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A rounded square packed with smaller signs.
Also known as: Maya hieroglyph, Glyph block, Maya writing, Square packed with signs
A Maya glyph block is a rounded square holding several signs arranged inside it, read in a fixed order. The script is largely deciphered — a twentieth-century achievement built on recognising it as a mixed logographic and syllabic system, not a symbolic code.
Denotes a glyph block in Maya writing: a rounded square field containing several signs, read left to right and top to bottom within the block.
Contexts: History
Belongs to a mixed logographic and syllabic writing system recording spoken Mayan languages, not a system of symbols.
Contexts: History
Is largely deciphered, the breakthrough coming from Yuri Knorozov's recognition of its syllabic component, against long-held assumptions that it was purely ideographic.
Contexts: History
Retains undeciphered signs, so a complete reading is not available for every text.
Contexts: History
A square with rounded corners containing two to five smaller sign elements fitted together, each with facial or geometric detail, carved in relief or painted.