Codex Style Cylinder Vase

The Maya were the only culture in the Americas to invent a writing system. Maya glyphs ring around the top of this vase. The glyphs function similarly to Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in that the symbols can stand for a phonetic sound, but also represent an idea. The dots and vertical, “bread loaf” shapes represent part of the Maya numbering system. The dots stand for one, while the loafs stand for five, the other figures may represent stylized numerals used for religious caldendrical purposes or may represent phonetic sounds that produce words. The writing on the vase refers to dates. Maya 600-900 A.D.