Descripción:
The Indians of Mesoamerica were the only pre-Spanish peoples of the New World to have writing systems. These systems ranged from rudimentary to highly complex, and thus exhibit most of the stages in the evolution ofliteracy. The most advanced was that of the ancient Maya, and it is thcir script which has claimed most attention in this field over the past century.

Epigraphie research on Mesoamerican writing systems has been exceptionally productive in the last twenty-five years. Major landmarks are Thornpson’s 1950 study of Maya hieroglyphic writing, the discovery by Caso of the historical content of Mixtec pictorial manuscripts, and the publications by Berlin in 1958 and by Proskouriakoff in 1960 of evidence for dynastie history in Classic Maya inscriptions. At the sarne time, a host of still-unanswered problems was raised by this research. Perhaps the most controversial and stimulating study in recent years has been the re-examination by Knorosov of evidence for extensive phoneticism in the Maya codices.

It was our feeling that the time was right for a conference on the subject of Mesoamerican writing systems, notjust to summarize what is now known but to raise and examine sorne of the outstanding problcms, as weIl as to present, even though in prcIiminary form, some of the most recent research not yet in print clscwhcre.

As has been our custom in past Dumbarton Oaks conferences, a small number of speakers was invited to present papers on Saturday morning and afternoon. On Sunday morning, several volunteered papers were given, one of which is included here. The audience was limited to specialists in, and students of, Mesoamerican writing systems.

We are grateful to Floyd G. Lounsbury for helping us to organize the conference, and for so ably chairing the sessions. We are appreciative of the interest and cooperation ofWilliam R. Tyler, Director ofDumbarton Oaks, and of the efforts of all thosc on the Dumbarton Oaks staff who worked toward the success of this conference, particularly Anne-Louise Schaffer, the Assistant for the Collection, who was al so hcIpful in the editing of this publication.

In this volume, there are certain inconsistencies, from one paper to another, in the use of linguistic terminology and punctuation, for the editor fcIt that individual authors’ designations should be retained.
- ELIZABETH P. BENSON & MICHAEL D. COE


Contents:

H. B. Nicholson: Phoneticism in the Late Pre-Hispanic Central Mexican Writing System…1

Mary Elizabeth Smith: The Relationship between Mixtec Manuscript Painting and the Mixtec Language: A Study of Some Personal Names in Codices Muro and Sánchez Solís…47

Floyd G. Lounsbury: On the Derivation and Reading of the ‘Ben-Ich’ Prefix…99

George Kubler: The Clauses of Classic Maya Inscriptions…145

Tatiana Proskouriakoff: The Hand-grasping-fish and Associated Glyphs on Classic Maya Monuments…165

David H. Kelley and K. Ann Kerr: Mayan Astronomy and Astronomical Glyphs…179

Bodo Spranz: Late Classic Figurines from Tlaxcala, Mexico, and Their Possible Relation to the Codex Borgia Group…217