Quick Start

The MHD provides access to two databases. The Texts database includes the glyphic texts on various media. The “Catalog” encompasses the distinctive functional units of the Maya script, termed graphemes.

Landing page

  • Classic vs. codical: codical includes texts from Dresden, Madrid and Paris codices; Classic includes all other texts from Preclassic through Postclassic periods.
  • Graphemes vs. blocks: Select blocks for most searches. Select graphemes to enable dynamic integration of catalog with texts and show index of proper names.
  • Select only the subset of the database that is needed to filter results more easily.
  • Fields page contains brief descriptions of the fields that can be queried.
  • Return to Landing Page by clicking MHD icon on upper left.

Texts page

Navigating Texts

Menu items:

  • Switch to Catalog switches back and forth from Texts to Catalog.
  • Select queries the database. In popup, select field, operator (‘Contains’ etc.), and enter search text (default is NOT case sensitive, unless ‘Matches exact case’ is selected). Then click Add button. Make additional selections if needed, then choose from buttons at top (e.g. Select; do NOT press ENTER on keyboard). If you are querying ‘OR’, use Select Additional button after you have made the initial selection. If you are executing an ‘AND’ query, use the Select Within button. Sort up or down on visible columns and move columns to right and left as needed. To restore reading order of blocks/graphemes in a text, sort up on the left-hand column (blsort).
  • Names query menu only appears when Graphemes is selected from Landing Page. Click to open menu. Enter whole or part of proper name, nickname, translation of name, or site to generate list of names. Or use Find menu to generate lists of names of Deities (including wahy spirits), Structures, Monuments (and other objects), Persons, Toponyms. Click on item to find that name in the texts. These menus change depending on whether Classic, codical, or all texts are selected on Landing Page.
  • Word List: Select from 6 options indicated to display lists of terms in the database. Lists are not searchable but can be sorted.
  • Download downloads CSV file of selected records (scroll down list to load).
  • Show/Hide: Select fields to show/hide columns before executing query. Return to original settings by clicking MHD icon.
  • Refresh returns to original selection from Landing Page.

Tab:

  • Table displays selected data in tabular format.

Popup: Click on record to show popup containing additional data and associated images. Use arrows at top to navigate forward and back through records. Scroll down to see chronological data. Three tabs are shown:

  • Data displays detailed data associated with record. If Graphemes is selected on Landing Page, a Search Catalog button will appear, which queries the catalog based on the grapheme code listed above. It will not return any results if the item is not in the catalog (e.g. bar-and-dot numeral ’11’) or if it is a questioned code (e.g. ‘AA1s?’).
    1. Upper section shows data associated with the object.
    2. Middle section shows data relating to the block.
    3. Lower section (scroll down) shows chronological data.
    4. Images are displayed on the right-hand side. Click on thumbnail to enlarge object photo in a popup.
  • Basic Data shows selected data and images.
  • Citations displays citations for the text (in alphabetical order by author last name), credit and citation for the photo of the glyph block, credit and citation for the drawing of the glyph block, and credit and citation for the photo of the object on which the text appears.

Coding conventions

  • Double question mark ‘??’: data can be identified and coded, but value cannot be determined in the given context.
  • Underscore ‘_’: data is missing.
  • Isolated dash ‘-‘: null.
  • Pound sign ‘#’: data to be coded.
  • Numbering format: Numerals 0-9 are generally written as 00-09 for sorting purposes.

Catalog page

Navigating the Catalog

Menu items:

  • Switch to Texts switches back and forth from Catalog to Texts.
  • Select: See querying of Texts database above.
  • Download: See above.
  • Refresh: See above.

Popup: Click on record to show popup containing additional data and associated images. Use arrows at top to navigate forward and back through records. Six tabs are shown:

  • Data displays detailed data associated with record, with grapheme drawing and equivalent drawing from Thompson catalog on the right. If Graphemes is selected on Landing Page, a Search Texts button will appear, which queries the texts database based on the grapheme code listed. Note that this query will only select securely identified examples. If you want to find questioned examples of the grapheme, you will need to query the Texts database directly.
  • Lexical (logographs only) shows terms in dictionaries of Mayan languages. Scroll down to see all data and key.
  • Complementation shows contexts that demonstrate phonetic decipherment for grapheme. These include complementation (logograph + syllabograph) as well as syllabic signs used to spell attested terms, e.g. /cha-ki/ to spell “Chahk”.
  • Substitution shows contexts in which logographs are spelled syllabically, thereby demonstrating decipherment for the grapheme. Entries may appear more than once because each grapheme is coded individually.
  • Classifications displays classification codes from previous catalogs.
  • Citations displays citations for grapheme.

Useful queries

  1. Provenienced objects: Classic-blocks SELECT objcodedest DOES NOT CONTAIN ‘col’
  2. Provenienced monuments: Classic-blocks SELECT objcodedest DOES NOT CONTAIN ‘col’ AND objclass CONTAINS ‘monument’
  3. Objects with secure date: Classic-blocks SELECT objlc CONTAINS ‘.’ AND objlc DOES NOT CONTAIN ‘?’ AND objcal DOES NOT CONTAIN ‘estimate’
  4. Generate complete catalog: [in Catalog] SELECT catcode NOT EMPTY
Example of a simple query

Example of simple query: Find reading for ‘axe’ glyph in codices (T190) and text examples.

Codical-graphemes, Click SWITCH TO CATALOG, SELECT cattno CONTAINS ‘190’

Click on record, Click SEARCH TEXTS button [Can also query catpicture CONTAINS ‘axe’]

29 records

Example of a complex query

Example of complex query: Select all references to non-local sites in texts from Tikal.

Classic-blocks SELECT blsem CONTAINS ‘site title’

SELECT ADDITIONAL blsem CONTAINS ’emblem glyph’

SELECT WITHIN objcodedest CONTAINS ‘tik’

SELECT WITHIN blengl DOES NOT CONTAIN ‘tikal’

63 records

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