Did Incas or Mayan have written languages?

Question

I read somewhere that the pre-Columbian South American civilizations did not have any written languages. Is this really true? How did they manage to build such a huge monuments without any writing?

Answer 1

There were numerous systems of writing in pre-Colombian America. The Mayans were simply the most complex. The Aztecs and Toltecs likewise left records which may be deciphered. The qipu of the Incas, although widely disseminated are undecipherable to us. Qipu have been found among the Anasazi and throughout most of Central America as well as the Inca homelands in Peru and Chile.

Although there is no discernible alphabet the petroglyphs of the north tell the stories and myths of the Algonquian peoples who lived there. Wampum belts also carry messages in the symbols they bear and colours they use.

It is said that the Mixed breed Indian Sequoia was the first to make an Indian alphabet for the Cherokees. Legends say there was such an alphabet thousand of years ago. It would help explain the vast trade empire of the Mound culture and Hopewell archaeological finds.

Answer 2

No. Neither the Incas nor the Mayas had a written language. However, because the Inca empire was so vast, its rulers needed some way to keep record of the taxes and fees payed by the population so they came up with a system of knots on chords which to them was similar in meaning to what writing is for us.

Answer 3

Only the Mayans had a written language. The Aztecs recorded their history in what is called pictographs, colored drawings of events and people. You may find some examples in websites by the name of Aztec codex or codices. They are kept in different Museums.
The Incas encoded messages in knotted strings called quipus. The distance between the knots and their sizes can be compared to the Morse code of dots and dashes in different combinations.

Answer 4

The Mayans used a hieroglyphic style of writing, which is attested on all the buildings.

The Incans left no such writing on their architecture and no 'tablets' are extant which have been identified as writing. But one scholar theorizes that the Incan stich language on cloth.

Answer 5

They also had complex calendars. But no, there is not a Rosetta stone to their languages. Their writing in pictographs is slightly more cryptic than hieroglyphics.

Answer 6

Yes they did and it is inscribed in their stone temples, buildings and monuments, and can be read. They did not create books, however, nor clay tablets.

Answer 7

They wrote in a form similar to hierogliflics.