Containing more than 800 symbols and variations depicting animals, plants and body parts, Mayan hieroglyphs have been providing steady intellectual fuel and puzzlement for scholars over the past 200 years. Directed by David Lebrun, Breaking the Maya Code (2008) presents a thorough documentary look at the quest and valiant efforts made by those who have made decided advancements in deciphering the Mayan glyphs. By 900 A.D. the ancient Mayans were gone, having abandoned their grand cities in southern Mexico and Central America and moved north to the Yucatan. When the Spanish arrived, early efforts to transcribe the hieroglyphs were unsuccessful, because they were mis-drawn and hence misunderstood. In the 16th to 19th centuries: Bishop Diego de Landa had a Mayan convert write out a corresponding alphabet, Constantine Rafanesque started transcribing the Dresden Codex, Ernst Forstermann recognized the presence of mathematics and cycles within the long count , Joseph Goodman set the Maya calendar "creation date" (August 31, 3114 B.C.) and Alfred Maudsley took the first glass-plate photographs of Mayan ruins allowing for accurate study. It was in the 20th Century, however, that the most spurious advances in deciphering the Mayan code took place. Eric Thompson was considered to be the ultimate, yet flawed, authority on all things Mayan from the 1930's to the 1960's. He maintained that the glyphs were of a peaceful and celestial nature. Many of his ideas were proven wrong by Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a master surveyor and artist who established that the glyphs were indeed a recorded history of the Mayan civilization. Heinrich Berlin expanded the historical record theory by showing that the symbols included geographical elements… Time + Place = History. A major breakthrough on the language of the Maya came from an unlikely source in Russia, when Yuri Knorosov published a treatise after World War II. Knorosov's work was translated and spread by American Michael Coe. Successful collaborative efforts began in the 1970's, when Merle Greene Roberston set up shop at Palenque. She was soon joined by Linda Schele, whose enthusiasm led to a complete history of the ancient city, deciphering new elements and allowing scholars to share ideas in a more free format. The greatest and most innovative modern breakthroughs have come through the work of David Stuart, a former child savant that presented his first scholarly paper on the Mayan glyphs at the age of 12. Today, roughly 90% of the Mayan hieroglyphs can be read with certainty. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the 200 year effort to decipher the symbols, long lost to human understanding, is that the descendants of the Maya now know their history and are passing it on to future generations.
Palenque: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
Diego de Luna: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
Ernst Forstermann: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
Eric Thompson: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
Tatiana Proskouriakoff: Breaking the Maya Code
painting by Tatiana Proskouriakoff: Breaking the Maya Code
: Breaking the Maya Code
Yuri Knorosov: Breaking the Maya Code
Palenque: Breaking the Maya Code
Michael Coe: Breaking the Maya Code
Merle Greene Robertson: Breaking the Maya Code
Palenque: Breaking the Maya Code
Heinrich Berlin: Breaking the Maya Code
Linda Schele and David Stuart: Breaking the Maya Code
David Stuart: Breaking the Maya Code
Palenque: Breaking the Maya Code
Linda Schele and Mayan students: Breaking the Maya Code
Overgrown ruins of the Ancient Mayan civilization rest deep in the rainforest of Central America. Much has been gleaned from the great structures and art left behind, revealing many aspects about this once-thriving people, who were thought to have resided in the area from roughly 250-900 A.D. However, a large piece of the puzzle that had remained missing was how it all began. In Guatemala, the discovery of a great ancient city called El Mirador has shed new light on the origins of the Mayan people, surprisingly placing the starting point of their civilization back a further 1,000 years than had previously been estimated. Produced in 2004 for National Geographic, Dawn of the Maya takes a look at the ongoing search for answers. In El Mirador, archaeologist Richard Hansen has been painstakingly excavating a massive pyramid that rivals those of Giza in terms of sheer size. Hansen provides insightful and often-humorous anecdotes during his process of researching a possible royal tomb of King "Great Fiery Jaguar Paw" and the quarry site from which their stone building blocks were cut. David Freidel offers background and related info to tie the ancient search together. A high point in the film arrives courtesy of archaeologist Bill Saturno, who discovered an ancient Mayan painted mural at a nearby dig (only the second such mural ever found), and reveals details of how it originally appeared thanks to a masterful reproduction painted by artist Heather Hurst. Brief interludes reference the fall of this early Mayan ancestral civilization, brought about by the exorbitant use of natural resources (burning trees to make lime plaster) in building their city. Clocking in at 53 minutes, the near-hour spent watching was worthwhile and informative, with the cast (particularly Richard Hansen, Heather Hurst, David Stuart and Bill Saturno) providing an intriguing respite.
