神秘的伊斯特摩铭文

A long-undeciphered script receives renewed attention and a contested interpretation Andrew Robinson THE ISTHMIAN SCRIPT | Unlike ancient scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mesopotamian cunei- form, Greek Linear B, and Mesoamerican Maya glyphs—all of which were deciphered during the past two centuries—the ancient Isthmian script from Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec is un- known to most people. Yet in 1993, it prompted a cover story in Science written by epigrapher John Justeson and linguist Terrence Kaufman, who claimed to have deciphered the Isthmian script, which they preferred to call the epi-Olmec script, invoking a Mesoamerican language family known as Mixe-Zoquean (1). This claim prompted widely differing responses from scholars of Mesoamerica, including linguist Martha Macri. …