Isthmus script

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The Isthmus script (Engl. Isthmian script) is an early Mesoamerican script that was widespread north, northwest and east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec in the centuries before and after the birth of Christ . The script has not yet been reliably deciphered, the underlying language ( Epi-Olmec "Epi-Olmec", ISO 639: 3 [xep]) has also not been reliably determined.

structure

Long count and two text columns (excerpt) of the Mojarra stele 1

The script is written like the approximately simultaneous script of Monte Albán in vertical columns that are read individually from top to bottom. The characters are abstract or recognizable as representations of faces, animal heads and objects. Some characters are (according to Justeson and Kaufman, see below) logograms , but the font was mainly based on syllable characters, which were sometimes combined with logograms. A number of the inscriptions contain a series of numbers that can be read in the long count of the Mayan script and converted to European data.

Finds

Upper half of stele C from Tres Zapotes with the beginning of the calendar date

The number of finds with inscriptions that can be assigned to the isthmus script is small.

  • The La Mojarra Stele 1 , a 1.4 m × 2 m limestone block, recovered in 1986 from the Acula River near the archaeological site of Tres Zapotes . The inscription is unusually long with 535 blocks of drawing and contains long count dates for the years 143 and 156.
  • The Tuxtla statuette , found in 1902, is a bird-like figure made of green stone with 75 characters and a date from 162 in several columns on the sides.
  • The stele C of Tres Zapotes , excavated in 1939 as a fragment, with a heavily eroded column of text and a date of the Long Count for September 4th, 32 (Julian) BC. The rest were found in 1969.
  • A stone mask in the Teotihuacán style with around 100 characters.
  • Several very identical steles from Cerro de las Mesas , with one or two columns that contain short, heavily weathered text and each a date of the Long Count from the first centuries AD.
  • A pottery shard from Chiapa de Corzo , with a few characters.
  • The stele 2 of Chiapa de Corzo, with a Long Count date that is December 9th (Julian) of the year 36 BC. Christ corresponds.

Attempted decipherment

The two North American linguist John Justeson and Terrence Kaufman published a Entzifferungsversuch 1993, in which it the language of the inscription of La Mojarra as the Mixe-Zoque - language family postulated properly. They later published a confirmation of their earlier findings and a very detailed summary based on a newly discovered part of the same inscription. The results of the two scientists have been seriously questioned by other specialists, especially Maya script .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John S. Justeson, Terrence Kaufman: A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing in Science , Vol. 259, March 19, 1993, pp. 1703-11
  2. ^ John S. Justeson, Terrence Kaufman: A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment. In: Science , Vol. 277, July 11, 1997, pp. 207-10.
  3. ↑ Terrence Kaufman, John Justeson: Epi-Olmec hieroglyphic writing and texts (2001) online (PDF file; 3.25 MB)
  4. ↑ Stephen Houston, Michael Coe Has Isthmian Writing Been Deciphered? . In Mexicon 25 (2004) pp 151-161. online (PDF; 1 kB)