Newly discovered hieroglyphs demonstrate that the Maya civilization had developed a complex writing system over 150 years earlier than previously assumed.
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The newly discovered hieroglyphs found in a Maya temple in San Bartolo, Guatemala |
These carvings, dating back to around 250 B.C., were found intact on the walls and plaster fragments of the famous pyramid structure at Las Pinturas in San Bartolo, Guatemala.
Writing first emerged in the regions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India about 3,000 years B.C. However, the earliest complete characters—a series of clear signs telling a story—did not appear in the New World until around 400-300 B.C. These early texts are attributed to the Zapotecs in the Oaxaca Valley, southern central Mexico. Most of the early Maya writing only appeared from 150-250 A.D.
Due to the earlier emergence of the Zapotec writing system, researchers believe that the Maya were influenced by it.
The earliest Maya carvings—possibly indicating personal names or calendar symbols—date back to around 600 B.C. However, they are not considered true writing. The newly discovered hieroglyphs are much more complex, according to project leader William Saturno from the University of New Hampshire.
“This is the most developed and clearly defined writing,” Saturno noted. “It does not claim that the Maya invented writing and that the Zapotecs did not, but it leads us to questions about the origins and complexity of these origins.”
One thing seems certain: The Maya writing system was not influenced by the Zapotecs.
Despite the clarity of the writing, scientists have still been unable to ‘translate’ anything from the new discovery.
T. An (according to LiveScience)
