Editing Maya codices (section)

== Breaking the Mayan code ==
Diego de&nbsp;Landa wrote extensively on the Maya during his time in the Yucatán. In his writings, de&nbsp;Landa shared translations of twenty-nine Maya symbols that he claimed functioned like an alphabet. Later scholars dismissed de&nbsp;Landa's translation as inaccurate.<ref name=":0" />

[[Yuri Knorozov|Yuri Valentinovich Knorozov]], a Soviet linguist, epigrapher and ethnographer played a pivotal role in the decipherment of the Maya script. He was also awarded the [[Order of the Quetzal]] by the President of Guatemala in 1991 and the [[USSR State Prize]] in 1977. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Knorozov |first=Youri V. |date=December 1962 |title=The Problem of Deciphering Mayan Writing |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/039219216201004007 |journal=Diogenes |volume=10 |issue=40 |pages=122–128 |doi=10.1177/039219216201004007 |issn=0392-1921|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Knorozov |first=Y. V. |date=January 1958 |title=The Problem of the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphic Writing |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/276310 |journal=American Antiquity |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=284–291 |doi=10.2307/276310 |jstor=276310 |issn=0002-7316|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In May 1945, Knorozov, as a soldier in the Red Army, saved a book from the burning Prussian State Library (now the [[Berlin State Library]]). This book contained reproductions of the Dresden, Madrid, and Paris codies. This story is recounted in an award winning film, ''Breaking the Mayan Code.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCook |first=Kathleen |date=2021-05-14 |title=Yuri Knorozov (Soviet) & Mayan decipherment |url=https://kathleenmccook.substack.com/p/yuri-knorozov |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Ebla to E-Books: The Preservation and Annihilation of Memory}}</ref>