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The ancient
Maya began to build vast cities in northern Guatemala during the first
millennium B.C., mastering a harsh tropical environment with shallow soils
and annual cycles of deluge and drought. These cities were the foundation of
what would be the greatest civilization of the ancient New World. By. A.D.
700 their towering pyramids and dramatic public monuments could be seen at
tens of Maya cities, across what is now Honduras, Belize, southern Mexico
and Guatemala. One of the distinguishing characteristics of ancient Maya
civilization is its hieroglyphic script. Alone among New World writing
systems, Maya hieroglyphs faithfully reflect spoken language and reproduce
its vocabulary, syntax and grammar. The script is a “mixed system” that
combines signs for whole words, syllables and pure vowels. At any one time
as many as 500 individual signs were in common use. |
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