Mayan Civilization

In 1562 Bishop Diego de Landa gathered the books of the Maya at Maní and burned them. He wrote afterwards: "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which there were not to be seen superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree." Four books survive. Landa also wrote a long account of Maya life, with what he took to be an alphabet: he asked a Maya writer for the sign for each Spanish letter, and wrote down the answers.

For much of the twentieth century the leading Mayanist, Sir Eric Thompson, held that the glyphs recorded calendars, astronomy and religion, and did not spell out words by sound. In 1952 a Russian scholar, Yuri Knorozov, working in Moscow with a copy of Landa's list, showed that many of the signs stood for syllables — and that Landa's writer had given him the syllables that sounded like the names of Spanish letters.

In 1960 Tatiana Proskouriakoff, an architect and scholar at the Carnegie Institution, showed that the dates on the monuments of Piedras Negras fell into groups the length of a human life: a birth, an accession to the throne, anniversaries, and a death. The inscriptions were history. As more signs were read, they gave the names of kings and queens, their wars, alliances and captives, and the long rivalry between Tikal and Calakmul.

The Maya did not predict that the world would end in 2012. A cycle of the Long Count completed on 21 December 2012, as an odometer turns over, and Maya inscriptions refer to dates far beyond it. One at Palenque refers to a date in the year 4772.

The Maya wrote on stone monuments, on painted pottery and in folding books called codices. Their writing uses signs called glyphs. For about four hundred years nobody could read them. How they came to be read again is one of the great detective stories of the twentieth century.

The books that were burned

In 1562 Bishop Diego de Landa gathered the Maya books at the town of Maní and burned them. He wrote afterwards that the books held nothing but "superstition and lies of the devil," so "we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree." Only four Maya books survive today.

Landa also wrote a long account of Maya life. In it he set down what he took to be a Maya alphabet. He had asked a Maya writer to show him the sign for each Spanish letter, and he wrote down the answers. That list became the key to the whole puzzle.

Sounds, not just pictures

For much of the twentieth century the leading expert on the Maya, Sir Eric Thompson, held that the glyphs recorded calendars, astronomy and religion, and did not spell out words by sound. In 1952 a Russian scholar, Yuri Knorozov, working in Moscow with a copy of Landa's list, showed that many signs stood for syllables — sounds such as "ka" or "ba." He also showed what had happened at Maní: when Landa said a Spanish letter, the Maya writer had given him the syllable that sounded like the name of that letter.

The stones tell history

In 1960 Tatiana Proskouriakoff, an architect and scholar at the Carnegie Institution, studied the dates carved on the monuments of Piedras Negras. She saw that they fell into groups about as long as a human life: a birth, the day someone became ruler, anniversaries, and a death. The inscriptions were history — the stories of real people. As more signs were read, they gave the names of kings and queens, their wars, their alliances and their captives, and the long rivalry between the great cities of Tikal and Calakmul.

What about 2012?

The Maya did not predict that the world would end in 2012. The Long Count is a calendar that counts days one after another from a fixed starting point. One of its great cycles finished on 21 December 2012, the way a car's mileage counter rolls over to a new number. Maya inscriptions refer to dates far beyond it — one at Palenque names a date in the year 4772.

Four things worth knowing

• Maya blue, the paint on their murals, has lasted 1,200 years of jungle damp without fading. It is made of indigo dye bonded into a clay mineral, which was worked out in the 1960s.
• The Maya used a sign for zero in their calendar centuries before zero reached Europe.
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal ruled Palenque for 68 years. His tomb inside the Temple of the Inscriptions was found in 1952.
• About seven million Maya live today, speaking some 30 Mayan languages.

The Maya lived in the rainforests and hills of what are now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. They built many cities, such as Tikal, Palenque and Copán. Each city had its own ruler. About seven million Maya still live there today.

People and their jobs

• The king ruled a city. Pakal became king of Palenque when he was a boy and ruled for 68 years.
• The queen. Women could rule too. Lady Sak K'uk' held the throne of Palenque and passed it to her son, Pakal.
• The scribe wrote with a brush, using picture-signs called glyphs. Scribes wrote on stone, on painted pots and in books.
• The sky-watcher watched the Sun, the Moon and the planet Venus, and kept the calendars.
• The carver cut pictures and writing into stone.
• The farmer grew maize (corn), beans and squash to feed the city.

Animals

• The jaguar is the big spotted cat of the rainforest. Maya kings wore jaguar skins, and some kings had "jaguar" in their names.
• The quetzal is a bird with long, shining green tail feathers. Rulers wore its feathers in their tall headdresses.

Things they made

• Pyramid temples are tall stone buildings with steps, and a small temple on top. Pakal was buried inside one, the Temple of the Inscriptions.
• A stela is a tall carved stone that tells who the king was and what he did, with the dates.
• A codex is a book of bark paper that folds up like a fan. Only four Maya books are left.
• A ball court is a long, narrow court with sloping walls. Players hit a heavy rubber ball with their hips.
• Maya blue is a bright blue paint. On old wall paintings it has stayed blue for 1,200 years.
• Zero. The Maya had a sign for zero in their calendar, long before people in Europe used zero.