The document discusses the history of Maya hieroglyphic writings, their destruction during the Spanish Inquisition, and the modern cracking of the Maya code to read the writings. During the 16th century, many hieroglyphic texts were destroyed by friar Diego de Landa in an effort to spread Catholicism. Only a few partial codices survived. In the 20th century, scholars like J. Eric Thompson and Tatiana Proskouriakoff began to develop systems to classify Maya glyphs and determine patterns, but it took the work of many individuals like David Stuart to eventually crack the Maya code and begin reading the texts aloud.

1. Cracking the Maya Code By: Elizabeth Gonzalez