INTRO TO MAYA
HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING
Required: 1) M.D. Coe, Breaking the Maya Code.
(BMC) LCC 91-65312
2) M.D. Coe and Mark Van Stone Reading The Maya Glyphs.
Recommended:
R. Sharer, The
Ancient Maya, 5th Ed ISBN 0-8047-2310-9 (TAM)
L. Schele and M. Miller, The Blood of Kings (BOK)
L. Schele and D. Friedel A Forest of Kings (FOK)
L. Schele and Peter Matthews Code of Kings (COK)
D. Freidel, L. Schele and J. Parker. Maya Cosmos (MC)
J. Eric S. Thompson, Maya Hieroglyphic Writing
(MHW)
J.F. Harris & S.K. Stearns, Understanding Maya
Inscriptions (UMI)
J. Montgomery, How To
Read Maya Hieroglyphs (HTR)
G. Pedro González, A Mayan Life. (La Otra Cara) Yaxte' Press
Maya
Epigraphic Database (on the internet)
Week 1 8/27, 9/1, 9/3 INTRODUCTION overview of
course content:
Intro to the
Maya. recent developments in Maya glyph
studies.
T5Ol
Imix, T528 Cauac, T544 Kin, T526 Caban, T56l Sky
(Mexico, Belize) (mayan
languages)
Movie Thursday
9/3, UGL 344: Popol Vuh (Vidcass
1959 UGLAVC)
Homework: read
"Sacrifice" (packet pages ....), taking notes. Write
down all unfamiliar words and see if you can figure out
what
they mean from the context. Use dictionary if necessary
Familiarize yourself with contents of the packet. (Isthmian Stela)
Suggested Reading :
MHW Ch. l, BOK 1-4O
Week 2 9/8, 9/10
PRINCIPLES OF GLYPHIC WRITING
reading order,
VOS, glyph blocks, affixes, allographs/variants, clauses,
conflation (on internet).
T6O1 Cuch, T756 Bat, T533 Ahau, T683 Moon, T58O
Jade,
Homework: memorize
definitions of: conflation/fusion, (glyph)
collocation, glyph
block, affix, main sign, logograph/logogram,
phonetic sign,
phonetic complement, syllable, pictograph, rebus,
semantic
determinative, overlapping, suppression, synharmony, and
other concepts on
pp. 1O-14 of packet.
Suggested Reading:
MHW Ch. 2, BOK 317-328, TAM Ch. 13
Week 3 9/15, 9/17 PHONETICISM Landa's
alphabet, a
syllabary (another syllabary)
(yet another syllabary).
evidence
for phoneticism, rebus writing.
T758
Xul, T67l Manik hand, T757 Jog w/
cross, T669 Death fist, T52l Uinal
Homework: using Thompson's catalog, pp. 32-45 of
packet, assign
T-numbers to the phonetic glyphs on pp. 47-50 of
packet.
Suggested Reading:
MHW Ch. 2, BOK 41-62. TAM Ch. 13
Week 4 9/22, 9/24
THE TZOLKIN: CYCLE OF 26O DAYS
day
names, meanings, day glyphs,
origins. (Zapotec
day glyphs)
T585 Quincunx, T747 Vulture, T5O6 Kan, T539 Way, T75l
Jaguar
Homework Assignment: memorize the day names in order.
Do
the problem assigned in class. (find 1st 2O glyphs --thru
Week 4--on the Palenque Palace Tablet)
Suggested Reading:
MHW Ch. 3., BOK Ch. 1., TAM Ch. 12
Week 5 9/29, 10/1
THE HAAB: YEAR OF 365 DAYS month names,
patrons, meanings,
numbering, year bearers. Calendar
Round
T573 Hel,T548 Tun
Drum,T552 Crossed Bands, T565 Serpent Segment,
T568 Sacrifice
Homework
Assignment: learn to assign year bearers to CR types.
Memorize month names in order.
Do the problem assigned in class (Make Tzolkin
Chart, 1st
vert. col. Imix-Ahau, second, nos. 1-2O and 1-13-7,
third,
nos. 21-4O and 8-13-1).
Suggested Reading:
MHW Ch. 4., BOK Ch. 2., TAM Ch. 12
Week 6 10/6, 10/8
NUMBERS bars and
dots, head variants, symbolic
variants,
completion, twenty, positional notation, counting,
numerical
classifiers, addition, subtraction.
(numbers)
T586Hatched
dot,T644 Seating,T5lO Lamat-Venus,T764Chicchan
snake, T667 Inverted fist.
Homework
Assignment:memorize criterial features of numeral
head variants.
Do the problems assigned in class. (problem 1)
Suggested
Reading: MHW Ch. 5, BOK Ch. 3., TAM Ch.
12
Week 7 10/13, 10/15 THE LONG COUNT names and glyphs of periods,
long count
starting points, ISIG, ruler of I.S. months, calculations,
lunar series. T7l3 Flat hand, T684 Toothache, T5O7 Spotted
Kan,
T617 *Mirror, T74O Upended frog.
Movie Thursday
10/15 at UGL Audiovisual 344: Sacred
Games
(Vidcass 1812
UGLAVC)
Homework
assignment: do the problems assigned in
class.
Memorize names
and number of days of periods (kin, uinal, tun,
katun, baktun)
Suggested Reading:
BOK Ch. 4., TAM Ch. 12
Week 8 10/20, 10/22 DISTANCE NUMBERS period
arrangement,
suppression of Kin
glyph, anterior and posterior (date) indicators,
calculations,
Katun glyph, Baktun glyph.
T5l3 Muluc, T67O
Hand w/ glyph in angle, T563 Fire, T672 Fire fist,
T5l5 Muluc burden
Homework
assignment: Problems to be assigned in
class.
Suggested
Reading: BOK Ch. 5., TAM Ch. 12
MIDTERM EXAM -
THURSDAY OF THIS WEEK
Week 9 10/27, 10/29 HISTORICAL CONTENT OF INSCRIPTIONS I
emblem glyphs (on internet), place names, dedication, name-tagging,
T. of Cross.
CR interval
problems (Probs. 2 handout) (plaza-nab, stela-tree, pyramid-mountain)
T769 Black Hole,
Emblem glyphs for Palenque, Tikal, Yaxchilan
(2), Quirigua, and
Bonampak
Homework
assignment: CR interval problems to be assigned in class
Suggested Reading:
BOK Ch. 6; TAM Ch. 11; and "Some aspects of
the sacred
geography of Highland Chiapas" pp. 119-142 of E.P. Benson
(ed.) Mesoamerican
Sites and World-views.
Week 10 11/3, 11/5
HISTORICAL CONTENT OF INSCRIPTIONS II
sacred landscape;
ball game (court as nab);
relationship glyphs (on internet).
Tablet of the Cross.
T614 Thatch, T679
Forward, T5O4 Akbal, T28l Kan cross, T738 Fish,
T1O14 God N
Homework
Assignment: Do the problem assigned in class.
Suggested Reading:
MHW Ch. 6, BOK Ch. 7., TAM Ch. 4
Week 11
11/10, 11/12 HISTORICAL
CONTENT OF INSCRIPTIONS III
birth, heir
designation, accession, death, burial, bloodletting
(p. 108, 149,
151), scattering (162), war, capture, torture
(various verbs on internet);
Tablet of Cross.
T58 *White, T59
*Ti, T6O *Knot, Tl8l *a, T1 *u, T87 *Te,
T114 *Xi
Homework
assignment: problem to be assigned in
class (find
glyphs on the Stela to be handed out, that we've
covered).
Read Furst, "Fertility, vision quest and
autosacrifice..." (packet);
Stross, "The Burden of
Office".
Suggested Reading: MHW Ch. 7, BOK Ch. 8 , TAM
Ch. 5
Week 12 11/17, 11/19 HISTORICAL CONTENT OF INSCRIPTIONS IV
direction glyphs (on internet); dance glyph (p. 97, 98); titles (on internet):
T. of Cross .
T743 Turtle, T6l2
Men semblant, T5l8 Muluc variant,
T765 Black spotted dog, T516a Dance
Movie Thursday
11/19 UGL Audiovisual 344: Appeals to
Santiago
(Movie 10,273
UGLAVC)
Homework
assignment: problem to be assigned in
class (draw
emblem glyph lines (from the EG's p.31, to the sites
on the
map). Read Stross, "Classic Maya Directional
Glyphs" (packet)
Suggested Reading:
TAM 6, 7
Week l3 11/24, (Thanksgiving) THE PRIMARY
STANDARD SEQUENCE
substitutions,
meanings, homophones, symbolism. (maya vessel)
T13O *Wa, T23 *Na,
T178 *La, T25 *Ka, T188 *lLe, T74 *Ma,
T116 *Sun tail, T44 *To, T6O7 *Ho
Homework
assignment: can you find the PSS in
this early
inscription.
Read Stross, "Glyphs on Classic Maya
Vessels" (packet);
Suggested Reading:
Bricker, "The Calendrical Meaning of Ritual
among the Maya" (in Bricker and Gossen (eds.) Ethnographic
Encounters in Southern Mesoamerica pp. 231-249); TAM Ch 8-10.
Week l4 12/1, 12/3 TECHNIQUES OF DECIPHERMENT
structural
analysis (p. 173, 174), evidence, data, presentation,
resources;
crayfish and Olmec antecedents, sacrum, sky and earth.
Classic Maya
lexical innovations,
T168 *Ahpo, T673
Hand w/ Crossed bands, T115 *Yo, T18 *Yi,
T117
*Wi, T177 *Pi, T16 *Green, T1O9 *Red, T95 *Black,
T11O *Ko
Homework
assignment: Read Stross, "The Man
in the Maw" (packet).
Suggested Reading:
D. Kelley, Deciphering the Maya Script Ch. l2:
F. Lounsbury "On the derivation and reading
of the 'Ben-Ich'
prefix." in E.P. Benson (ed.) Mesoamerican Writing Systems
pp.
99-143. David Stuart, "Ten
phonetic syllables"
(Center for Maya Research, Report #14)
A Midterm and a Final exam
plus one or more quizzes. The Final will
count twice as much as the Midterm and will include materials tested on the
midterm. The Midterm will cover
materials through the seventh week.
The Final will be comprehensive.
Links:
Mesoweb outstanding website
Maya
Hieroglyphic Workshop Online P. Matthews and M. Zender
Minnesota Museum Maya
Adventure
Kevin
Callahan's Mesoamerican Writing pages
Calendars in
general, with
a little on Maya calendars
http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/mayaintro.html good links on Maya & script
Maya links
(archaeology, maps, etc.)
comments: bstross@mail.utexas.edu
01/29/2000
