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News — Copan

Cracking the Maya Code: Timeline of Decipherment

• "T"-numbering system • 3114 B.C. • Alfred Maudslay • Ancient Explorers • Ancient Writing • August 13 • Blog • Calendar Round • Constantine Rafinesque • Copan • David Stuart • Decipherment • Diego de Landa • Discoveries • Dresden Codex • Eric Thompson • Ernst Förstemann • Hieroglyphs • Linda Schele • Maya • Merle Greene Robertson • Mesoamerica • Palenque • phonetic complement • Piedras Negras stelae • rebus • Relation of the Things of Yucatan • Tatiana Proskouriakoff • Yuri Knorosov

When the Spanish conquered the Maya empire in the 16th century, they forced their new subjects to convert to Christianity and speak and write in Spanish. But long before the Maya used the Roman alphabet, they had created their own rich and elegant script featuring more than 800 hieroglyphs. Sadly, the glyphs’ meanings were lost […]

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