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Cracking the Maya Code
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Program Overview
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NOVA chronicles the 200-year worldwide quest by linguists,
mathematicians, artists, architects, archeologists, and others to
decipher the Maya hieroglyphs.
The program:
describes where the Maya region is located. -
recounts the first documented discovery by an expedition from
Spain, in 1785, of tablets with hieroglyphs.
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notes that the complexity of the hieroglyphs presented the
greatest obstacle to deciphering the images.
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reports that Alfred Maudslay was the first to photograph the
ruins in 1881.
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relates how the Maya language faded to obscurity after, in 1562,
Bishop Deigo de Landa and other Spaniards destroyed—for
religious reasons—all the Maya texts he could find.
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reports on how one of the first breakthroughs in deciphering the
code came in 1810, when a scholar first determined that some of
the glyphs stood for numbers.
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pieces together the puzzle of how numerous scientists and
laypeople unraveled the mystery behind the hieroglyphs,
including what sound each glyph represented.
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reports on present-day efforts to teach the original Maya
language to children in the region.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after program is
recorded off the air.
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