1.
Mesoamerica
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It is one of six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently, and the second in the Americas along with Norte Chico in present-day northern coastal Peru. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures, while Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico and extended inland, frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas, Guatemala and Oaxaca laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica and this Formative period saw the spread of distinct religious and symbolic traditions, as well as artistic and architectural complexes. In the subsequent Preclassic period, complex urban polities began to develop among the Maya, with the rise of such as El Mirador, Calakmul and Tikal. Mesoamerica is one of three regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around AD600, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula, ensued. During the early period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, Oaxaca by the Mixtec. Towards the end of the period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, over the next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as the civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico, Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area, and the term is now fully integrated in the standard terminology of pre-Columbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica, which refer to northern Mexico, 10° and 22° northern latitude, Mesoamerica possesses a complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. A main distinction groups these different niches into two categories, the lowlands and the altiplanos, or highlands. In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The highlands show much more diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatan to the humid southern Pacific, several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by a convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid, the Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups, the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands, the southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala, southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize
2.
Cuneiform script
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Cuneiform script, one of the earliest systems of writing, was invented by the Sumerians. It is distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reed for a stylus, the name cuneiform itself simply means wedge shaped. Emerging in Sumer in the fourth millennium BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictograms. In the third millennium, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use grew smaller, the system consists of a combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic and syllabic signs. Cuneiform writing was replaced by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire. By the second century CE, the script had become extinct, between half a million and two million cuneiform tablets are estimated to have been excavated in modern times, of which only approximately 30,000 –100,000 have been read or published. Most of these have lain in these collections for a century without being translated, studied or published, the cuneiform writing system was in use for more than three millennia, through several stages of development, from the 34th century BC down to the second century CE. Ultimately, it was replaced by alphabetic writing in the course of the Roman era. It had to be deciphered as an unknown writing system in 19th-century Assyriology. Successful completion of its deciphering is dated to 1857, the cuneiform script was developed from pictographic proto-writing in the late 4th millennium BC. Mesopotamias proto-literate period spans roughly the 35th to 32nd centuries, the first documents unequivocally written in Sumerian date to the 31st century at Jemdet Nasr. Originally, pictographs were either drawn on clay tablets in vertical columns with a reed stylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic shape of the strokes. Proper names continued to be written in purely logographic fashion. The earliest known Sumerian king whose name appears on contemporary cuneiform tablets is Enmebaragesi of Kish, from about 2900 BC, many pictographs began to lose their original function, and a given sign could have various meanings depending on context. The sign inventory was reduced from some 1,500 signs to some 600 signs, determinative signs were re-introduced to avoid ambiguity. Cuneiform writing proper thus arises from the more primitive system of pictographs at about that time, by adjusting the relative position of the tablet to the stylus, the writer could use a single tool to make a variety of impressions. Cuneiform tablets could be fired in kilns to provide a permanent record, many of the clay tablets found by archaeologists were preserved because they were fired when attacking armies burned the building in which they were kept
3.
Oracle bone script
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The vast majority were found at the Yinxu site. They record pyromantic divinations of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty, beginning with Wu Ding, whose accession is dated by different scholars at 1250 BCE or 1200 BCE. After the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou dynasty in c.1046 BCE, divining with milfoil became more common and it is also the oldest known member and ancestor of the Chinese family of scripts, preceding the bronzeware script. The term oracle bone was first coined by the American missionary Frank H. Chalfant in his 1906 book Early Chinese Writing, because turtle shells as well as bones were used, the oracle bone script is also sometimes called shell and bone script. As the majority of oracle bones bearing writing date to the late Shang dynasty and it is certain that Shang-lineage writing underwent a period of development before the Anyang oracle bone script, because of its mature nature. However, no significant quantity of clearly identifiable writing from before or during the early to middle Shang cultural period has been discovered, the oracle bone script of the late Shang appears pictographic, as does its contemporary, the Shang writing on bronzes. The earliest oracle bone script appears even more so than examples from late in the period, additionally, the writing of characters in vertical columns, from top to bottom, is for the most part carried over from the bamboo books to oracle bone inscriptions. The vertical columns of text in Chinese writing are traditionally ordered from right to left and this level of maturity clearly implies an earlier period of development of at least several hundred years. Compare, for instance, the third and fourth graphs in the row below, without careful research to compare these to later forms, one would probably not know that these represented 豕 shĭ swine and 犬 quǎn dog respectively. By the late Shang oracle bone script, the graphs had already evolved into a variety of mostly non-pictographic functions, phonetic loan graphs, semantic-phonetic compounds, and associative compounds were already common. Although it was a fully functional writing system, the oracle bone script was not fully standardized, a graph when inverted horizontally generally refers to the same word, and additional components are sometimes present without changing the meaning. These irregularities persisted until the standardization of the script in the Qin dynasty. Of the thousands of characters found from all the fragments so far. One reason for this is that components of certain oracle bone script characters may differ in later script forms, such differences may be accounted for by character simplification and/or by later generations misunderstanding the original graph, which had evolved beyond recognition. Another reason is that some characters exist only in oracle bone script, in such cases, context - when available - may be used to determine the possible meaning of the character. One good example is shown in the fragment below, labeled oracle bone script for Spring, the top left character in this image has no known modern Chinese counterpart. One of the better known characters however is shown directly beneath it looking like an isosceles triangle with a line cutting through the upper portion. This is the oracle bone script character for 王 wáng, the numbers of oracle bones with inscriptions contemporaneous with the end of Shang and the beginning of Zhou is relatively few in number compared with the entire corpus of Shang inscriptions
4.
Invention of writing
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The history of writing traces the development of expressing language by letters or other marks and also the study and description of these developments. One of the earliest forms of expression is cuneiform. Writing numbers for the purpose of record keeping began long before the writing of language, see History of writing ancient numbers for how the writing of numbers began. It is generally agreed that true writing of language was conceived and developed in at least two places and possibly more. Egyptian script is dissimilar from Mesopotamian cuneiform, but similarities in concepts, similar debate surrounds the Indus script of the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization in Ancient India. In addition, the script is still undeciphered and there is debate whether the script is true writing at all. An additional possibility is the undeciphered Rongorongo script of Easter Island and it is debated whether this is true writing, and if it is, whether it is another case of cultural diffusion of writing. The oldest example is from 1851,139 years after their first contact with Europeans, one explanation is that the script was inspired by Spains written annexation proclamation in 1770. Recent examples are the Cherokee syllabary, invented by Sequoyah, symbolic communication systems are distinguished from writing systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. In contrast, symbolic systems such as signs, painting, maps. Every human community possesses language, a feature regarded by many as an innate, however the development of writing systems, and their partial supplantation of traditional oral systems of communication, have been sporadic, uneven and slow. Once established, writing systems on the change more slowly than their spoken counterparts. Writing allows societies to transmit information and share knowledge, scholars make a reasonable distinction between prehistory and history of early writing, but have disagreed concerning when prehistory becomes history and when proto-writing became true writing. Writing, in its most general terms, is a method of recording information and is composed of graphemes, the emergence of writing in a given area is usually followed by several centuries of fragmentary inscriptions. Historians mark the historicity of a culture by the presence of coherent texts in the writing system. The invention of writing was not an event, but a gradual process initiated by the appearance of symbols. A conventional proto-writing to true writing system follows a series of developmental stages, Picture writing system. Transitional system, graphemes refer not only to the object or idea which it represents, phonetic system, graphemes refer to sounds or spoken symbols, and the form of the grapheme is not related to its meanings
5.
Logogram
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In written language, a logogram or logograph is a written character that represents a word or phrase. Chinese characters and Japanese kanji are logograms, some Egyptian hieroglyphs, the use of logograms in writing is called logography. A writing system that is based on logograms is called a logographic system, in alphabets and syllabaries, individual written characters represent sounds rather than concepts. Unlike logograms, phonograms do not necessarily have meaning by themselves, Writing language in this way is called phonemic orthography. Logographic systems include the earliest writing systems, the first historical civilizations of the Near East, Africa, China, a more recent attempt is Zlango, intended for use in text messaging, currently including around 300 icons. The term logosyllabary is used to emphasize the partially phonetic nature of these scripts when the domain is the syllable. For example, Egyptian was used to write both sȝ duck and sȝ son, though it is likely that these words were not pronounced the same apart from their consonants and this can be illustrated with Chinese. Not all Chinese characters represent morphemes, some morphemes are composed of more than one character, for example, the Chinese word for spider, 蜘蛛 zhīzhū, was created by fusing the rebus 知朱 zhīzhū with the bug determinative 虫. Neither *蜘 zhī nor *蛛 zhū can be used separately, in Archaic Chinese, one can find the reverse, a single character representing more than one morpheme. An example is Archaic Chinese 王 hjwangs, a combination of a morpheme hjwang meaning king, in modern Mandarin, bimorphemic syllables are always written with two characters, for example 花儿 huār flower. These logograms, called hozwārishn, were dispensed with altogether after the Arab conquest of Persia, logograms are used in modern shorthand to represent common words. In addition, the numerals and mathematical symbols used in systems are logograms—1 one,2 two, + plus, = equals, and so on. In English, the ampersand & is used for and and et, % for percent, # for number, § for section, $ for dollar, € for euro, £ for pound, ° for degree, @ for at, etc. All historical logographic systems include a dimension, as it is impractical to have a separate basic character for every word or morpheme in a language. In some cases, such as cuneiform as it was used for Akkadian, many logographic systems also have a semantic/ideographic component, called determinatives in the case of Egyptian and radicals in the case of Chinese. In the case of Chinese, the vast majority of characters are a combination of a radical that indicates its nominal category. The Mayan system used logograms with phonetic complements like the Egyptian, Chinese scholars have traditionally classified the Chinese characters hanzi into six types by etymology. The first two types are single-body, meaning that the character was created independently of other characters, single-body pictograms and ideograms make up only a small proportion of Chinese logograms
6.
Syllabary
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A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or moras which make up words. This loosely corresponds to shallow orthographies in alphabetic writing systems, most syllabaries only feature one or two kinds of syllabograms and form other syllables by graphemic rules. Otherwise they are synthetic, if they vary by onset, rime, nucleus or coda, or systematic, some scholars, e. g. Daniels, reserve the general term for analytic syllabaries and invent other terms as necessary. Some system provides katakana language conversion, in addition, the undecoded Cretan Linear A is also believed by some to be a syllabic script, though this is not proven. Chinese characters, the script used for Sumerian, Akkadian and other languages. They are therefore referred to as logosyllabic. The contemporary Japanese language uses two syllabaries together called kana, namely hiragana and katakana, which were developed around 700. They are mainly used to some native words and grammatical elements, as well as foreign words. Because Japanese uses mainly CV syllables, a syllabary is well suited to write the language, as in many syllabaries, however, vowel sequences and final consonants are written with separate glyphs, so that both atta and kaita are written with three kana, あった and かいた. It is therefore called a moraic writing system. Languages that use syllabaries today tend to have simple phonotactics, with a predominance of monomoraic syllables, few syllabaries have glyphs for syllables that are not monomoraic, and those that once did have simplified over time to eliminate that complexity. For example, the Vai syllabary originally had separate glyphs for syllables ending in a coda, the modern script has been expanded to cover all moras, but at the same time reduced to exclude all other syllables. g. Ko-no-so for Κνωσός Knōsos, pe-ma for σπέρμα sperma, the Cherokee syllabary generally uses dummy vowels for coda consonants, but also has a segmental grapheme for /s/, which can be used both as a coda and in an initial /sC/ consonant cluster. The languages of South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as the Ethiopian Semitic languages, have a type of alphabet called an abugida or alphasyllabary, in the 19th century these systems were called syllabics, a term which has survived in the name of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. In a true syllabary there may be graphic similarity between characters that share a common consonant or vowel sound, but it is not systematic or close to regular. For example, the characters for ke, ka, and ko in Japanese hiragana have no similarity to indicate their common k sound, compare abugida, where each grapheme typically represents a syllable but where characters representing related sounds are all similar graphically. For example, in Devanagari, an abugida, the characters for ke, ka and ko are के, का and को respectively. English, along many other Indo-European languages like German and Russian, allows for complex syllable structures
7.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
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Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. It combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters, cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and demotic Egyptian scripts are derived from hieroglyphic writing, the writing system continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. Late survivals of hieroglyphic use are found well into the Roman period, with the closing of pagan temples in the 5th century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, and the script remained undeciphered throughout the medieval and early modern period. The decipherment of hieroglyphs would only be solved in the 1820s by Jean-François Champollion, the word hieroglyph comes from the Greek adjective ἱερογλυφικός, a compound of ἱερός and γλύφω, supposedly a calque of an Egyptian phrase mdw·w-nṯr gods words. The glyphs themselves were called τὰ ἱερογλυφικὰ γράμματα the sacred engraved letters, the word hieroglyph has become a noun in English, standing for an individual hieroglyphic character. As used in the sentence, the word hieroglyphic is an adjective. Hieroglyphs emerged from the artistic traditions of Egypt. For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from c.4000 BC have been argued to resemble hieroglyphic writing, proto-hieroglyphic symbol systems develop in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, such as the clay labels of a Predynastic ruler called Scorpion I recovered at Abydos in 1998. The first full sentence written in hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on a seal found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qaab. There are around 800 hieroglyphs dating back to the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, by the Greco-Roman period, there are more than 5,000. However, given the lack of evidence, no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt. Since the 1990s, and discoveries such as the Abydos glyphs, as writing developed and became more widespread among the Egyptian people, simplified glyph forms developed, resulting in the hieratic and demotic scripts. These variants were more suited than hieroglyphs for use on papyrus. Hieroglyphic writing was not, however, eclipsed, but existed alongside the other forms, especially in monumental, the Rosetta Stone contains three parallel scripts – hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. Hieroglyphs continued to be used under Persian rule, and after Alexander the Greats conquest of Egypt, during the ensuing Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It appears that the quality of comments from Greek and Roman writers about hieroglyphs came about, at least in part. Some believed that hieroglyphs may have functioned as a way to distinguish true Egyptians from some of the foreign conquerors, another reason may be the refusal to tackle a foreign culture on its own terms, which characterized Greco-Roman approaches to Egyptian culture generally
8.
Maya script
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The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala. Maya writing was in use throughout Mesoamerica until the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th and 17th centuries. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, modern Mayan languages are written using the Latin alphabet rather than Maya script. It is now thought that the codices and other Classic texts were written by scribes, usually members of the Maya priesthood, there is also some evidence that the script may have been occasionally used to write Mayan languages of the Guatemalan Highlands. However, if languages were written, they may have been written by Ch’olti’ scribes. Mayan writing consisted of an elaborate set of glyphs, which were laboriously painted on ceramics, walls or bark-paper codices, carved in wood or stone. Carved and molded glyphs were painted, but the paint has rarely survived, about 90% of Mayan writing can now be read with varying degrees of certainty, enough to give a comprehensive idea of its structure. The Mayan script was a logosyllabic system, individual glyphs could represent either a word or a syllable, indeed, the same glyph could often be used for both. For example, the calendaric glyph MANIK’ was also used to represent the syllable chi, there was polyvalence in the other direction as well, different glyphs could be read the same way. For example, half a dozen apparently unrelated glyphs were used to write the common third person pronoun u-. However, in the case of Mayan, each tended to correspond to a noun or verb phrase such as his green headband. Also, glyphs were sometimes conflated, where an element of one glyph would replace part of a second, conflation occurs in other scripts, For example, in medieval Spanish manuscripts the word de of was sometimes written Ð. Another example is the ampersand which is a conflation of the Latin et, in place of the standard block configuration, Mayan was also sometimes written in a single row or column, L, or T shapes. These variations most often appeared when they would fit the surface being inscribed. For example, the logogram for fish fin, came to represent the syllable ka, for example, balam jaguar could be written as a single logogram, BALAM, complemented phonetically as ba-BALAM, or BALAM-ma, or ba-BALAM-ma, or written completely phonetically as ba-la-ma. Phonetic glyphs stood for simple consonant-vowel or bare-vowel syllables, when these final consonants were sonorants or gutturals they were sometimes ignored, but more often final consonants were written, which meant that an extra vowel was written as well. This was typically an echo vowel that repeated the vowel of the previous syllable and that is, the word fish fin would be underspelled ka or written in full as ka-ha. A more complex spelling is ha-o-bo ko-ko-no-ma for they are the guardians, a minimal set is, ba-ka ba-ki ba-ku = ba-ke ba-ke-le Despite depending on consonants which were frequently not written, the Mayan voice system was reliably indicated
9.
Mesoamerican literature
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The traditions of indigenous Mesoamerican literature extend back to the oldest-attested forms of early writing in the Mesoamerican region, which date from around the mid-1st millennium BCE. Many of the cultures of Mesoamerica are known to have been literate societies. Mesoamerican writing systems independently from other writing systems in the world. This article summarizes current knowledge about indigenous Mesoamerican literatures in its broadest sense and describe it categorized by its literary contents, which topics are chosen to be written and spoken about. Which genres of literature are found in Mesoamerica, not surprisingly a large portion of the Mesoamerican literature that has been delivered down through time to us deals exactly with this kind of information. History, power and legacy, Another large part of the Precolumbian literature is found carved into monumental structures such as stelae, altars and this kind of literature typically documents power and heritage, memorize victories, ascension to rulership, dedications of monuments, marriages between royal lineages. Some texts are sort of every day such as descriptions of objects and their owners, graffiti inscriptions. Geoffrey Sampson distinguishes between two kinds of writing, in Mesoamerica the two types were not distinguished, and so writing, drawing, and making pictures were seen as closely related if not identical concepts. In both the Mayan and Aztec languages there is one word for writing and drawing Pictures are sometimes read phonetically and this makes it difficult for modern day scholars to distinguish between whether an inscription in a Mesoamerican script represents spoken language or is to be interpreted as a descriptive drawing. Scholars disagree on the phoneticity of other Mesoamerican scripts and iconographic styles, but many use of the Rebus principle. The monumental inscriptions were often historical records of the citystates, Famous examples include, the inscriptions of Naj Tunich records the arrival of noble pilgrims to the sacred cave. The tomb inscriptions of Pacal the famous ruler of Palenque, the many stelae of Yaxchilan, Quiriguá, Copán, Tikal and Palenque and countless other Mayan archaeological sites. The function of these kinds of historical inscriptions also served to consoliate the power of the rulers who used them also as a kind of propaganda testimonies to their power. Most of the records of wars and dances accompany scenes of the rulers, copáns texts have a far lesser emphasis on historical narrative. The stelae of the plaza, for example, are inscribed with dedicatory formulae that name the ruler as owner of the monument. Birth dates at Copán are virtually nonexistent, as also are records of war, the Copán rulers therefore lack some of the personalized history we read in the texts of newer centers in the western lowlands, such as Palenque, Yaxchilan, and Piedras Negras. See also Mayan codices and Aztec codices for fuller descriptions of the different codices, a number of Precolumbian codices written on amate paper with gesso coating remain today. Historical narratives Mixtec codices Codex Bodley Codex Colombino-Becker Codex Nuttall, for example, drinking vessels with the inscription saying The Cacao drinking cup of X or similar
10.
Latin script
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Latin script is used as the standard method of writing in most Western and Central European languages, as well as in many languages in other parts of the world. Latin script is the basis for the largest number of alphabets of any writing system and is the most widely adopted writing system in the world, Latin script is also the basis of the International Phonetic Alphabet. The 26 most widespread letters are the contained in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. The script is either called Roman script or Latin script, in reference to its origin in ancient Rome, in the context of transliteration, the term romanization or romanisation is often found. Unicode uses the term Latin as does the International Organization for Standardization, the numeral system is called the Roman numeral system, and the collection of the elements, Roman numerals. The numbers 1,2,3. are Latin/Roman script numbers for the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, the Latin alphabet spread, along with Latin, from the Italian Peninsula to the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The Latin script also came into use for writing the West Slavic languages and several South Slavic languages, the speakers of East Slavic languages generally adopted Cyrillic along with Orthodox Christianity. The Serbian language uses both scripts, with Cyrillic predominating in official communication and Latin elsewhere, as determined by the Law on Official Use of the Language and Alphabet. As late as 1500, the Latin script was limited primarily to the languages spoken in Western, Northern, the Orthodox Christian Slavs of Eastern and Southeastern Europe mostly used Cyrillic, and the Greek alphabet was in use by Greek-speakers around the eastern Mediterranean. The Arabic script was widespread within Islam, both among Arabs and non-Arab nations like the Iranians, Indonesians, Malays, and Turkic peoples, most of the rest of Asia used a variety of Brahmic alphabets or the Chinese script. It is used for many Austronesian languages, including the languages of the Philippines, Latin letters served as the basis for the forms of the Cherokee syllabary developed by Sequoyah, however, the sound values are completely different. In the late 19th century, the Romanians returned to the Latin alphabet, under French rule and Portuguese missionary influence, a Latin alphabet was devised for the Vietnamese language, which had previously used Chinese characters. In 1928, as part of Mustafa Kemal Atatürks reforms, the new Republic of Turkey adopted a Latin alphabet for the Turkish language, kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iranian-speaking Tajikistan, and the breakaway region of Transnistria kept the Cyrillic alphabet, chiefly due to their close ties with Russia. In the 1930s and 1940s, the majority of Kurds replaced the Arabic script with two Latin alphabets, although the only official Kurdish government uses an Arabic alphabet for public documents, the Latin Kurdish alphabet remains widely used throughout the region by the majority of Kurdish-speakers. In 2015, the Kazakh government announced that the Latin alphabet would replace Cyrillic as the system for the Kazakh language by 2025. In the course of its use, the Latin alphabet was adapted for use in new languages, sometimes representing phonemes not found in languages that were written with the Roman characters. These new forms are given a place in the alphabet by defining an alphabetical order or collation sequence, a digraph is a pair of letters used to write one sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters in sequence. Examples are ⟨ch⟩, ⟨ng⟩, ⟨rh⟩, ⟨sh⟩ in English, a trigraph is made up of three letters, like the German ⟨sch⟩, the Breton ⟨c’h⟩ or the Milanese ⟨oeu⟩
11.
Cascajal Block
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Archaeologists Carmen Rodriguez and Ponciano Ortiz of the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico examined and registered it with government historical authorities. It weighs about 11.5 kg and measures 36 cm ×21 cm ×13 cm, details of the find were published by researchers in the 15 September 2006 issue of the journal Science. The Olmec flourished in the Gulf Coast region of Mexico, ca, the evidence for this writing system is based solely on the text on the Cascajal Block. The block holds a total of 62 glyphs, some of which resemble plants such as maize and pineapple, or animals such as insects, many of the symbols are more abstract boxes or blobs. The symbols on the Cascajal block are unlike those of any writing system in Mesoamerica, such as in Mayan languages or Isthmian. The Cascajal block is also unusual because the symbols apparently run in horizontal rows, the sequences appear to be conceived as independent units of information. All other known Mesoamerican scripts typically use vertical rows, stephen D. Houston, who also worked on the study, said the text, if decoded, will decipher earliest voices of Mesoamerican civilization. Some of the signs were frequently repeated, particularly ones that looked like an insect or a lizard. Houston suspected that these might be signs alerting the reader to the use of words that sound alike but have different meanings—as in the difference between I and eye in English. He concluded, the sequencing, the regularity of signs. But we dont know what it says, weve known they have very elaborate art, and iconography, but this is the first strong indication that they had visually recorded speech. For Richard Diehl of the University of Alabama, the discovery announced in the journal Science amounted to rock-solid proof that the Olmecs had a form of writing, Diehl has believed all along that the Olmecs possessed the ability to write and discovery of the stone corroborates my gut feelings. Thats full-blown, legitimate text—written symbols taking the place of words, said Saturno. Mary Pohl at Florida State University is an expert on the Olmec and she said One sign looks actually like a corn cob with silk coming out the top. Other signs are unique, and never seen, like one of an insect. And all of this is occurring in the context of the emergence of early kings, david Stuart, a University of Texas at Austin expert in Mesoamerican writing, was not connected with the discovery, but reviewed the study for Science. He said To me, this really does bring us back to this idea that at least writing. Lisa LeCount, a professor of archaeology at the University of Alabama, theorized that, if it is a crown
12.
Olmec
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The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Guatemala and Mexico following a progressive development in Soconusco and modern southwestern pacific lowlands of Guatemala. They lived in the lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz. It has been speculated that Olmec derive in part from neighboring Mokaya and/or Mixe–Zoque, the population of the Olmecs flourished during Mesoamericas formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed, among other firsts, the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, the Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient Americas most striking, the name Olmec comes from the Nahuatl word for the Olmecs, Ōlmēcatl or Ōlmēcah. This word is composed of the two words ōlli, meaning rubber, and mēcatl, meaning people, so the word means rubber people, the Olmec heartland is the area in the Gulf lowlands where it expanded after early development in Soconusco. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, the Tuxtlas Mountains rise sharply in the north, along the Gulf of Mexicos Bay of Campeche. Here the Olmec constructed permanent city-temple complexes at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, in this region, the first Mesoamerican civilization emerged and reigned from c. The beginnings of Olmec civilization have traditionally been placed between 1400 and 1200 BCE, past finds of Olmec remains ritually deposited at El Manati shrine moved this back to at least 1600–1500 BCE. It seems that the Olmec had their roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco and these shared the same basic food crops and technologies of the later Olmec civilization. What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, the rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization, the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys and this highly productive environment encouraged a densely concentrated population, which in turn triggered the rise of an elite class. The elite class created the demand for the production of the symbolic, the state of Guerrero, and in particular its early Mezcala culture, seem to have played an important role in the early history of Olmec culture. Olmec-style artifacts tend to appear earlier in some parts of Guerrero than in the Veracruz-Tabasco area, in particular, the relevant objects from the Amuco-Abelino site in Guerrero reveal dates as early as 1530 BC. The city of Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero is also relevant in this regard, the first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers
13.
Amate
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Amate is a type of bark paper that has been manufactured in Mexico since the precontact times. It was used primarily to create codices, Amate paper production never completely died, nor did the rituals associated with it. It remained strongest in the rugged, remote areas of northern Puebla. Spiritual leaders in the village of San Pablito, Puebla were described as producing paper with magical properties. Foreign academics began studying this use of amate in the mid-20th century. Through this and other innovations, amate paper is one of the most widely available Mexican indigenous handicrafts, Amate paper has a long history. The development of paper in Mesoamerica parallels that of China and Egypt and it is not known exactly where or when paper making began in Mesoamerica. The oldest known amate paper dates back to 75 CE and it was discovered at the site of Huitzilapa, Jalisco. Huitzilapa is a shaft tomb culture site located northwest of Tequila Volcano near the town of Magdalena, the crumpled piece of paper was found in the southern chamber of the sites shaft tomb, possibly associated with a male scribe. Rather than being produced from Trema micrantha, from which modern amate is made, iconography dating from the period contains depictions of items thought to be paper. For example, Monument 52 from the Olmec site of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán illustrates an individual adorned with ear pennants of folded paper. The oldest known surviving book made from amate paper may be the Grolier Codex, arguments from the 1940s to the 1970s have centered on a time of 300 CE of the use of bark clothing by the Maya people. Ethnolinguistic studies lead to the names of two villages in Maya territory that relate the use of paper, Excachaché and Yokzachuún. Anthropologist Marion mentions that in Lacandones, in Chiapas, the Maya were still manufacturing and using bark clothing in the 1980s, however, according researcher Hans Lenz, this Maya paper was likely not the amate paper known in later Mesoamerica. The Mayan language word for book is hun, Amate paper was used most extensively during the Triple Alliance Empire. This paper was manufactured in over 40 villages in territory controlled by the Aztecs and this amounted to about 480,000 sheets annually. Most of the production was concentrated in the state of Morelos. This paper was assigned to the sector, to be used as gifts on special occasions or as rewards for warriors
14.
Science (journal)
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Science, also widely referred to as Science Magazine, is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and one of the worlds top academic journals. It was first published in 1880, is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve an audience, its estimated readership is 570,400 people. Unlike most scientific journals, which focus on a field, Science. According to the Journal Citation Reports, Sciences 2015 impact factor was 34.661, although it is the journal of the AAAS, membership in the AAAS is not required to publish in Science. Papers are accepted from authors around the world, competition to publish in Science is very intense, as an article published in such a highly cited journal can lead to attention and career advancement for the authors. Fewer than 7% of articles submitted are accepted for publication, Science is based in Washington, D. C. United States, with an office in Cambridge, England. Science was founded by New York journalist John Michels in 1880 with financial support from Thomas Edison, however, the journal never gained enough subscribers to succeed and ended publication in March 1882. Entomologist Samuel H. Scudder resurrected the journal one year later and had some success while covering the meetings of prominent American scientific societies, however, by 1894, Science was again in financial difficulty and was sold to psychologist James McKeen Cattell for $500. In an agreement worked out by Cattell and AAAS secretary Leland O. Howard, after Cattell died in 1944, the ownership of the journal was transferred to the AAAS. After Cattells death in 1944, the journal lacked a consistent editorial presence until Graham DuShane became editor in 1956. In 1958, under DuShanes leadership, Science absorbed The Scientific Monthly, physicist Philip Abelson, a co-discoverer of neptunium, served as editor from 1962 to 1984. Under Abelson the efficiency of the process was improved and the publication practices were brought up to date. During this time, papers on the Apollo program missions and some of the earliest reports on AIDS were published, biochemist Daniel E. Koshland, Jr. served as editor from 1985 until 1995. From 1995 until 2000, neuroscientist Floyd E. Bloom held that position, biologist Donald Kennedy became the editor of Science in 2000. Biochemist Bruce Alberts took his place in March 2008, geophysicist Marcia McNutt became editor-in-chief in June 2013. During her tenure the family of journals expanded to include Science Robotics and Science Immunology, jeremy M. Berg became editor-in-chief on July 1,2016
15.
Serpentinite
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Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration, the mineral alteration is particularly important at the sea floor at tectonic plate boundaries. Serpentinization is a geological low-temperature metamorphic process involving heat and water in which low-silica mafic and ultramafic rocks are oxidized and hydrolyzed with water into serpentinite. Peridotite, including dunite, at and near the seafloor and in mountain belts is converted to serpentine, brucite, magnetite, and other minerals — some rare, such as awaruite, and even native iron. In the process large amounts of water are absorbed into the increasing the volume. The density changes from 3.3 to 2.7 g/cm3 with a concurrent volume increase on the order of 30-40%, the reaction is highly exothermic and rock temperatures can be raised by about 260 °C, providing an energy source for formation of non-volcanic hydrothermal vents. The magnetite-forming chemical reactions produce hydrogen gas under anaerobic conditions prevailing deep in the mantle, carbonates and sulfates are subsequently reduced by hydrogen and form methane and hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen, methane, and hydrogen sulfide provide energy sources for deep sea chemotroph microorganisms, serpentinite is formed from olivine via several reactions, some of which are complementary. Olivine is a solution between the magnesium-endmember forsterite and the iron-endmember fayalite. Serpentinite reaction 1a and 1b, below, exchange silica between forsterite and fayalite to form serpentine group minerals and magnetite, Reaction 1c describes the hydration of olivine with water only to yield serpentine and Mg2. Talc and magnesian chlorite are possible products, together with the serpentine minerals antigorite, lizardite, the final mineralogy depends both on rock and fluid compositions, temperature, and pressure. Antigorite forms in reactions at temperatures that can exceed 600 °C during metamorphism, lizardite and chrysotile can form at low temperatures very near the Earths surface. In the presence of carbon dioxide, however, serpentinitization may form either magnesite or generate methane and it is thought that some hydrocarbon gases may be produced by serpentinite reactions within the oceanic crust. Or, in balanced form, Reaction 2a is favored if the serpentinite is Mg-poor or if there isnt enough carbon dioxide to promote talc formation, Reaction 2b is favored in highly magnesian compositions and low partial pressure of carbon dioxide. If an olivine composition contains sufficient fayalite, then olivine plus water can completely metamorphose to serpentine, serpentinitization of a mass of peridotite usually destroys all previous textural evidence because the serpentine minerals are weak and behave in a very ductile fashion. Serpentine is the product of the reaction between water and fayalites ferrous ions, the process is effected by bacteria under anaerobic conditions. The two unoxidised ferrous ions still available in the three units of fayalite finally combine with the four ferric cations and oxide anions to form two formula units of magnetite. Serpentinization has been proposed as an alternative source for the observed methane traces
16.
Olmec heartland
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It is today, as it was during the height of the Olmec civilization, a tropical lowland forest environment, crossed by meandering rivers. Most researchers consider the Olmec heartland to be the home of the Olmec culture which became widespread over Mesoamerica from 1400 BCE until roughly 400 BCE, the area is also referred to as Olman or the Olmec Metropolitan Zone. The major heartland sites are, San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán La Venta Tres Zapotes Laguna de los Cerros - the least researched, smaller sites include, El Manatí, an Olmec sacrificial bog. El Azuzul, on the edge of the San Lorenzo area. Important heartland finds not associated with any archaeological site include, The Wrestler, las Limas Monument 1, found by two children looking for somewhere to crack nuts. San Martín Pajapan Monument 1, found high on the slopes of San Martin Pajapan, Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures List of archaeological sites in Veracruz Coe, Michael D. The Olmec Heartland, Evolution of Ideology in Robert J. Sharer and David Grove, Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, Cambridge University Press, the Olmecs, Americas First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London, ISBN 978-0-500-28503-9. Kubler, George The Art and Architecture of Ancient America, The Mexican, Maya and Andean Peoples, Pelican History of Art, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-05325-8
17.
Common Era
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Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
18.
Glyph
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In typography, a glyph /ˈɡlɪf/ is an elemental symbol within an agreed set of symbols, intended to represent a readable character for the purposes of writing. In Turkish, however, it is not a glyph because that language has two versions of the letter i, with and without a dot. In Japanese syllabaries, a number of the characters are made up of more than one separate mark, however, in some cases, additional marks fulfill the role of diacritics, to differentiate distinct characters. In general, a diacritic is a glyph, even if it is contiguous with the rest of the character, two or more glyphs which have the same significance, whether used interchangeably or chosen depending on context, are called allographs of each other. The term has been used in English since 1727, borrowed from glyphe, from the Greek γλυφή, glyphē, carving, and the verb γλύφειν, glýphein, to hollow out, engrave, carve. The word glyph first came to widespread European attention with the engravings, in archaeology, a glyph is a carved or inscribed symbol. It may be a pictogram or ideogram, or part of a system such as a syllable. In 1897 Dana Evans discovered glyphs written on rocks in the Colorado Desert and these ancient characters have been called the most enlightening discovery in Native American History in the 19th Century. In typography, a glyph has a different definition, it is the specific shape, design. The same is true in computing, in computing as well as typography, the term character refers to a grapheme or grapheme-like unit of text, as found in natural language writing systems. The range of glyphs required increases correspondingly, in summary, in typography and computing, a glyph is a graphical unit. In graphonomics, the glyph is used for a noncharacter. Most typographic glyphs originate from the characters of a typeface, in the mobile text input technologies, Glyph is a family of text input methods based on the decomposition of letters into basic shapes. In role-playing games, the glyph is sometimes used alongside the word rune in describing magical drawings or etchings. Runes often refer to placing the image on an object or person to empower it, whereas the magic in a glyph lies dormant and is only triggered when the glyph is read or approached
19.
Zapotec civilization
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The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture goes back at least 2,500 years, the Zapotec left archaeological evidence at the ancient city of Monte Albán in the form of buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Albán was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica, Zapotec civilization had its beginnings in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in the late 6th Century BC. The three valleys were divided between three different-sized societies, separated by 80 km2 “no-man’s-land” in the middle, today occupied by the city of Oaxaca, archaeological evidence from the period, such as burned temples and sacrificed captives, suggest that the three societies competed against each other. At the end of the Rosario phase the valleys largest settlement San José Mogote, during the same period a new large settlement emerged in the “no-man’s-land”. That settlement, which was constructed on top of a mountain overlooking the three Central valleys was Monte Albán, similarities between the pottery of San José Mogote and at early Monte Albán indicate that the people who populated Monte Albán were the same ones who had left San José Mogote. The Zapotec state formed at Monte Albán began an expansion during the late Monte Alban 1 phase, Zapotec rulers seized control over the provinces outside the valley of Oaxaca. They were able to do this during Monte Alban 1c to Monte Alban 2 because none of the provinces could compete with the valley of Oaxaca both politically and militarily. By 200 AD the Zapotecs had extended their influence, from Quiotepec in the North to Ocelotepec and Chiltepec in the South, Monte Albán had become the largest city in what are today the southern Mexican highlands, and retained this status until approximately 700 AD. The expansion of the Zapotec empire peaked during the Monte Alban II phase, Zapotecs conquered or colonized settlements far beyond The Valley of Oaxaca. Most notably, this expansion is visible in the change of ceramics found in regions outside the valley. These regions own unique styles were replaced with Zapotec style pottery. What today is referred to as building J, is shaped like an arrowhead, the glyphs have been interpreted by archaeologists to represent the provinces that were controlled by the Zapotecs of Monte Albán. In addition, each group also depicts a head with an elaborate head dress carved into the slabs. These are assumed to illustrate the rulers of the provinces who were taken over, small polities, seeing that resistance would be futile, may accept a face-saving offer. Larger polities unwilling to lose their autonomy may have to be subdued militarily, during the expansion of Monte Alban 2 state, we think we see both colonization and conquest. The name Zapotec is an exonym coming from Nahuatl tzapotēcah, which inhabitants of the place of sapote. The Zapotec referred to themselves by some variant of the term Beenaa, the Zapotec languages belong to a language family called Oto-manguean, an ancient family of Mesoamerican languages
20.
Mesoamerican chronology
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Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods, the Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Preclassic or Formative, the Classic, and the Postclassic. However, this applies to other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations as well. 3500-2000 BCE During the Archaic Era agriculture was developed in the region, Late in this era, use of pottery and loom weaving became common, and class divisions began to appear. Many of the technologies of Mesoamerica in terms of stone-grinding, drilling. 1800 BCE–200 CE During the Preclassic Era, or Formative Period, large-scale ceremonial architecture, writing, cities, the Olmec civilization developed and flourished at such sites as La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. 200–1000 CE The Classic Era was dominated by numerous independent city-states in the Maya region and also featured the beginnings of political unity in central Mexico, regional differences between cultures grew more manifest. The city-state of Monte Albán dominated the Valley of Oaxaca until the late Classic, highly sophisticated arts such as stuccowork, architecture, sculptural reliefs, mural painting, pottery, and lapidary developed and spread during the Classic era. In the Maya region, numerous city states such as Tikal, Calakmul, Copán, Palenque, Uxmal, Cobá, each of these polities was generally independent, although they often formed alliances and sometimes became vassal states of each other. The main conflict during this period was between Tikal and Calakmul, who fought a series of wars over the course of more than half a millennium, each of these states declined during the Terminal Classic and were eventually abandoned. This is sometimes seen as a period of increased chaos and warfare, the Postclassic is often viewed as a period of cultural decline. However, it was a time of technological advancement in architecture, engineering, metallurgy came into use for jewelry and some tools, with new alloys and techniques being developed in a few centuries. The Postclassic was a period of rapid movement and population growth — especially in Central Mexico post-1200 —, for instance, in Yucatán, dual rulership apparently replaced the more theocratic governments of Classic times, whilst oligarchic councils operated in much of Central Mexico. Likewise, it appears that the wealthy pochteca and military orders became more powerful than was apparently the case in Classic times and this afforded some Mesoamericans a degree of social mobility. The Toltec for a time dominated central Mexico in the 11th–13th century, the northern Maya were for a time united under Mayapan, and Oaxaca was briefly united by Mixtec rulers in the 11th–12th centuries. The Aztec Empire arose in the early 15th century and appeared to be on a path to asserting dominance over the Valley of Mexico region not seen since Teotihuacan. Spain was the first European power to contact Mesoamerica, however, and its conquistadores, by the 15th century, the Mayan revival in Yucatán and southern Guatemala and the flourishing of Aztec imperialism evidently enabled a renaissance of fine arts and science. Examples include the Pueblan-Mexica style in pottery, codex illumination, and goldwork, the flourishing of Nahua poetry, arguably, the Post-Classic continued until the conquest of the last independent native state of Mesoamerica, Tayasal, in 1697. Mesoamerican civilization was a network of different cultures
21.
Oaxaca
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Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, make up the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 are governed by the system of Usos y costumbres with recognized forms of self governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca is located in Southwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north, to the south, Oaxaca has a significant coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The state is best known for its indigenous peoples and cultures, the most numerous and best known are the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, but there are sixteen that are officially recognized. These cultures have survived better than most others in Mexico due to the states rugged, most live in the Central Valleys region, which is also an important area for tourism, attracting people for its archeological sites such as Monte Albán, native culture and crafts. Another important tourist area is the coast, which has the major resort of Huatulco, Oaxaca is also one of the most biologically diverse states in Mexico, ranking in the top three, along with Chiapas and Veracruz, for numbers of reptiles, amphibians, mammals and plants. The name of the state comes from the name of its capital city and this name comes from the Nahuatl word Huaxyacac, which refers to a tree called a guaje found around the capital city. The name was applied to the Valley of Oaxaca by Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs. The modern state was created in 1824, and the seal was designed by Alfredo Canseco Feraud. Nahuatl word Huaxyacac was transliterated as Oaxaca using Medieval Spanish orthography, in which the x represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative, however, during the sixteenth century the voiceless fricative sound evolved into a voiceless velar fricative, and Oaxaca began to be pronounced. Most of what is known about pre-historic Oaxaca comes from work in the Central Valleys region, evidence of human habitation dating back to about 11,000 years BC has been found in the Guilá Naquitz cave near the town of Mitla. More finds of nomadic peoples date back to about 5000 BC, by 2000 BC, agriculture had been established in the Central Valleys region of the state, with sedentary villages. The diet developed around this time would remain until the Spanish Conquest, consisting primarily of harvested corn, beans, chocolate, tomatoes, chili peppers, squash, meat was generally hunted and included tepescuintle, turkey, deer, peccary, armadillo and iguana. The oldest known settlements, such as Yanhuitlán and Laguna Zope are located in this area as well. The latter settlement is known for its small figures called pretty women or baby face, between 1200 and 900 BC, pottery was being produced in the area as well. This pottery has been linked with work done in La Victoria. Other important settlements from the time period include Tierras Largas, San José Mogote and Guadalupe
22.
La Mojarra Stela 1
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La Mojarra Stela 1 is a Mesoamerican carved monument dating from the 2nd century CE. It was discovered in 1986, pulled from the Acula River near La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico, the 4 1⁄2-foot-wide by 6 1⁄2-foot-high, four-ton limestone slab contains about 535 glyphs of the Isthmian script. The right side of the features a full-length portrait of a man in an elaborate headdress and costume. Above the figure,12 short columns of glyphs have been etched into the stone, among these glyphs are two Mesoamerican Long Count calendar dates which correspond to May 143 CE and July 156 CE. The monument is an example of the type of stela which later became common commemorating rulers of Maya sites in the Classic era. The figure engraved onto Stela 1 is complex and not easily interpreted, pool describes the figure as follows, Prof. Philip Arnold has tentatively identified the stylized sharks as the Olmec Fish/Shark Monster, a symbol of rulership. According to Mary Ellen Miller, the figure wears the headdress of the Principal Bird Deity, Bird deities were often featured on stelae of this period, and can be seen on Izapa Stela 4 as well on monuments at Kaminaljuyu, Takalik Abaj, and Zaculeu. The Tuxtla Statuette, a small 6-inch-high greenstone sculpture, also portrays a human dressed as a bird and it comes from the same culture and period as Stela 1, and both feature Isthmian script glyphs. These two artifacts were found roughly 70 km apart and their Long Count dates are separated by only 6 years and they may even refer to the same person. For some years after discovery, the monument was in storage in the Museo de Antropología in Xalapa, in November 1995, as the monument was being prepared for display, a previously neglected series of glyphs was noticed on one side in eroded but still partially recognizable condition. In 1993, and again in 1997, after discovery of the new column of glyphs, John Justeson and this decipherment has been disputed by Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston, among others. Resolution of this debate will likely need to further archaeological discoveries. Detail showing one of the two Long Count dates, the Shark-Monster in Olmec Iconography, in Mesoamerican Voices,2005, v.2. Diehl, Richard Mojarra, La, in Evans, Susan, ed. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America, Taylor & Francis, London. Guernsey, Julia Ritual and Power in Stone, The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art, University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, a Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1, a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment. Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing, Kaufman, Terrence Early Mesoamerican Writing Systems on University of Pittsburgh Department of Anthropology website. Koontz, Rex, Annabeth Headrick, Kathryn Reese-Taylor Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, pool, Christopher Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-78882-3. Schuster, Angela M. H. Epi-Olmec Decipherment in Archaeology, online
23.
Isthmian script
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The Isthmian script is a very early Mesoamerican writing system in use in the area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from perhaps 500 BCE to 500 CE, although there is disagreement on these dates. It is also called the La Mojarra script and the Epi-Olmec script, Isthmian script is structurally similar to the Maya script, and like Maya uses one set of characters to represent logograms and a second set to represent syllables. Approximately 23 glyphs on the OBoyle mask, an artifact in a private collection of unknown provenance. A small number of glyphs on a pottery-sherd from Chiapa de Corzo and this sherd has been assigned the oldest date of any Isthmian script artifact, 450-300 BCE. This led to a Guggenheim Fellowship for their work, in 2003, the matter is still under discussion. What it needs, more urgently than some other decipherments given its evident linguistic sophistication, is the discovery of a new text or texts as substantial as the one found at La Mojarra in 1986, the Olmecs, Americas First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London. Houston, Stephen, and Michael Coe Has Isthmian Writing Been Deciphered, Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman, A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing in Science, Vol.259,19 March 1993, pp. 1703–11. Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1, Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts. Lo, Lawrence, Epi-Olmec, at Ancient Scripts. com, pérez de Lara, Jorge, and John Justeson Photographic Documentation of Monuments with Epi-Olmec Script/Imagery, Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies. Robinson, Andrew Lost Languages, The Enigma of the Worlds Undeciphered Scripts, Thames & Hudson, schuster, Angela M. H. Epi-Olmec Decipherment in Archaeology, online. Photographic Documentation of Monuments with Epi-Olmec Script/Imagery from the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, High resolution image of the Isthmian glyph table Tuxtla Statuette photograph Drawing of La Mojarra Stela 1 High resolution photo of the Coe/Houston Mask
24.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
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The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route. The name is taken from the town of Santo Domingo Tehuantepec in the state of Oaxaca, the isthmus includes the part of Mexico lying between the 94th and 96th meridians west longitude, or the southeastern parts of Veracruz and Oaxaca, including small areas of Chiapas and Tabasco. The states of Tabasco and Chiapas are east of the isthmus, with Veracruz, at its narrowest point, the isthmus is 200 km across from gulf to gulf, or 192 km to the head of Laguna Superior on the Pacific coast. The Sierra Madre breaks down at this point into a broad, plateau-like ridge, whose elevation, the northern side of the isthmus is swampy and densely covered with jungle, which has been a greater obstacle to railway construction than the grades in crossing the sierra. The whole region is hot and malarial, except for the open elevations, the annual rainfall on the Atlantic or northern slope is 3,960 mm and the maximum temperature about 35 degrees Celsius in the shade. The Pacific slope has a light rainfall and dryer climate, the narrowness of the isthmus, and the gap in the Sierra Madre, allow the trade winds from the Gulf of Mexico to blow through to the Pacific. This wind is known as the Tehuano, the region has one of the best wind resources in Mexico, with several wind farms. The population is composed almost wholly of indigenous Zapotec peoples, the women are the traders in Tehuantepec and do little menial work. The cuisine of the region is based upon traditional foods and ingredients, dishes may range from simple to elaborate, most dishes incorporate maize and moles. Common items include tamales made with iguana, chicken, beef or armadillo, guetabingui, Garnachas topped with dried queso Oaxaca, and pozol, a maize-based soup. Since the days of Hernán Cortés, the Tehuantepec isthmus has been considered a favorable route, first for an interoceanic canal and its proximity to the axis of international trade gives it some advantage over the Panama route. The Isthmus of Panama, however, is narrower, making for a shorter traversal. The 1853 Gadsden Purchase treaty included a provision allowing the U. S. to transport mail and trade goods across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec via a plank road and railroad. The 1859 McLane-Ocampo Treaty, which Benito Juárez signed but was never ratified by the United States Congress, when the great cost of a canal across the isthmus compelled engineers and capitalists to give it up as impracticable, James B. Eads proposed to construct a quadruple track ship-railway, and the scheme received serious attention for some time, then came projects for an ordinary railway, and several concessions were granted by the Mexican government for this purpose from 1857 to 1882. In the latter year the Mexican government resolved to undertake the construction on its own account. In 1888 this contract was rescinded, after 108 km of road had been completed, the next contract was fruitless because of the death of the contractor, and the third failed to complete the work within the sum specified
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Tuxtla Statuette
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The Tuxtla Statuette is a small 6.3 inch rounded greenstone figurine, carved to resemble a squat, bullet-shaped human with a duck-like bill and wings. Most researchers believe the statuette represents a shaman wearing a bird mask and it is incised with 75 glyphs of the Epi-Olmec or Isthmian script, one of the few extant examples of this very early Mesoamerican writing system. The human face carved into the stone is unremarkable except for the bill that extends down his chest. This bill has been identified as belonging to the boat-billed heron, raised wings or a wing-like cape envelop the body while feet have been incised into the base. The Tuxtla Statuette is particularly notable in that its glyphs include the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar date of March 162 CE, which in 1902 was the oldest Long Count date discovered. A product of the century of the Epi-Olmec culture, the statuette is from the same region and period as La Mojarra Stela 1. Similarities between the Tuxtla Statuette and Cerro de las Mesas Monument 5, a boulder carved to represent a figure with a duckbill-like buccal mask, have also been noted. The Tuxtla Statuette was discovered in 1902 by a farmer plowing his field in the west foothills of the Tuxtlas mountains in the Mexican state of Veracruz and it was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution shortly thereafter, reputedly smuggled into New York hidden in a shipment of tobacco leaf. At the time, several Mayanists including Sylvanus Morley, could not believe that the statuette pre-dated the Maya and suggested that the date, however, later discoveries, such as La Mojarra Stela 1 and Tres Zapotes Stela C, confirmed the antiquity of the statuette. The Tuxtla Statuette is in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. It was on loan for exhibit in 50 Years of Pre-Columbian Art, January 15,2013 - January 5,2014 at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, photo of boat-billed heron looking quite similar to the Tuxtla Statuette
26.
Maya calendar
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The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in use throughout the region. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, the Maya calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Tzolkin, the Tzolkin was combined with a 365-day vague solar year known as the Haab to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haab, called the Calendar Round. The Calendar Round is still in use by groups in the Guatemalan highlands. A different calendar was used to longer periods of time. It is a count of days since a mythological starting-point, the GMT correlation was chosen by John Eric Sydney Thompson in 1935 on the basis of earlier correlations by Joseph Goodman in 1905, Juan Martínez Hernández in 1926 and Thompson himself in 1927. By its linear nature, the Long Count was capable of being extended to refer to any date far into the past or future and this calendar involved the use of a positional notation system, in which each position signified an increasing multiple of the number of days. The Maya numeral system was vigesimal, and each unit of a given position represented 20 times the unit of the position which preceded it. An important exception was made for the place value, which instead represented 18 ×20, or 360 days. It should be noted however that the cycles of the Long Count are independent of the solar year, less-prevalent or poorly understood cycles, combinations and calendar progressions were also tracked. An 819-day Count is attested in a few inscriptions, repeating sets of 9 days associated with different groups of deities, animals, and other significant concepts are also known. The tzolkin is the commonly employed by Mayanist researchers for the Maya Sacred Round or 260-day calendar. The word tzolkin is a neologism coined in Yucatec Maya, to mean count of days, the various names of this calendar as used by precolumbian Maya peoples are still debated by scholars. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called Tonalpohualli, in the Nahuatl language, the tzolkin calendar combines twenty day names with the thirteen day numbers to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events, Each successive day is numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this, every day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names, Some systems started the count with 1 Imix, followed by 2 Ik,3 Akbal, etc. up to 13 Ben. The day numbers then start again at 1 while the sequence continues onwards, so the next days in the sequence are 1 Ix,2 Men,3 Kib,4 Kaban,5 Etznab,6 Kawak
27.
Takalik Abaj
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Takalik Abaj is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Guatemala. It was formerly known as Abaj Takalik, its ancient name may have been Kooja and it is one of several Mesoamerican sites with both Olmec and Maya features. Investigations have revealed that it is one of the largest sites with sculptured monuments on the Pacific coastal plain, Olmec-style sculptures include a possible colossal head, petroglyphs and others. The site has one of the greatest concentrations of Olmec-style sculpture outside of the Gulf of Mexico, Takalik Abaj is representative of the first blossoming of Maya culture that had occurred by about 400 BC. The site includes a Maya royal tomb and examples of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions that are among the earliest from the Maya region, excavation is continuing at the site, the monumental architecture and persistent tradition of sculpture in a variety of styles suggest the site was of some importance. Finds from the site indicate contact with the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, Takalik Abaj was a sizeable city with the principal architecture clustered into four main groups spread across nine terraces. While some of these were features, others were artificial constructions requiring an enormous investment in labour. The site featured a water drainage system and a wealth of sculptured monuments. Takalik Abaj means standing stone in the local Kiche Maya language, combining the adjective takalik meaning standing, and it was initially named Abaj Takalik by the American archaeologist Suzanna Miles, using Spanish word order. This was grammatically incorrect in Kiche, the Guatemalan government has now officially corrected this to Takalik Abaj. Anthropologist Ruud Van Akkeren has proposed that the ancient name of the city was Kooja, the site lies in the southwest of Guatemala, about 45 km from the border with the Mexican state of Chiapas and 40 km from the Pacific Ocean. Takalik Abaj is located in the north of the municipality of El Asintal, in the north of Retalhuleu department. The site lies among five coffee plantations in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains. Takalik Abaj sits upon a ridge running north–south, descending in a southwards direction and this ridge is bordered on the west by the Nimá River and on the east by the Ixchayá River, both flowing down from the Guatemalan Highlands. The Ixchayá flows in a deep ravine but a crossing point is located near to the site. The situation of Takalik Abaj at this point was probably important in the founding of the city, since this channeled important trade routes through the site. Takalik Abaj sits at an altitude of approximately 600 metres above sea level in an ecoregion classed as subtropical moist forest, the temperature normally varies between 21 and 25 °C and the potential evapotranspiration ratio averages 0.45. The area receives high rainfall, varying between 2,136 and 4,372 millimetres, with an average annual rainfall of 3,284 millimetres
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Kaminaljuyu
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Kaminaljuyu is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization that was primarily occupied from 1500 BC to AD1200. When first mapped scientifically, it comprised some 200 platforms and pyramidal mounds, debate continues about the size, scale, and degree by which, as an economic and political entity, it integrated both the immediate Valley of Guatemala and the Southern Maya area. The known parts of Kaminaljuyu lie on a broad plain beneath roughly the third of modern Guatemala City. The Valley of Guatemala is surrounded by hills which culminate in a string of lofty volcanoes to the south, at an altitude of about 2000 m above sea level, the climate is temperate. The Kaminaljuyu site was largely swallowed up by real estate developments in the late 20th century, because of these factors, the true size and scale of Kaminaljuyu is likely to be never known. The state of destruction and the almost daily erasure of archaeological context underscore the many mysteries, in addition to size and scale, that likely will remain unanswered about Kaminaljuyu. Principally these questions are posed about the role of the city as the greatest of the Southern Maya area in Preclassic times, particularly during the Miraflores period, c. 400–100 BC, the SMA is long believed from much and diverse evidence to have been seminal in the development of Maya civilization, over the past 100 years, more than fifty archaeological projects, large and small, have been mounted at Kaminaljuyu. In addition to excavations, scholars such as Alfred Maudslay and Samuel K. Lothrop have recorded sculpture, in 1925 Manuel Gamio undertook limited excavations, finding deep cultural deposits yielding potsherds and clay figurines from what later was called the Middle Cultures of Mesoamerica. J. Antonio Villacorta C. the Minister of Public Education in Guatemala City, requested archaeologists Alfred Kidder, Jesse Jennings, Villacorta gave the site its name from a Kiche word meaning mounds of the ancestors. Two extraordinarily rich royal tombs were found within the edifices, probably representing consecutive rulers during the Miraflores Preclassic apogee of Kaminaljuyu, in the early 1950s Heinrich Berlin excavated a large mound in the ancient Preclassic core of the city. In the 1960s Pennsylvania State University undertook extensive excavations at Kaminaljuyu, under the direction of William Sanders, more recently, the debate was rejoined with discoveries along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico and in Guatemala that greatly antedate developments in the Lowlands. This reflected their conclusion about the antiquity of developments at Kaminaljuyu. Cultures of this phase had an agricultural community organized probably as a simple chiefdom. With Inomata, et als revision in mind, the first significant settlement dates to the Arévalo phase, 900-800 BC, with indications of dense populations no later than c.400 BC. By the end of the Las Charcas culture, Kaminaljuyu was developing religious, the architecture of Middle Preclassic structures consisted of hardened adobe bricks that served, later, as foundations for raised platforms and pyramidal temples. Excavations indicate that early in the Middle Preclassic the community was large enough to produce heavy refuse deposits. Cotton was grown as well as maize, palaeobotanical research also has identified annonas, avocados, cacao, black beans, palm nuts, plums, arboriculture developed - with groves of crop trees grown in terraces down to the edges of great ravines
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Izapa
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Izapa is a very large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Chiapas, it was occupied during the Late Formative period. The site is situated on the Izapa River, a tributary of the Suchiate River, near the base of the Tacaná volcano, the settlement at Izapa extended over 1.4 miles, making it the largest site in Chiapas. Izapa remained occupied through the Late Classic period, the period of Izapa’s height is still unknown due to little material for carbon dating, so the issue is still widely debated. Izapa is located on wet and hilly land made of volcanic soil, the weather is very hot and very wet. The area around Izapa was a major producing area known as the Soconusco region. Izapa was a site that included extensive monuments and architecture. The site had eight groups of mounds with between 80 and 130 total mounds, of which about half have been restored. Group F is at the end of the site, Groups A, B, C, D, G. From north to south, the site is about 1.5 km long. The core area of Izapa is formed by Groups A to E, G and H, group F contains a ballcourt amongst other structures, and corresponds to the late occupational phase of the site. Izapa’s architecture makes up roughly 250,000 cubic meters when combined, the site included pyramids, sculptured plazas and squares, and possibly two ball courts. There are two open areas that resemble ball courts found at other Mesoamerican sites, but it is unclear if these two courts were used for the ballgame. Mound 30A was where a stepped pyramid was built and this pyramid was around ten meters high and probably used for religious and ceremonial purposes. Like many Mesoamerican sites, Izapa is laid out just east of true north and it is aligned with the volcano Tacaná and also seems to be situated to the December solstice horizon. Michael Coe describes Izapa as being a link between the Olmec and the early Maya. Other archaeologists argue that there is not yet known to support Coe. Virginia Smith argues that Izapan art is too unique and different in style to be the result of Olmec influence or the precursor to Maya art, Smith says that Izapan art is very site specific and did not spread far from the site. Izapan art most likely did indirectly influence Maya art, though it would just be one of the influences on the Maya
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Palenque
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Palenque, also anciently known as Lakamha, was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca.226 BC to ca and it is located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, about 130 km south of Ciudad del Carmen,150 m above sea level. It averages a humid 26 °C with roughly 2160 mm of rain a year, the most famous ruler of Palenque was Kinich Janaab Pakal, or Pacal the Great, whose tomb has been found and excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions. By 2005, the area covered up to 2.5 km². Mythological beings used a variety of glyphs in their titles indeed suggests a complex early history. For instance, Kuk Bahlam, the founder of the Palenque dynasty, is called a Toktan Ajaw in the text of the Temple of the Foliated Cross. The famous structures that we know today probably represent an effort in response to the attacks by the city of Calakmul. He is best known through his funerary monument, dubbed the Temple of Inscriptions after the text preserved in the temples superstructure. At the time Alberto Ruz Lhuillier excavated Pakals tomb it was the richest and best preserved of any scientifically excavated burial then known from the ancient Americas. It held this position until the discovery of the rich Moche burials at Sipan, Peru, the extensive iconography and textual corpus has also allowed for study of Classic period Maya mythology and ritual practice. After him, a king came to power, nicknamed Casper by archaeologists, the next two kings were probably Caspers sons. Little was known about the first of these, Butz Aj Sak Chiik, until 1994, the first tablet mentioned his successor Ahkal Mo Naab I as a teenage prince, and therefore it is believed that there was a family relation between them. For unknown reasons, Akhal Mo Naab I had great prestige, when Ahkal Mo Naab I died in 524, there was an interregnum of four years, before the following king was crowned en Toktán in 529. Kan Joy Chitam I governed for 36 years and his sons Ahkal Mo Naab II and Kan Balam I were the first kings who used the title Kinich, which means the great sun. This word was used also by later kings, Balam was succeeded in 583 by Yohl Iknal, who was supposedly his daughter. The inscriptions found in Palenque document a battle that occurred under her government in which troops from Calakmul invaded and sacked Palenque and these events took place in 599. A second victory by Calakmul occurred some years later, in 611, under the government of Aj Ne Yohl Mat. In this occasion, the king of Calakmul entered Palenque in person, consolidating a significant military disaster, Aj Ne Yohl Mat was to die in 612
31.
Naj Tunich
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Naj Tunich is a natural cave and an important archaeological site in Guatemala. The discovery of the Naj Tunich caves, in Poptún southern Peten, Guatemala, the investigation of the site throughout the 1980s and the attempt to understand its obvious importance was the catalyst that led to the formation of the field of Maya cave archaeology. Naj Tunich has dozens of texts and figures, as well as some handprints. Naj Tunich is the Maya term for cave and literally means house, because caves were conceived of as places where the gods lived. But among caves, Naj Tunich must always have been something extraordinary, during the Late Pre-Classic and Classic Maya era, Naj Tunich was an important pilgrimage center on at least a regional scale. Initially, the corpus of inscriptions and paintings located deep within the tunnel system received the greatest attention. In carrying out the survey of the cave, Dr. Andrea Stone and Dr. James Brady, undertook the task of recording each. In 1988, geologist George Veni found a previously unknown passage that dramatically increased the size of the cave, ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. Brady, James E. y Sandra Villagrán de Brady,1991 -La arqueología de la cueva Naj Tunich, en II Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala,1988, pp. 179–186. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala, Andrea Stone—Regional Variation in Maya Cave Art. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 59, 33-42, science News 1998 Vol 154 No.4 Maya Caves, Description and Gallery
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Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya
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Tikal
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Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. Ambrosio Tut, a gum-sapper, reported the ruins to La Gaceta, a Guatemalan newspaper, after the Berlin Academy of Sciences magazine republished the report in 1853, archeologists and treasure hunters began visiting the forest. Today, tourism to the site may protect the rainforest. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization and it is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemalas Tikal National Park, Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD, following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a population decline, culminating with the site’s abandonment by the end of the 10th century. The name Tikal may be derived from ti akal in the Yucatec Maya language, the name was apparently applied to one of the sites ancient reservoirs by hunters and travelers in the region. It has alternatively been interpreted as meaning the place of the voices in the Itza Maya language, Tikal, however, is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s. Hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as Yax Mutal or Yax Mutul, the kingdom as a whole was simply called Mutul, which is the reading of the hair bundle emblem glyph seen in the accompanying photo. The closest large modern settlements are Flores and Santa Elena, approximately 64 kilometres by road to the southwest, Tikal is approximately 303 kilometres north of Guatemala City. It is 19 kilometres south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and 30 kilometres northwest of Yaxha, the city was located 100 kilometres southeast of its great Classic Period rival, Calakmul, and 85 kilometres northwest of Calakmuls ally Caracol, now in Belize. The city has been mapped and covered an area greater than 16 square kilometres that included about 3,000 structures. The topography of the consists of a series of parallel limestone ridges rising above swampy lowlands. The major architecture of the site is clustered upon areas of higher ground, the area around Tikal has been declared as the Tikal National Park and the preserved area covers 570 square kilometres. The ruins lie among the tropical rainforests of northern Guatemala that formed the cradle of lowland Maya civilization, the city itself was located among abundant fertile upland soils, and may have dominated a natural east–west trade route across the Yucatan Peninsula. Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic kapok the sacred tree of the Maya, tropical cedar, jaguars, jaguarundis, and cougars are also said to roam in the park
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13th century
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 through 1300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Common Era. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages, 1202—Introduction of Liber Abaci by Fibonacci. 1202—Battle of Basian occurred on July 27, between Kingdom of Georgia and Seljuks, 1204—Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204 captures Zara for Venice and sacks Byzantine Constantinople, creating the Latin Empire. 1204—Fall of Normandy from Angevin hands to the French King, Philip Augustus, 1205—The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14,1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I, the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. 1206—Genghis Khan is declared Great Khan of the Mongols, 1213—France defeats the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon at the Battle of Muret. 1214—France defeats English and Imperial German forces at the Battle of Bouvines, 1215—King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede. 1217–1221—Fifth Crusade captures Egyptian Ayyubid port city of Damietta, ultimately the Crusaders withdraw, 1221—Venice signs a trade treaty with the Mongol Empire. 1222—Andrew II of Hungary signs the Golden Bull which affirms the privileges of Hungarian nobility, 1233—Battle of Ganter, Ken Arok defeated Kertajaya, the last king of Kediri, thus established Singhasari kingdom Ken Arok ended the reign of Isyana Dynasty and started his own Rajasa dynasty. 1223-The Signoria, of the Republic of Venice is formed and consists of the Doge, the Minor Council, 1223—The Mongol Empire defeats various Russian principalities at the Battle of the Kalka River. 1223-Volga Bulgaria defeats the army of The Mongol Empire at the Battle of Samara Bend 1227 - Estonians are finally subjugated to German crusader rule during the Livonian Crusade, 1228-1229—Sixth Crusade under the excommunicated Frederick II Hohenstaufen, who returns Jerusalem to the Crusader States. 1228-1230- First clash between Gregory IX and Frederick II, 1226-1250- Dispute between the so-called second Lombard League and Frederick II. 1232—The Mongols besiege Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty, 1239–1250—Third conflict between Holy Roman Empire–Papacy. 1238—Sukhothai was the first capital of Sukhothai Kingdom, 1241—Mongol Empire defeats Hungary at the Battle of Mohi and defeats Poland at the Battle of Legnica. 1242—Russians defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Lake Peipus, 1244—Ayyubids and Khwarezmians defeat the Crusaders and their Arab allies at the Battle of La Forbie. 1249—End of the Portuguese Reconquista against the Moors, when King Afonso III of Portugal reconquers the Algarve, 1248–1254—Seventh Crusade captures Egyptian Ayyubid port city of Damietta, Crusaders ultimately withdraw. 1257—Baab Mashur Malamo established The Kingdom of Ternate in Maluku, 1258—Baghdad captured and destroyed by the Mongols, effective conclusion of the Caliphate 1259—Treaty of Paris. 1260—Toluid Civil War begins between Kublai Khan and Ariq Böke for the title of Great Khan, 1261—Byzantines under Michael VIII retake Constantinople from the Crusaders and Venice. 1262—Iceland was brought under Norwegian rule, with the Old Covenant 1265—Dominican friar and theologian, 1268—Fall of the Crusader State of Antioch to the Mamelukes
35.
Mixtec
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The Mixtec region and the Mixtec peoples are traditionally divided into three groups, two based on their original economic caste and one based on the region they settled. High Mixtecs or mixteco alto were of the class and generally richer. In recent times, a reversal or equalizing has been seen. The third group is Coastal Mixtecs mixteco de la costa whose language is related to that of the Low Mixtecs, they currently inhabit the Pacific slope of Oaxaca. The Mixtec languages form a branch of the Otomanguean language family. In pre-Columbian times, a number of Mixtecan city states competed with each other, like the rest of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Mixtec were conquered by the Spanish invaders and their indigenous allies in the 16th century. Pre-Columbia Mixtecs numbered around 1.5 million, today there are approximately 800,000 Mixtec people in Mexico, and there are also large populations in the United States. The term Mixtec comes from the Nahuatl word mixtecah, cloud people, there are many names that the Mixtecs have for naming themselves, ñuù savi, nayívi savi, ñuù davi, nayivi davi. etc. This all denominations can be translated as people of the rain, the historic homeland of Mixtec people is La Mixteca, called in Mixtec language Ñuu Savi, Ñuu Djau, Ñuu Davi, etc. depending on the local variant. They call their language saan davi, daan davi or tuun savi, in pre-Columbian times, the Mixtec were one of the major civilizations of Mesoamerica. Important ancient centres of the Mixtec include the ancient capital of Tilantongo, as well as the sites of Achiutla, Cuilapan, Huajuapan, Mitla, Tlaxiaco, Tututepec, Juxtlahuaca, the Mixtec also made major constructions at the ancient city of Monte Albán. The work of Mixtec artisans who produced work in stone, wood, according to West, the Mixtec of Oaxaca. were the foremost goldsmiths of Mesoamerica, which included the lost-wax casting of gold and its alloys. At the height of the Aztec Empire, many Mixtecs paid tribute to the Aztecs and they put up resistance to Spanish rule until they were subdued by the Spanish and their central Mexican allies led by Pedro de Alvarado. Mixtecs have migrated to parts of both Mexico and the United States. In recent years a large exodus of indigenous peoples from Oaxaca, such as the Zapotec, as of 2011, an estimated 150,000 Mixteco people were living in California, and 25,000 to 30,000 in New York City. Large Mixtec communities exist in the cities of Tijuana, Baja California, San Diego, California and Tucson. Mixtec communities are generally described as trans-national or trans-border because of their ability to maintain, there is considerable documentation in the Mixtec native language for the colonial era, which has been studied as part of the New Philology. There is considerable Mixtec documentation for land issues, but sparse for market activity, long distance trade existed in the prehispanic era and continued in indigenous hands in the early colonial
36.
Mixtec writing
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Mixtec writing originated as a logographic writing system during the Post-Classic period in Mesoamerican history. Records of genealogy, historic events, and myths are found in the pre-Columbian Mixtec codices, the arrival of Europeans in 1520 AD caused changes in form, style, and the function of the Mixtec writings. The Mixtec are a people of Mesoamerica, located in the western region of the modern Mexican states of Oaxaca, eastern part of Guerrero. The history of the Mixtec people can be traced back to the Formative period, today the region is still populated by the Mixtec and Mixtecan speakers. The Mixtec language is part of the Otomanguean family of languages, Mixtec speakers arrived in Oaxaca, notably the Alta region, during the early Formative period, 1500-750 BCE. Agriculture formed the base for Mixtec civilization and agricultural villages have been dated to 1350 BCE, today Mixtec speakers are still found in Oaxaca and the neighboring regions of Puebla and Guerrero, though migration is spreading Mixtec speakers across Mexico and through the United States. The early Classic period,200 BCE –300 CE, found the Mixtec civilization becoming more complex, artifacts and architecture display function and status differences reflecting this system of hierarchy. Urban centers were developed, the first of these being the core settlement of Yucuita, Yucuita was the largest and most complex of the early Classic urban centers, and existed for 500 years. It has been believed to be the capital of the Mixtec states during this period. The late Classic period was a continuation of the success and developments experienced during the early Classic period, the Post-Classic period dates from 1000 CE and ends with the arrival of Europeans in 1519. During this period the region was populated with tiny kingdoms, called señorios and cacicazgos, despite this, the Mixtec were a source of influence for Mesoamerica during this period. This sharing of culture is found in the writing systems of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, as phonetic elements. The arrival of the Spanish in Oaxaca in 1520 AD began the Colonial period, the Mixtec gave only minor resistance. The encomienda system was established in the region between 1525 and 1530 AD, and missionaries began their efforts to convert the Mixtec in 1538 AD. The arrival of the Spanish influence brought changes to the Mixtec culture, Mixtec writing is classified as logographic, meaning the characters and pictures used represent complete words and ideas instead of syllables or sounds. In Mixtec the relationships among pictorial elements denote the meaning of the text, the characters used in Mixtec can be sorted into three types, pictographic symbols, ideographic symbols, and phonetic signs. Pictographic symbols can resemble the item they are intended to represent and they are often found in person and place names. Ideographic symbols do not require knowledge of the Mixtec language to them, as they are found in other languages of the region
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Spanish colonization of the Americas
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The Colonial expansion under the crown of Castile was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions and it is estimated that during the colonial period, a total of 18.6 million Spaniards settled in the Americas and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-colonial era. Spains loss of these last territories politically ended the Spanish rule in the Americas, the Catholic Monarchs Isabella of Castile, Queen of Castile and her husband King Ferdinand, King of Aragon, pursued a policy of joint rule of their kingdoms and created a single Spanish monarchy. Even though Castile and Aragon were ruled jointly by their respective monarchs, the Catholic Monarchs gave official approval for the plans of Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus for a voyage to reach India by sailing West. The funding came from the queen of Castile, so the profits from Spanish expedition flowed to Castile, in the extension of Spanish sovereignty to its overseas territories, authority for expeditions of discovery, conquest, and settlement resided in the monarchy. Columbus made four voyages to the West Indiesas the monarchs granted Columbus the governorship of the new territories and he founded La Navidad on the island later named Hispaniola, in what is present day Haiti on his first voyage. After its destruction by the indigenous Taino people, the town of Isabella was begun in 1493, in 1496 his brother, Bartholomew, founded Santo Domingo. By 1500, despite a death rate, there were between 300 and 1000 Spanish settled in the area. The local Taíno people continued to resist, refusing to plant crops, the first mainland explorations were followed by a phase of inland expeditions and conquest. In 1500 the city of Nueva Cádiz was founded on the island of Cubagua, Venezuela, the Spanish founded San Sebastian de Uraba in 1509 but abandoned it within the year. There is indirect evidence that the first permanent Spanish mainland settlement established in the Americas was Santa María la Antigua del Darién, the Spanish conquest of Mexico is generally understood to be the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire which was the base for later conquests of other regions. Later conquests were protracted campaigns with less spectacular results than conquest of the Aztecs, but not until the Spanish conquest of Peru was the conquest of the Aztecs matched in scope by the victory over the Inca empire in 1532. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire was led by Hernán Cortés, the victory over the Aztecs was relatively quick, from 1519 to 1521, and aided by his Tlaxcala and other allies from indigenous city-states or altepetl. These polities allied against the Aztec empire, to which they paid tribute following conquest or threat of conquest, leaving the political hierarchy. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was a longer campaign, from 1551 to 1697, against the Maya peoples in the Yucatán Peninsula of present-day Mexico. When Hernán Cortés landed ashore at present day Veracruz and founded the Spanish city there on April 22,1519, Spain colonized and exerted control of Alta California through the Spanish missions in California until the Mexican secularization act of 1833. It was the first step in a campaign that took decades of fighting to subdue the mightiest empire in the Americas. In the following years Spain extended its rule over the Empire of the Inca civilization, in the following years the conquistadors and indigenous allies extended control over Greater Andes Region
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Codex
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A codex is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials, with hand-written contents. The book is bound by stacking the pages and fixing one edge. Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina, the alternative to paged codex format for a long document is the continuous scroll. Examples of folded codices include the Maya codices, sometimes people use the term for a book-style format, including modern printed books but excluding folded books. The Romans developed the form from wooden writing tablets, the codexs gradual replacement of the scroll—the dominant book form in the ancient world—has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of printing. The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that lasted for centuries, the spread of the codex is often associated with the rise of Christianity, which adopted the format for use with the Bible early on. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible, the codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented. In Egypt, by the century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature, technically, even modern paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript books produced from Late antiquity until the Middle Ages. The scholarly study of manuscripts from the point of view of the bookbinding craft is called codicology. The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography, the Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. Two ancient polyptychs, a pentatych and octotych, excavated at Herculaneum used a connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. Julius Caesar may have been the first Roman to reduce scrolls to pages in the form of a note-book. At the turn of the 1st century AD, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin became commonly used for writing in the Roman Empire, theodore Cressy Skeat theorized that this form of notebook was invented in Rome and then spread rapidly to the Near East. Codices are described in works by the Classical Latin poet. He wrote a series of five couplets meant to accompany gifts of literature that Romans exchanged during the festival of Saturnalia. ”Early codices of parchment or papyrus appear to have widely used as personal notebooks. The parchment notebook pages were commonly washed or scraped for re-use and consequently, writings in a codex were often considered informal, as early as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that a codex—usually of papyrus—was the preferred format among Christians. In the library of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum, however, in the Nag Hammadi library, hidden about AD390, all texts are codices
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Stucco
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Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a dense solid. It is used as coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials such as metal, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe. In English, stucco usually means a coating for the outside of a building, and plaster one for interiors, as described below, but other European languages, importantly including Italian, do not have the same distinction, stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. This has led to English often using stucco for interior decorative plasterwork in relief, especially in art history, the difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster, and mortar is based more on use than composition. Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength, in the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency in an attempt to improve the durability of stucco. At the same time, traditional lime plasters were being replaced by gypsum plaster, traditional stucco is made of lime, sand, and water. Modern stucco is made of Portland cement, sand, and water, lime is added to increase the permeability and workability of modern stucco. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve the properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, lime stucco is a relatively hard material that can be broken or chipped by hand without too much difficulty. The lime itself is white, color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments. Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a degree because of the slight water solubility of lime. Portland cement stucco is very hard and brittle and can easily crack if the base on which it is applied is not stable, typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is also used. Todays stucco manufacturers offer a wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat. As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive and it was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over a solid masonry, brick or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained a color and was typically textured for appearance. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco, while the increased thickness, the traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats — the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat
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Boustrophedon
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Boustrophedon /ˌbuːstrəˈfiːdən/ is a kind of bi-directional text, mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions. Every other line of writing is flipped or reversed, with reversed letters, rather than going left-to-right as in modern European languages, or right-to-left as in Arabic and Hebrew, alternate lines in boustrophedon must be read in opposite directions. Also, the characters are reversed, or mirrored. It was a way of writing in stone in Ancient Greece. By analogy, the term may be used in areas to describe this kind of alternation of motion or writing. For example, it is used to describe the print head motion of certain dot matrix printers. In that case, while the print head moves in opposite directions on alternate lines, the Hungarian folklorist Gyula Sebestyén writes that ancient boustrophedon writing resembles how the Hungarian rovás-sticks of old Hungarian writing were made by shepherds. The notcher holds the stick in his left hand, cutting the letters with his right hand from right to left. When the first side is complete, he flips the stick over vertically, when unfolded horizontally, the final result is writing which starts from right to left, and continues from left to right in the next row, with letters turned upside down. Sebestyén states that the ancient boustrophedon writings were copied from such wooden sticks with cut letters, the wooden boards and other incised artifacts of Rapa Nui also bear a boustrophedonic script called Rongorongo, which remains undeciphered. In Rongorongo the text in alternate lines was rotated 180 degrees rather than mirrored, the Luwian language had a hieroglyph version, hieroglyphic Luwian, that read boustrophedon. The Hieroglyphic Luwian is read boustrophedon, with the direction of any individual line pointing into the front of the animals or body parts constituting certain hieroglyphs. However, unlike Egyptian hieroglyphs with their numerous ideograms and logograms which show an easy directionality, a modern example of boustrophedonics is the numbering scheme of sections within survey townships in the United States and Canada. In both countries, survey townships are divided into a 6-by-6 grid of 36 sections, public Land Survey System, Section 1 of a township is in the northeast corner, and the numbering proceeds boustrophedonically until Section 36 is reached in the southeast corner. Canadas Dominion Land Survey also uses boustrophedonic numbering, but starts at the southeast corner, Rongorongo is the current theory of the first written language on Easter Island. It is believed to be written in boustrophedonics, yet no accurate translation has been deciphered, Rongorongo shares many characteristics with other Polynesian languages groups. The term is used by postmen in the United Kingdom to describe street numbering which proceeds serially in one direction then turns back in the other and this is in contrast to the more common method of odd and even numbers on opposite sides of the street. In art history, it means that you read from bottom left in a series of pictures
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Mesoamerican Long Count calendar
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The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is known as the Maya Long Count calendar. The Long Count calendar was used on monuments. The two most widely used calendars in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, were the 260-day Tzolkin and the 365 day Haab, the equivalent Aztec calendars are known in Nahuatl as the tonalpohualli and Xiuhpohualli. The combination of a Haab and a Tzolkin date identifies a day in a combination which does not occur again for 18,980 days, to identify days over periods longer than this, Mesoamericans used the Long Count calendar. There has been debate over the precise correlation between the Western calendars and the Long Count calendars. The August 11 date is based on the GMT correlation, the completion of 13 baktuns marks the Creation of the world of human beings according to the Maya. On this day, Raised-up-Sky-Lord caused three stones to be set by associated gods at Lying-Down-Sky, First-Three-Stone-Place, because the sky still lay on the primordial sea, it was black. The setting of the three stones centered the cosmos which allowed the sky to be raised, revealing the sun, rather than using a base-10 scheme, like Western numbering, the Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. In a pure base-20 scheme,0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25, the Long Count is not pure base-20, however, since the second digit from the right rolls over to zero when it reaches 18. Thus 0.0.1.0.0 does not represent 400 days, note that the name baktun was invented by modern scholars. The numbered Long Count was no longer in use by the time the Spanish arrived in the Yucatán Peninsula, instead the Maya were using an abbreviated Short Count. Long Count dates are written with Mesoamerican numerals, as shown on this table, a dot represents 1 while a bar equals 5. The shell glyph was used to represent the zero concept, the Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder, and presents one of the earliest uses of the zero concept in history. On Maya monuments, the Long Count syntax is more complex, the date sequence is given once, at the beginning of the inscription, and opens with the so-called ISIG which reads tzik-a hab’. Next come the 5 digits of the Long Count, followed by the Calendar Round, the supplementary series is optional and contains lunar data, for example, the age of the moon on the day and the calculated length of current lunation. The text then continues with whatever activity occurred on that date, a drawing of a full Maya Long Count inscription is shown below. Interpretations of inscriptions on some artifacts differ, la Mojarra Stela 1, the Tuxtla Statuette, Tres Zapotes Stela C, and Chiapa Stela 2 are all inscribed in an Epi-Olmec, not Maya, style
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