Mayan Glyphs Unraveled

Mayan Mysteries Decoded

Yaxchilan in the Yucatan

     The recent publication of “A Forest of Kings” has shed new light on some of the mysteries surrounding the ancient Maya culture. The book is a collaboration between the two prestigious archeologists Linda Schele and David Freidel, who collectively have spent more than fifty years in Central America and Mexico excavating Maya ruins and deciphering their glyphs. For some time, archeologists have understood the Maya counting system, their adroit understanding of astrology and the systemic patterns of stars and planets, and some of their religious beliefs. A big question mark has been the explanation for the apparent collapse of the entire empire nearly five hundred years prior to Europeans arriving on the continent and what predicated the slow repopulation of their abandoned sites. And this is where Schele and Freidel come in. Linda spends most of her time in Guatemala and Honduras, while David generally concentrates on the Yucatan Peninsula and Quintana Roo in Mexico. Though the two rarely work side by side, it was through their sharing of information and comparing notes that most of the break-through occurred. And it was by translating several key verbs, understandably, that the actions of Mayas started making more sense. Truly, this work has the makings of a giant puzzle, much more real than any Dan Brown novel. It also has nothing to do with the 2012 Doomsayer’s predictions or some New Ager reading your Mayan Astrology. As an amateur student of the Maya civilization (I’ve visited twenty-two different sites), I take great offense with these pretenders when they sling the Maya moniker around to gain ambience or credibility.

Palenque temple in Guatemala

     With their new information, Schele and Freidel postulate that, ironically, success led to the Mayan civilization’s failure; that as sites became more populated, there was a need among the hierarchy to dispense power to maintain the population and try to defend against and/or conquer neighboring city-states. And kings lost their credibility among the masses as the voice of the gods through their lineage as they relinquished the reins. In addition, as the upper-middle class grew in each community, the concentration of population in the center of the community intensified. Originally, these sites had been chosen because they were fertile but as these richer areas became covered with temples and upper-end dwellings, farmers were pushed into the less fertile hills, which were soon depleted, their topsoil washed away in the rainy season. And so the cycle began and the kings’ credibility lessened even more. Prosperity, theoretically, bred an eventual defeat and evacuation of the sites.

Yaxha ruins in the Peten region

     It is amazing how the written language survived during this seemingly dead time because upon returning to their original sites, the Mayas continued to build and inscribe. Even more amazing is the hundreds of unexcavated sites the jungle still harbors, some small and some massive. It will take lifetimes to unearth these places, just as it took lifetimes to create them. “A Forest of Kings” is a useful book for readers interested in more than just a glimpse at the storied Maya civilization.