As a whole, the Mayan people created the longest lasting civilization of the

New World. It became distinguishable from other early farming cultures of

Mesoamerica in the middle of the first millennium BCE, when the first great

Mayan cities were created.

The Mayan hieroglyphic writing is arguably one of the most visually striking

writing systems of the world. It is also very complex, with hundreds of unique

signs or glyphs in the form of humans, animals, super naturals, objects, and

abstract designs. These signs are either logograms (to explain meaning) or

syllabograms (to denote sound values), and are used to write words, phrases, and

sentences. The Mayan people can pretty much write whatever they say.

Of the many Mayan languages only (possibly three) where written down

with the hieroglyphic system. It is thought that speakers of the Ch’olan language,

and possibly also those of the tzeltalan language were the inventors of the Maya

writing system.