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Event Abstract: Ancient Maya cosmology and sociocultural conduct was entwined with a complex calendar system. This is evident from thousands of stone inscriptions and other extant texts, especially given the large percentage of calendar-date expressions within the corpus of hieroglyphic writings. Certainly, calendar expressions are entwined with the underlying language of the hieroglyphs. Clauses with calendar expressions have a specific grammar, and a scribe could choose from a variety of distinct formats to express any date. Each date format corresponded to a specific calendar within the system, and each calendar involved specific meanings or functions given how it uniquely defined one or more cycles of time as a relationship between numeracy and the cosmological order. Calendrical components thereby had layered meanings. For example, a basic unit of time might be synonymous with an animating force or a rite. Different dates could also resonate with one another through their related cyclic properties, and so a specific date within a text could have a particular local meaning if it resonated with a past date in some association with an ancestor. Numbers, especially as they functioned in calendar expressions, are notable for this type of meaning enrichment. Consequently, each basic numeral had multiple distinct hieroglyphic forms, including an iconic bar-and-dot form and an elaborate figural form that depicted a number's patron deity. In this talk, I will argue that there is yet more to this ancient scribal language of calendars than what is made explicit through hieroglyphic writing. By drawing on my recent work to decipher Ancient Maya textual hand signs, I will show how scribes composed calendar expressions that breached hieroglyphic content, in terms of both graphic form and conveyed meaning. Specifically, I aim to highlight the following: Calendar dates encoded by the hand signs of depicted figures within the art of a text; An implied calendrical text that harmonizes local and cosmological concerns; and Intentional polyvalent expressions that hinge on calendrical semantics to create a text that, like time, can be experienced in a nonlinear way.

Bio

is a linguistic anthropologist with an interest in the unique and diverse communication traditions of Indigenous America, especially those involving signed language. He is specifically focused on practices that integrate hand signs with speech or another modality of linguistic expression. His earlier work described this type of multimodality in Arapaho language, as a feature of casual storytelling. He is currently exploring the phenomenon within Ancient Maya texts, where writing combines hieroglyphs and hand signs held by depicted persons or other figures.

Recent/relevant publication

“The Ancient Maya Script of Hand Forms Embedded in Figural Art: A Decipherment of Numerals Signed by the Rulers of Altar Q”��

Article about Rich’s work on CPR: