1. As a whole, the Mayan people created the longest lasting civilization of the
New World. It became distinguishable from other early farming cultures of
Mesoamerica in the middle of the first millennium BCE, when the first great
Mayan cities were created.
The Mayan hieroglyphic writing is arguably one of the most visually striking
writing systems of the world. It is also very complex, with hundreds of unique
signs or glyphs in the form of humans, animals, super naturals, objects, and
abstract designs. These signs are either logograms (to explain meaning) or
syllabograms (to denote sound values), and are used to write words, phrases, and
sentences. The Mayan people can pretty much write whatever they say.
Of the many Mayan languages only (possibly three) where written down
with the hieroglyphic system. It is thought that speakers of the Ch’olan language,
and possibly also those of the tzeltalan language were the inventors of the Maya
writing system.
