Maya hieroglyphic writing: Quick Facts

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Photos

Limestone relief showing Shield Jaguar II standing with a spear above his kneeling wife, Lady K'ab'al Xook, both in elaborate Maya dress, with hieroglyphic text above.

Maya hieroglyphic writing

A chart displays the Mayan numeral system, showing symbols for numbers 0 to 19 using dots and bars, and demonstrates how larger numbers are formed by stacking these symbols vertically in a base-20 system. An example calculation on the right breaks down the number 258,458 using Mayan numerals and powers of 20.

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Topics

Maya hieroglyphic writing hieroglyph Today in History—September 27: The Rosetta Stone Is Decoded demotic script hieratic script

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