| Diego de Landa was born on 12 November 1524 in Cienfuentes, Spain. The groundwork for Maya decipherment was laid by this Franciscan friar and Bishop of Yucatan who included significant information about Maya writing in his "Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan", a detailed history and description of the Maya of Yucatan written about 1566. Landa based much of his account on interviews with learned Maya informants. From Landa we have our most important account of the Maya Calendar and a "Maya alphabet" (in reality a syllabary), that has worked as the Rosetta Stone for the decipherment of the Maya writing system. |
