brainwagon

Well, I wanted nothing more than to spend the day relaxing around the home, but my wife conned me into going over to the Legion of Honor Museum in Golden Gate Park to see their new exhibition: The Courtly Art of the Maya. Despite the fact that we arrived fairly late because of horrendous traffic, we quickly reviewed the 130 artifacts. I must admit to a certain fascination with Mesoamerican history: at one time I thought it would be fun to try to teach myself the system of Mayan hieroglyphics. As is typical of most of my grandious endeavors, that ended with the purchase and reading of several books, but without any real knowledge sticking. Still, I remain fascinated by the Mayan culture, and this exhibition of Mayan art was quite impressive and beautiful. I urge anyone in the Bay Area to drop in and see it.

Books on the subject that I recommend:

• Mayan Script: A Civilization and Its Writing, by Longhena and Frongia
• Breaking the Maya Code by Michael Coe

You can also download images of Mayan glyphs here.