Cascajal Block. What is the evidence for or against the notion that the inscriptions represent lexigraphic writing? Some scholars question the authenticity of this block. What do you think? (research paper is attached.) (2) Estimate t the date of the the stela that t contains ISIG shown in the right: (3) Find any nice engraved Mesoamerican inscriptions from the web, indicating the web source, the dates, and possible translation. (4) Based on Stephen Houston s paper, try to model the origin and development of Mayan hieroglyphic writing. (5) Select a Mayanist (except Knorosov), write a brief biography and state his/her major contributions. Due on 10/11 noon