Perhaps an exhibition such as "Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya," which opens in two weeks at the Legion of Honor, can restore some of the historical perspective we need and easily lose in the myopic ...

When Martha Macri was growing up in Vinita, Okla., her father liked to teach her words in Cherokee. On Sundays they would visit a full-blood uncle who had a copy of the famous syllabary invented by ...

Researchers began decoding the glyphic language of the ancient Maya long ago, but the Internet is helping them finish the job and write the history of this enigmatic Mesoamerican civilization. For ...

NARRATOR: Maya scribes were forced to learn European script. MICHAEL COE: The writing system totally died out in the centuries that followed the Spanish conquest. I mean, people were probably burned ...