Notes on Certain Maya and Mexican Manuscripts / Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 3-66

Name: Notes on Certain Maya and Mexican Manuscripts / Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 3-66
Author: Cyrus Thomas

By Cyrus Thomas

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Archaeology & Anthropology History - Ancient

About This Book

The author examines several Maya and Mexican manuscripts, reproducing and interpreting plates and glyphs, most prominently a Tableau des Bacab, and compares symbol sets across Cortesianus, Borgian, Fejervary, and Vatican codices to show correspondences. He reconstructs effaced characters, diagrams cardinal-point symbols, and provides condensed tables linking day signs, year-series, and calendar wheels. Plate-by-plate analysis and schematic restorations aim to clarify how iconography encodes calendrical sequences and to connect Maya and Mexican calendrical notation and symbolism.

About the Author

Cyrus Thomas

Cyrus Thomas was an American archaeologist and ethnologist known for his significant contributions to the study of Native American cultures, particularly the Maya civilization. He served as a prominent figure in the Bureau of Ethnology, where he published several influential reports. His notable works include "Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices," which delves into the complexities of Maya writing systems, and "Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States," where he explored the archaeological significance of burial mounds. Thomas's research has played a crucial role in advancing the understanding of indigenous cultures and their historical contexts.