I am very happy with the way the presentation turned out. However, I’m not so sure it fits well with the rubric fo r the project. To be honest, I was neverentirely clear on what the expectations were for this project (due to no fault of your own, I just couldn’t quite get a grasp on it). So like I said, I like the way the presentation turned out. I feel like I teach the basics of Maya gly phs well, and that by the end the reader has a sense of how/why the glyphs were used. I’m also quite proud of how I was able to make a contribution of my own to the field (even if it’s very small). On the down side, I feel it’s a little confusing at times. Let me know i f you get lost anywhere or if something you read makes no sense. Also, there’s a lot of text. I didn’t create the power point with presenting in mind, I created it expecting i t to be used as a self guided lesson. Thus, all the information you need in laid out in the slides. I know it’s not quite what a power point is for, but I wanted to experiment. Reflection
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I am very happy with the way the presentation turned out. However, I’m notso sure it fits well with the rubric for the project. To be honest, I was never entirely clear on what the expectations were for this project (due to no fault
of your own, I just couldn’t quite get a grasp on it). So like I said, I like theway the presentation turned out. I feel like I teach the basics of Maya glyphswell, and that by the end the reader has a sense of how/why the glyphs wereused. I’m also quite proud of how I was able to make a contribution of myown to the field (even if it’s very small). On the down side, I feel it’s a littleconfusing at times. Let me know if you get lost anywhere or if something youread makes no sense. Also, there’s a lot of text. I didn’t create the power pointwith presenting in mind, I created it expecting it to be used as a self guidedlesson. Thus, all the information you need in laid out in the slides. I know
it’s not quite what a power point is for, but I wanted to experiment.
majority of Maya inscriptions areactually found on pottery
These clay codices are so prevalentbecause they survived the burningof other paper and wood codicesby Spanish missionaries
At one time the codex, foldedsheets of bark paper filled withpainted glyphs and artwork, mayhave been the most commonhieroglyphic record. Since theirburning, however, only threegenuine examples remain.
Maya glyphs were not just used as awriting system, they were also
incorporated into Maya art For example, in carvings the name of a
King may be intertwined within hisclothing or what may look like
decoration surrounding a god mayactually be a stylized glyph thatdescribes some aspect of hispersonality or purpose
In Art
(Stone, Zender 17-8)
A piece of artwork from theMaya Classic period. Thepainting depicts the MayanMoon Goddess. What looks tobe a tail is actually the Mayanmoon glyph, incorporated intothe painting in order to help
because the first ten or so glyphs of an inscriptioncan all be date glyphs!
Decoding the glyphs for Maya dates was the firststep to cracking the entire system
Dates and Glyphs
(Coe 101-09)
To the left is a traditional Maya
calendar round. The concentric stonerings represent the months of the Haaband the Tzolkin with a final inner ringwith number glyphs from one tothirteen. These rounds were used allacross the Yucatan to keep track of the
The hieroglyphic text was highly valued by the Maya
Some glyphs were logograms, glyphs that were meant to be readliterally (i.e. a glyph that looked like a skull meant skull)
Others were phonetic, meaning that the glyph represented asound; sometimes glyphs could be interpreted either way
The point is, the Maya had enough simple phonetic glyphs towrite without the logograms, which were complicated and tooktime to write.
For reasons not entirely known, the Maya chose not to give uptheir hieroglyphic writing style. Clearly their system was notsimply a means to record ideas but also a complex extension oftheir beliefs and culture.
The following slides provide a fictional text usingpseudo-Mayan glyphs. The inscription is based on
the Leiden plaque (Senner 206) but contains noauthentic Maya glyphs (unless otherwise noted). Theinscription is an invention intended to facilitate theunderstanding of the Maya writing system and to
help draw parallels between our society and that ofthe ancient Maya. The glyphs are my own inventionand are original artwork.
Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2008 Keeping with the Maya specificity in
regards to dates, well list the date as the
number of millenniums, centuries, years,months, weeks, and days since a certainpoint in history. For us, that would be thebirth of Christ
The initial would represent that event, sothe glyph could look something like this:
The figure, Jesus, flanked by celestialbodies and crowned with a halo andwings to represent his heavenly origins.Underneath is the Maya symbol for zero(his age at birth)
A record of Obama‟s inauguration, writtenin true Maya style (if not with authentic
Maya glyphs) If you happened to notice that the
millenniums, centuries, years, months, anddays don‟t quite add up to Obama‟s real
inauguration date, don‟t consider it a„mistake.‟ Remember, Obama may havethought it luckier to be inaugurated on thefirst of February, and if that‟s how it‟swritten, that‟s how it happened
confusing as they once seemed? Hopefully not. Then
again, it‟s good to keep in mind that his was a verysimplified version of the system. To learn the entireMaya system takes years.
The idea, however, is to understand the glyphs in amodern context. How would we use glyphs today?
It‟s certainly different, but is it better or worse thanour system? Would you want to write as the ancientMaya did? The answer to that question could verywell explain the fate of Maya writing: its fall into thecategory of dead languages.