Maya hieroglyphic script

What it is

A system of more than 800 glyphs combining logograms and syllabic signs to record the Maya language in full, painted on murals, pottery and codices and carved on stelae. The only fully developed script of pre-Columbian America.

The glyphs of San Bartolo (c. 300 BCE) are the oldest; the Zapotec script of Monte Albán (c. 500 BCE) is earlier but less developed.

What it led to

• Historical records of kings, wars and alliances over 1,500 years
• Literature and mythology (the Popol Vuh as a late echo) and astronomical texts
• Scribes as a courtly elite
• Modern decipherment (Knorozov, 1952), which rewrote Maya history

Built on

• Cascajal Block (Olmec script)c. 900 BCE
• 260-day ritual calendarc. 600 BCE
• Olmec/epi-Olmec script (Cascajal Block)
• 260-day calendar
• Mural painting
• Bark paper (amate)

Made possible

• Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and Maya zero36 BCE
• Hieroglyphic Stairway of Copánc. 710-755
• Quiriguá Stela E, the tallest Maya monolith771
• Maya codices
• Dated stelae

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl9290
• https://www.archaeological.org/the-murals-of-san-bartolo-a-maya-masterpiece-in-pieces/