Epi-Olmec script

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Epi-Olmec ("after Olmec") is a Mesoamerican writing system in use in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from perhaps 500 BCE to 500 CE, although there is disagreement on these dates. It is also called the Isthmian Script or the La Mojarra Script.

Upper right corner of the back of the Script Mask (aka O'Boyle Mask). Note that the glyphs have been highlighted in pink.

The 4 best-known epi-Olmec texts are:

* The Tuxtla Statuette

* Stela C from Tres Zapotes

* [The O'Boyle Mask]

* La Mojarra Stela 1

A few potential epi-Olmec glyphs also appear on three badly weathered stelae at Cerro de las Mesas and on the Chiapa de Corzo Sherd.

In their 1997 paper, John Justeson and Terrence Kaufman put forward a decipherment of Epi-Olmec, placing it within the Mixe-Zoquean language family. In 2003 Justeson won a Guggenheim Fellowship for this work. Their interpretation, however, was disputed by Michael Coe and Stephen Houston in January 2004.

References

Justeson, John S., and Kaufman, Terrence, ["A Newly Discovered Column in the Heiroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment",] Science, 07/11/97, Vol. 277 Issue 5323, p. 207.
[Brigham Young University press release] on behalf of Brigham Young University archaeologist Stephen Houston and Yale University professor emeritus Michael Coe disputing Justeson/Kaufman findings.

External links

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