Breaking the Maya code
by Michael D. Coe · first published 1992
7mentions
4recommended by
6HN commenters
2015–2022first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
"The inside story of one of the great intellectual breakthroughs of our time - the last great decipherment of an ancient script - now revised and updated."--BOOK JACKET.
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You might also be interested in "Breaking the Maya Code" which is a great historical account of the decipherment of Maya script. https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Maya-Code-Third-Michael/dp/0...
on “Sprawling Mayan network discovered under Guatemala jungle” ↗I second this book too, it's a great introduction to Mesoamerican civilization. The author, Michael D. Coe, also has another excellent book "Breaking the Maya Code" on the decipherment of the Maya glyphs The fundamentals were done in 1950-60's by Knorozov and Proskouriakoff, but the decipherment was only widely accepted until as recently as the 1970's[1]! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script#Decipherment
on “Largest Known Maya Structure Found” ↗…language, which has been so valuable to the history of the Mayan people that they began teaching the lost language in schools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ppfC6y-5s There's also a corresponding book, Breaking the Maya Code, http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Maya-Code-Third-Michael/dp/05...
on “When there's no one left to talk to: a guide to endangered languages” ↗There's a PBS documentary on deciphering the glyphs of the lost Mayan language. The modern Mayans now teach the lost language in schools, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ppfC6y-5s. Corresponding book: "Breaking the Maya Code", http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Maya-Code-Third-Michael/dp/05...
on “Babylonians Were Using Geometry Centuries Earlier Than Thought” ↗…case other people read this comment and get the wrong idea: the decipherment of Maya writing was nothing like described here. If you’re interested, a great popular account is given in Micheal Coe’s book Breaking the Maya Code or you can read an interview with David Stuart, who started work on Maya writing when he was ten! https://nightfirefilms.org/breakingthemayacode/interviews/St...
on “Archaeologists Discover Lost Civilization in Guatemala” ↗…Visible Speech, a general examination of writing forms, with Chinese as an important case (and it was written before Mayan writing translation was commonly known, so it makes an interesting comparison with Breaking the Maya Code), and The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, an in-depth look at Chinese in the form of addressing some of the (really wacky) myths about Chinese writing. IIRC, he reports several actual difficulties…
on “To Abolish the Chinese Language: On a Century of Reformist Rhetoric” ↗Maya writing system is decoded to a great extent, the history of which decoding is an interesting story in itself: http://share.nook.com/ean/9780500770610 Breaking the Maya Code (Third edition) by Michael D. Coe. And since the language (a group of descendent languages) is still in use, the writing system can potentially get back into active use. The probability (and benefits)…
on “How writing has spread across the world” ↗