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The Maya of southern Mexico and Central America were writing by the 3rd century BC, using a script that mixed word signs with syllable signs. They also kept interlocking calendars: a 260-day ritual count and a 365-day year, which came back into step every 52 years.

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Maya writing is the only script of ancient Mesoamerica, roughly today's Mexico and Central America, that scholars can now largely read. Scribes painted it on pottery and in folding books of bark paper, called codices, and carved it in stone. In the 16th century the Spanish churchman Diego de Landa had many Maya books destroyed, and only a handful survive. In 1952 the Soviet scholar Yuri Knorozov showed that many signs stood for syllables, and by 2008 about 80 per cent of the script could be sounded out. Besides the 260-day Tzolk'in and the 365-day Haab', the Maya used the Long Count, which counted days from a mythical creation date in 3114 BC. The belief that the world would end on 21 December 2012 came from misreading it: that day simply began a new b'ak'tun, a period of 144,000 days. The Dresden Codex holds tables predicting the movements of Venus.

Türkçe oku
Güney Meksika ve Orta Amerika'da yaşayan Mayalar, en geç MÖ 3. yüzyılda yazıyı kullanıyordu. Bu yazıda sözcükleri gösteren işaretlerle heceleri gösteren işaretler bir arada kullanılırdı. Mayaların iç içe işleyen takvimleri de vardı: 260 günlük bir tören takvimi ile 365 günlük yıl, 52 yılda bir yeniden aynı günde buluşurdu.

Maya yazısı, eski Mezoamerika'da, yani kabaca bugünkü Meksika ile Orta Amerika'da kullanılan yazılar arasında büyük ölçüde okunabilen tek yazıdır. Yazıcılar onu çanak çömleğin üzerine ve ağaç kabuğundan yapılmış katlanır kitaplara, yani kodekslere boyayla yazar, taşa da kazırlardı. 16. yüzyılda İspanyol din adamı Diego de Landa pek çok Maya kitabını yok ettirdi; bugüne yalnızca birkaç tanesi ulaştı. Sovyet bilgini Yuri Knorozov 1952'de işaretlerin birçoğunun hece gösterdiğini ortaya koydu; 2008'e gelindiğinde yazının yüzde 80 kadarının nasıl okunduğu biliniyordu. Mayalar 260 günlük Tzolk'in ve 365 günlük Haab' takvimlerinin yanı sıra, günleri MÖ 3114'teki efsanevi bir yaratılış tarihinden itibaren sayan “Uzun Sayım” takvimini de kullanırdı. Dünyanın 21 Aralık 2012'de sona ereceği inancı bu takvimin yanlış yorumlanmasından doğdu; o gün yalnızca 144.000 günlük yeni bir b'ak'tun döneminin başlangıcıydı. Dresden Kodeksi'nde Venüs'ün hareketlerini önceden hesaplamaya yarayan tablolar bile vardır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Maya civilization
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