Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-qks25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-10T10:03:07.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Systems of Hieroglyphic Writing in Middle America and Methods of Deciphering Them

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. Eric S. Thompson*
Affiliation:
Harvard, Ashdon Saffron Walden, England

Extract

Recent disagreement on the nature of Maya hieroglyphic writing calls for a reappraisal of the historical sources, and an examination of alternative methods of decipherment. Unfortunately, no one has both a thorough grasp of the subject and an unbiased attitude.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1959

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barthel, T. S. 1952 Der Morgensternkult in den Darstellungen der Dresdener Mayahandschrift. Ethnos, Vol. 17, pp. 73–112. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Barthel, T. S. 1954 Maya Epigraphy: Some Remarks on the Affix ‘al.’ Proceedings of the Thirtieth International Congress of Americanists [Cambridge, 1952], pp. 45–9. Royal Anthropological Institute, London.Google Scholar
Barthel, T. S. 1955 Versuch úber die Inschriften von Chich'en Itza viejo. Baessler-Archiv, n.s., Vol. 3, pp. 5–33. Berlin.Google Scholar
Barthel, T. S. 1958 Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Erforschung der Mayaschrift. Proceedings of the Thirtysecond International Congress of Americanists [Copenhagen, 1956], pp. 476–84. Munksgaard, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Beyer, Hermann 1929 The Supposed Maya Hieroglyph of the Screech Owl. American Anthropologist, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 3459. Menasha.Google Scholar
Beyer, Hermann 1937 Studies on the Inscriptions of Chichen Itza. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 483, Contributions to American Anthropology and History, No. 21. Washington.Google Scholar
Brinton, D. G. 1882 The Maya Chronicles. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Brinton, D. G. 1886. The Phonetic Elements in the Graphic Systems of the Mayas and Mexicans. American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, Vol. 8, pp. 347–57. Chicago.Google Scholar
Cordy, N. 1946 Examples of Phonetic Construction in Maya Hieroglyphs. American Antiquity, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 108–17. Menasha.Google Scholar
Dibble, C. E. 1940 El antiguo sistema de escritura en México. Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos, Vol. 4, pp. 105–28. Mexico.Google Scholar
Dibble, C. E. 1951 Códice Xolotl. Publicaciones del Instituto de Historia, 1st series, No. 22. Mexico.Google Scholar
Förstemann, Ernst 1885 Das mittelamerikanische Tonalamatl. Globus, Vol. 67, pp. 283–5. Brunswick.Google Scholar
Gates, William 1931 An Outline Dictionary of Maya Glyphs. Maya Society, Publication 1. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Knorozov, Y. V. 1952 Drevnyaya Pis'menost’ Tsentralnoy Ameriki [The Ancient Script of Central America]. Sovietskaya Etnografiya 1952, No. 3, pp. 100–18. Moscow.Google Scholar
Knorozov, Y. V. 1953 La antigua escritura de los pueblos de la América central. Boletín de Información de la Embajada de la U. R. S. S., Ano 10, No. 20. Mexico.Google Scholar
Knorozov, Y. V. 1955 La escritura de los antiguos mayas (ensayo de descifrado). In Russian and Spanish. Institut Etnografii Akademii Nauk, Moscow.Google Scholar
Knorozov, Y. V. 1958a The Problem of the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphic Writing. American Antiquity, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 284–91. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Knorozov, Y. V. 1958b New Data on the Maya Written Language. Proceedings of the Thirty'second International Congress of Americanists [Copenhagen, 1956], pp. 467–75. Munksgaard, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
de las Casas, Bartolomé 1909 Apologética historia de las Indias. Madrid.Google Scholar
León, Nicolás 1900 A Mazahua Catechism in Testera-Amerind Hieroglyphics. American Anthropologist, Vol. 2, No. 4-1, pp. 722–40. New York.Google Scholar
León, Nicolás 1933 Códice Sierra. Traduccion y explicación. Museo Nacional de México. Mexico.Google Scholar
Lizardi Ramos, César 1948 Copan y el jeroglifico de los sacrificios humanos. Honduras Maya, Vol. 2, pp. 40–3. Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Long, R. C. E. 1935 Maya and Mexican Writing. Maya Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 2432. New York.Google Scholar
Maya Codices and Vocabularies See Roys 1933, Thompson 1950, or Tozzer 1941.Google Scholar
Mengin, Ernest 1952 Commentaire du Codex Mexicanus Nos. 23-24 de la BibliothLeèn, Nicolás que Nationale de Paris. Journal de la Société des Américanistes, n.s., Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 387498. Paris.Google Scholar
Relaciones, De Yucatán 1898-1900 In Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones espaholas de ultramar, Vols. 11, 13. Madrid.Google Scholar
Roys, R. L. 1933 The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 438. Washington.Google Scholar
Schellhas, Paul 1904 Representations of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 4, No. 1. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1904 Alexander von Humboldt's Picture Manuscripts in the Royal Library at Berlin. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 28, pp. 123229. Washington.Google Scholar
Thomas, Cyrus 1893 Are the Maya Hieroglyphs Phonetic? American Anthropologist, o.s., Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 241–70. Washington.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1943 Pitfalls and Stimuli in the Interpretation of History Through Loan Words. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, Publication 11, Philological and Documentary Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 1726. New Orleans.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1950 Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: Introduction. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 589. Washington.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1953 Review of Y. V. Knorozov—The Ancient Writing of the Peoples of Central America. Yan, No. 2, pp. 174–8. Mexico.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1958 Symbols, Glyphs, and Divinatory Almanacs for Diseases in the Maya Dresden and Madrid Codices. American Antiquity, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 297308. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Tozzer, A. M. 1911 The Value of Ancient Mexican Manuscripts in the Study of the General Development of Writing. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, n.s., Vol. 21, pp. 80–101. Worcester.Google Scholar
Tozzer, A. M. 1941 Landa's Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. A Translation. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 18. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Tozzer, A. M. and Allen, G. M. 1910 Animal Figures in the Maya Codices. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 4, No. 3. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Valentini, P. J. J. 1880 The Landa Alphabet; a Spanish Fabrication. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol. 75, pp. 5991. Worcester.Google Scholar
Whorf, B. L. 1933 The Phonetic Value of Certain Characters in Maya Writing. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 13, No. 2. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Whorf, B. L. 1942 Decipherment of the Linguistic Portion of the Maya Hieroglyphs. Smithsonian Institution, Report for 1941, pp. 479502. Washington.Google Scholar
Zlmmermann, Gunter 1956 Die Hieroglyphen der Maya-Handschriften. Universität Hamburg, Abhandlungen aus dem Gebeit der Auslandkunde, Vol. 62. Hamburg.Google Scholar