Michael D. Coe, Decoded Mayan Writing, is Dead

[BillTre]

Michael Coe who broke the code of Mayan writing has died of a stroke.
Until his work, Mayan writing was not understood and many thought they were just pictures.

This kind of work was limited by lack of material as most examples of Mayan writting was destroyed by Spanish Conquistadors.
He also exposed the Olmec civilization as the Mayan precursor and wrote several books.
NY Times obit here.

 

[jedishrfu]

Wow, totally missed this news. His was a great feat of linguistic analysis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Coe

 

[Helios]

Mayans had a 13-day week called a trecena. We can see their number system, dash=5 and dot=1. See the numbers have increments of 5 with Mod(13). Don't know why, maybe a human sacrifice every 5 days, judging by the picture.