Mayan Writing On Ceramics

Renowned for their once enigmatic written language the most fully developed known written language of the pre columbian americas the maya developed complex art and architecture as well as mathematical and astronomical systems.

Mayan writing on ceramics.

They began constructing monumental buildings sculpting in various media and creating durable containers out of fired clays. At its height it was a densely populated culturally dynamic society with cities throughout the region that is now mexico belize guatemala and honduras. Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes while utilitarian vessels were undecorated or much simpler. In the first millennium b c peoples speaking mayan languages settled in agricultural villages across the yucatan peninsula.

The vessels used different colors sizes and had varied purposes. Carved and molded glyphs were painted but the paint has rarely survived. Mayan writing consisted of a relatively elaborate set of glyphs which were laboriously painted on ceramics walls and bark paper codices carved in wood and stone and molded in stucco. Elite pottery usually in the form of straight sided beakers called vases used for drinking was placed in burials giving a number of survivals in good condition.

Maya civilization is one of the great ancient civilizations of the world. They held food and drink for daily life but also offerings in dedicatory caches and burials which range from the simplest graves to the richest royal tombs. The celebrated hieroglyphic writing system of the maya was a sophisticated combination of pictographs directly representing objects and ideograms or glyphs expressing more abstract concepts such as actions or ideas and even syllabic sounds. Ceramic vessels nourished in both life and death.

Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the pre columbian maya culture of mesoamerica.