Exploring the Early Americas
Reading Pre-Columbian Artifacts
- Scribe: The first figure is a Maya scribe. He holds a carved conch shell, which is his paint container or inkpot. In his headdress, the scribe wears two signs of his profession: a small bundle of bark paper pages and two brushes. The net on the headdress is the traditional symbol of the old priestly god Itzam, the patron god of scribes.
- Glyphs: The bottom hieroglyph in the set of two glyphs in front of the scribe reads “a man,” but the top glyph is indecipherable.
- The god Itzam: Itzam, the patron god of scribes, accompanies the human scribe. The old god’s body is marked with symbols of brightness, indicating his glowing supernatural nature, and he wears his signature net headdress. He holds a brush daintily in his right hand and steadies a conch shell paint palette in his left.
- Glyphs: Above the god, a series of hieroglyphs read “sage,” “learned man,” and “artisan.”
