System of writing used by people of the Maya civilization from about the 3rd century AD to the 17th century.
Of the various scripts developed in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Mayan writing is by far the most elaborate and abundantly attested: about 800 signs have been inventoried in more than 5,000 instances (see Maya Codices ). Signs
some representational, some quite abstract
are either logographic, representing words, or syllabic, representing consonant-vowel sequences. Typically, up to five signs are fit into tight square or rectangular clusters, which are further arranged into rows or grids. The language of Classic Period writing (с AD 250–900) is generally thought to be Cholan, ancestral to several modern Maya language s; later inscriptions were in Yucatec. By the 1990s scholars had an accurate grasp of 60–70% of Mayan inscriptions, with some texts almost completely readable and some still quite opaque. Most inscriptions record significant events and dates in the lives of Mayan rulers.