Table Of ContentThe New Catalog of
Maya Hieroglyphs
Volume 2 · The Codical Texts
Martha J. Macri and Gabrielle Vail
Grapheme Drawings by Martha J. Macri
The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs
VOLUME TWO
The Civilization of the American Indian Series
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The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs
VOLUME TWO
The Codical Texts
Martha J. Macri
Gabrielle Vail
Grapheme drawings by Martha J. Macri
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS : NORMAN
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Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress
ISBN 0-8061-3497-6
The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs, Volume Two: The Codical Texts is Volume 264
in The Civilization of the American Indian Series.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2009 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University.
Images copyright © 2009 by Martha J. Macri.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—
except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act—without the prior written
permission of the University of Oklahoma Press.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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To Austin,
Bailey,
Chelsea,
Destinee,
Hannah,
and Joshua,
and
To Hans and Sammi,
who love to excavate
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Contents
List of Figures and Tables viii
Acknowledgments ix
Editorial Note on Orthography and Transcription xi
Introduction 3
Abbreviations 34
The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs
A Animals 37
B Birds 69
H Body Parts 79
M Hands 85
P Persons 95
S Supernaturals; Skulls 117
X Square, Symmetrical 129
Y Square, Asymmetrical 157
Z Irregular Shape 167
0 00 + Numeral 197
1 One Segment 201
2 Two Segments 219
3 Three Segments 233
Appendices
1. Signs with Proposed Syllabic Values with Code and Thompson Numbers 247
2. Signs with Proposed Logographic Values Ordered by Yucatecan/Ch’olan Glosses 251
3. Signs with Proposed Logographic Values Ordered by English Glosses (subsort 1 only) 259
4. T Numbers to Three-Digit Codes 263
References 265
Index to the New Catalog, Volumes 1 and 2 289
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Figures and Tables
Figures
1. Map of the Maya region 6
2. Day signs 14
3. Comparison pages from the Dresden, Madrid, and Paris codices 28
4. Graphemes occurring over two hundred times 29
5. Sample catalog entry 30
Tables
1. Major Categories of Sign Forms 21
2. Subcategories of Sign Forms 24
3. Codices Compared by Size and by Number of Text Glyph Blocks 28
viii
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like first of all to acknowledge the contributions of Matthew Looper, coauthor of volume 1. All
aspects of volume 2 have benefited from his analytical skills and bibliographic research. His drawings of graphemes
from the Classic period are included in the index of graphemes in this volume.
We would also like to thank the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., especially
Jeffrey Quilter, Director of Pre-Columbian Studies and Curator, Pre-Columbian Collection from 1995 to 2005;
Joanne Pillsbury, current Director of Pre-Columbian Studies; Loa Traxler, Assistant Curator from 1998 to 2001; and
Bridget Gazzo, Librarian, Pre-Columbian Studies. In recent years both authors have held fellowships at the library.
In addition, Dumbarton Oaks has hosted us several times so that we could work there together.
We would also like to express our thanks to Merle Greene Robertson for the generous use of her library at the
Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute and for her continued encouragement, and to George and Melinda Stuart for
sharing the resources and facilities at Boundary End Archaeology Research Center in Barnardsville, North Carolina,
with us and allowing us to scan and photograph their collection of facsimiles of the Maya codices. We are also grate-
ful to Victoria and Harvey Bricker for sharing their knowledge and expertise of the codices with us through many
discussions over the years; to Christine Hernández for her collaboration on the Maya Codices Database and Website,
which contributed significantly to the development of the catalog; and to Barbara MacLeod for correspondence that
has spanned many years and provided invaluable insights into the current project. For the ongoing statistical analysis
of the Maya corpus, we are grateful for the assistance of Monique Aw, and we thank Cynthia Vail for her editorial
expertise.
Over the years a number of research assistants both in California and in Florida have helped with this volume.
In particular we would like to thank James Brooks, Michael Evans, José Godínez Samperio, Michael Grofe, Sidney
Lippman, Catherine Macri, Jason Richardson, Lynn Robinson, Sarah Robinson, Janferie Stone, Carrie Todd, Wil-
liam Werner, Jessica Wheeler, and Eostra Yarrow for their help in scanning and preparing images, entering data, and
checking references. We would also like to thank Jeri Kemp for her encouragement and assistance with the initiation
of the project and the members of the New College glyph group for providing a monthly forum for discussing a
number of the ideas described here.
The research for this volume has been funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, grants
RT21365-92, RT21608-94, and PA22844-96; the National Science Foundation, grants SBR-9710961 and BCS-
9905357; and the Native American Language Center, Department of Native American Studies, University of Cali-
fornia, Davis.
Both of the authors would like to thank their families, especially Judy and Ty, for their continued support and
encouragement, and Emmy Ezzell, Sarah Nestor, Julie Shilling, and the other members of the editorial staff for their
dedication and professionalism.
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