Since the 1980s, significant strides have been made in Maya hieroglyphic decipherment. Experts can now understand many of the carved and painted texts that survive in archaeological sites, artifact collections, and written accounts and drawings. In recent decades, new digital technologies have significantly enhanced these efforts beyond academia to connect descendant Maya communities and the wider public with these ancient writings.
The Latin American Library is collaborating with an international team of professionals who are developing new digital tools to interact with Maya hieroglyphs in previously unimaginable ways. Digital applications are opening doors that allow us to read these writings at a level of depth and complexity not previously available to the pioneers of the discipline.
In the videos, Gabrielle Vail, lead researcher, demonstrates how these new digital tools are bringing Classic Maya inscriptions to life in groundbreaking ways by reading the text of the rubbing on display below, and Alexandre Bassi illustrates the development of a Maya hieroglyphic typeface suitable for digital applications.