Mesoamerican Writing at the Crossroads: The Late Formative

Abstract

A general overview of the form and substance of Late Formative writing in Mesoamerica is undertaken here. Recent significant additions to the corpus of Mesoamerican Late Formative script have contributed new information warranting a review of our knowledge of this pivotal time period. Focusing on two of these additions for more detailed observations, analysis of the iconographic context of the script reveals considerable interdependence between text and context and provides a glimpse of the importance of cosmological considerations in the display of power. Maize and stages of maize growth are shown to be of crucial importance to power display as well as to the system of divinatory day names integral to the 260-day ritual cycle. Isthmian script is seen as likely to represent a Mixe-Zoquean language, and a maize-bearing shark is identified on a recently discovered Late Formative stela from Veracruz.