The Origins of Mesoamerican Writing (original) (raw)

The demarcation line between iconographic symbolism and writing is faint at times, faint enough at least for Olmec enthusiasts to leap over it and l~roclaim as writing what in other cultures would pass as depiction of attributes on body or clothing, a claim which would embrace everything from painted teepees to mediaeval heraldry. J. Eric S. Thompson (59, p. 205) Ancient writing systems which remain undeciphered have had an unusual capacity to arouse excitement in both professionals and amateurs. In the New World, the scholarly study of Mesoamerican writing systems has been undertaken for only 100 years. This short period of investigation, conducted by a relatively small number of investigators, has nevertheless led to some major breakthroughs; but most scholars would agree that we are still unable to transcribe, interpret, or "read" entire texts. We are frequently able to obtain the gist of various passages, but we cannot read them in the spoken language as the Indian speakers might have, In 1865 a German scholar, Dr. Ernst Frrstemann, accepted the position of head librarian at the Royal Public Librar.y in Dresden. This move resulted in a great advance for the field of Maya writing. The Royal Library in Dresden had long contained a fiber-cloth manuscript labeled "an invaluable Mexican book with hieroglyphic figures" (60, p. 153). To F6rstemann we owe a considerable debt for his initial elucidation and publication of the entire Dresden Codex in 1880. This Postclassic Maya book probably dates to A.D. 1200-1250, though some scholars feel it is a copy of a much earlier book. F6rstemann then began a study of the two other extant codices currently found in the cities which provide their names, the Codex Madrid and Codex Paris. Later F6rstemann turned his 1Part of the research for this paper was facilitated by Grant RO-21433-75-460 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, whose generous support is gratefully acknowledged. In addition, Jeremy A. Sabloff provided me with hard-to-get publications without which I could not have completed the paper. Figures 1, 3-11, and 14 were drawn by Jane Mariouw, while Mark Orsen drew Figures 2 and 12. Very special thanks to Mary Hodge, who typed the entire manuscript and prepared Figure 13.