Archaeological evidence shows the Maya had started to build ceremonial architecture by approximately 1000 BCE. There is some disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and their neighboring Pre-Classic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe-Zoque– and Zapotec–speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in thi ...

Including:

• Maya civilization - Origins
• Maya civilization - Art
• Maya civilization - Architecture
• Maya civilization - Urban design
• Maya civilization - Building materials
• Maya civilization - Building process
• Maya civilization - Notable constructions
• Maya civilization - Writing and literacy
• Maya civilization - Writing system
• Maya civilization - Writing tools
• Maya civilization - Scribes
• Maya civilization - Literacy
• Maya civilization - Mathematics
• Maya civilization - Religion
• Maya civilization - Agriculture
• Maya civilization - Decline of the Maya
• Maya civilization - Rediscovery of the Pre-Columbian Maya
• Maya civilization - List of Maya sites
• Maya civilization - Most important sites
• Maya civilization - Other important Maya sites
• Maya civilization - Reference

Read more here: » Maya civilization: Encyclopedia - Maya civilization

See also:

Maya civilization, Maya civilization - Origins, Maya civilization - Art, Maya civilization - Architecture, Maya civilization - Urban design, Maya civilization - Building materials, Maya civilization - Building process, Maya civilization - Notable constructions, Maya civilization - Writing and literacy, Maya civilization - Writing system, Maya civilization - Writing tools, Maya civilization - Scribes, Maya civilization - Literacy, Maya civilization - Mathematics, Maya civilization - Religion, Maya civilization - Agriculture, Maya civilization - Decline of the Maya, Maya civilization - Rediscovery of the Pre-Columbian Maya, Maya civilization - List of Maya sites, Maya civilization - Most important sites, Maya civilization - Other important Maya sites, Maya civilization - Reference

Read more here: » Maya civilization: Encyclopedia II - Maya civilization - Writing and literacy

Maya civilization - Writing system. Main article: Maya hieroglyphics The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphics from a vague superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing, to which it is not related) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New ...

See also:

Maya civilization, Maya civilization - Origins, Maya civilization - Political structures, Maya civilization - Art, Maya civilization - Architecture, Maya civilization - Urban design, Maya civilization - Building materials, Maya civilization - Building process, Maya civilization - Notable constructions, Maya civilization - Writing and literacy, Maya civilization - Writing system, Maya civilization - Writing tools, Maya civilization - Scribes, Maya civilization - Literacy, Maya civilization - Mathematics, Maya civilization - Religion, Maya civilization - Agriculture, Maya civilization - Decline of the Maya, Maya civilization - Rediscovery of the Pre-Columbian Maya, Maya civilization - List of Maya sites, Maya civilization - Most important sites, Maya civilization - Other important Maya sites, Maya civilization - Reference

Read more here: » Maya civilization: Encyclopedia II - Maya civilization - Writing and literacy

Literacy is the ability to read and write. In modern context, the word means reading and writing in a level adequate for written communication and generally a level that enables one to successfully function at certain levels of a society. The standards for what level constitutes "literacy" vary between societies. Other skills such as computer skills or basic numeracy may also be included, as there are many people who cannot read letters but can read numbers, and even learn to use a computer (in a limited way) while remaining un ...

Including:

• Literacy - World literacy rates
• Literacy - Literacy history
• Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past
• Literacy - Teaching literacy
• Literacy - Literacy readiness
• Literacy - Lack of literacy
• Literacy - United States
• Literacy - United Kingdom
• Literacy - Other Countries
• Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century
• Literacy - New literacy studies
• Literacy - The importance of technological literacy
• Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia - Literacy

The Classic Maya language is the oldest historically attested member of the Maya language family. It is the main language documented in the Pre-Columbian inscriptions of the Classic Era Maya civilization. Classic Maya language - Relationships. Classic Maya is split into at least two dialects, Ch'olan and Yucatecan. These dialects eventually evolved into the contemporary up into the Chol language and the Yucatec Maya language. Modern Ch'ol and Yucatec speakers can understand many words in Classic Maya. < ...

Including:

• Classic Maya language - Relationships
• Classic Maya language - Writing System
• Classic Maya language - Classification

Read more here: » Classic Maya language: Encyclopedia - Classic Maya language

The Maya calendar is actually a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. These different calendars tracked observable phenomena such as the solar year, the lunar year, and the synodic period of the planet Venus; others had a divinatory or ritualistic purpose without any known association to natural cycles. These calendars could be synchronised and interlocked in complex ways, their combina ...

Including:

• Maya calendar - General overview
• Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time
• Maya calendar - Tzolk'in
• Maya calendar - Divination
• Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin
• Maya calendar - Haab
• Maya calendar - Wayeb
• Maya calendar - Calendar Round
• Maya calendar - Long Count
• Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates
• Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion
• Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion
• Maya calendar - End of the world?
• Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia - Maya calendar

Maya mythology refers to the pre-Columbian Maya civilization's extensive polytheistic religious beliefs. These beliefs had most likely been long-established by the time the earliest-known distinctively Maya monuments had been built and inscriptions depicting their deities recorded, considerably pre-dating the 1st millennium BC. Over the succeeding millennia this intricate and multi-faceted system of beliefs was extended, varying to a degree between regions and time periods, but maintaining also an inherited tradition and customary obs ...

Including:

• Maya mythology - Overview
• Maya mythology - The Creation Myth
• Maya mythology - Notable Gods
• Maya mythology - Bacabs
• Maya mythology - The First Humans
• Maya mythology - The Men
• Maya mythology - Their Wives
• Maya mythology - Gods and Supernatural Beings
• Maya mythology - Locations
• Maya mythology - Reference

Read more here: » Maya mythology: Encyclopedia - Maya mythology

Writing may refer to two activities: the inscribing of characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other constructs that represent language or record information, and the creation of material to be conveyed through written language. (There are some exceptions; for example, the use of a typewriter to record language is generally called typing, rather than writing.) Writing refers to both activities equally, and both activities may often occur simultaneously. Writing - Methods for recordin ...

Including:

• Writing - Methods for recording information
• Writing - Tools
• Writing - Writing in Historical Cultures
• Writing - Mesopotamia
• Writing - Egypt
• Writing - Phoenician writing system and descendents
• Writing - China
• Writing - Indus Valley
• Writing - Elsewhere
• Writing - Creation of text or information
• Writing - Creativity
• Writing - Author
• Writing - Critiques

Read more here: » Writing: Encyclopedia - Writing

The history of literacy goes back several thousand years, but before the industrial revolution finally made cheap paper and cheap books available to all classes in industrialized countries, in the mid-nineteenth century, only a small percentage of the world's population was literate. Up until that point, materials associated with literacy were prohibitively expensive for people other than wealthy individuals and institutions. For example, in England in 1841, 33% of men and 44% of women signed marriage certificates with their mark as they were unable to write. Only in 1870 was government-finance ...

See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Literacy history

It is well-established that children become able to "blend sounds" at different ages. Thus phonetic systems often cannot be applied by very young children. Experts differ in their approach to this issue, some advocating a delayed, but more rapid acquisition of reading by means of phonetics, while others advocate early acquisition of a basic vocabulary through a "see and say" method. A secondary advantage of phonetics is that it improves readers' spelling and writing abilities. See and say methods are said to increase the word acquisition rate and reading speed of many students. The problem with phonetics is that ...

See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Literacy readiness

Many have been concerned about the lack of literacy in the world population, despite the fact that literacy rates have increased steadily over the past few decades, especially in the third world. Third world nations which adopted communism (China, Cuba, and Vietnam, for example), experienced some of the most dramatic growth of literacy, approaching US and European rates. The United Nations defines illiteracy as the inability to read and write a simple sentence in any language. Figures of 1998 show that 16% of the world population is illiterate (by the UN definition). See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Lack of literacy

Many have been concerned about the lack of literacy in the world population, despite the fact that literacy rates have increased steadily over the past few decades, especially in the third world. Third world nations which adopted Marxist ideology (China, Cuba, and Vietnam, for example), experienced some of the most dramatic growth of literacy, approaching US and European rates. The United Nations defines illiteracy as the inability to read and write a simple sentence in any language. Figures of 1998 show that 16% of the world population is illiterate (by the UN definition). See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Lack of literacy

Literacy - New literacy studies. A theoretical approach to understanding literacy that argues that literacy is not autonomous or a set of discrete technical and objective skills such as reading and writing that can be applied across context. Instead what counts as literacy is determined by the cultural, political, and historical contexts of the community in which it is used. Definitions of literacy are based on ideologies. Scholars associated with the New Literacy Studies include Brian Street, James Paul Gee, All ...

See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century

Some people argue that one of the most effective methods of teaching literacy involve direct instruction of simplified phonetic systems. Others, however, argue that a more holistic method modelled after the way language is acquired is the most effective for teaching literacy. This disagreement has been termed "the reading wars" and is most evident in the pressures placed on schools to use commodified, pre-packaged basal series ...

See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Teaching literacy

Some people argue that one of the most effective methods of teaching literacy involves direct instruction of simplified phonetic systems. Others, however, argue that a more holistic method modelled after the way language is acquired is the most effective for teaching literacy. This disagreement has been termed "the reading wars" and is most evident in the pressures placed on schools to use commodified, pre-packaged basal series ...

See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - Teaching literacy

Illiteracy is most prevalent in developing countries. South Asian, Arab and Sub-Saharan African countries are regions with the highest illiteracy rates at about 40 to 50%. East Asia and Latin America have illiteracy rates in the 10 to 15% region while developed countries have illiteracy rates of a few percent. Within ethnically homogenous regions, literacy rates can vary widely from country or region to region. This often coincides with the region's wealth or urbanization, though many factors play a role. ...

See also:

Literacy, Literacy - World literacy rates, Literacy - Literacy history, Literacy - Examples of highly literate cultures in the past, Literacy - Teaching literacy, Literacy - Literacy readiness, Literacy - Lack of literacy, Literacy - United States, Literacy - United Kingdom, Literacy - Other Countries, Literacy - Literacy in the 21st century, Literacy - New literacy studies, Literacy - The importance of technological literacy, Literacy - Bibliography

Read more here: » Literacy: Encyclopedia II - Literacy - World literacy rates

As personal computers and their software become more powerful they have the capacity to record and edit sound, still images and video and manage interactivity. This places multimedia creation in the hands of any computer user. As multimedia becomes a more prevalent form of communication it is argued that the literacy of 'reading' and 'writing' using multimedia be taught in schools and other education institutions. The related study of mass media has long been part of the school program in many school systems either as a separate subje ...

See also:

Multimedia literacy, Multimedia literacy - Background, Multimedia literacy - Constructivist learning and multimedia, Multimedia literacy - Multimedia Literacy in Schools

Read more here: » Multimedia literacy: Encyclopedia II - Multimedia literacy - Background

The Haab was the Maya solar calendar made up of eighteen months of twenty days each and a five day month at the end of the year known as Wayeb or Uayeb that was called "the nameless days." Victoria Bricker estimates that the Haab was first used around 550 BC with the starting point of the winter solstice. The Haab was the foundation of the agrarian calendar and the month names are based on the seasons and agricultural events. For example the thirteenth month, Mac, may refer to the end of the rainy season and the fourteenth month, Kankin ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Haab

Main article: Indus script. Well over 400 Indus symbols have been found on seals or ceramic pots and over a dozen other materials, including a 'signboard' that apparently once hung over the gate of the inner citadel of the Indus city of Dholavira. Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of which (aside from the Dholavira 'signboard') are exquisitely tiny; the longest on a single surface, which is less than 1 inch (2.54 cm) square, is 17 signs long; the longest on any object (found on thr ...

See also:

Indus Valley Civilization, Indus Valley Civilization - Overview, Indus Valley Civilization - Settlements, Indus Valley Civilization - Predecessors, Indus Valley Civilization - Emergence of Civilization, Indus Valley Civilization - Cities, Indus Valley Civilization - Science, Indus Valley Civilization - Arts and Culture, Indus Valley Civilization - Trade, Indus Valley Civilization - Agriculture, Indus Valley Civilization - Writing or Symbol System, Indus Valley Civilization - Geography, Indus Valley Civilization - Decline collapse and legacy, Indus Valley Civilization - Bibliography

Read more here: » Indus Valley Civilization: Encyclopedia II - Indus Valley Civilization - Writing or Symbol System

Main article: Indus script. It has long been claimed that the Indus Valley was the home of a literate civilization, but this has recently been challenged on linguistic and archaeological grounds. Well over 400 Indus symbols have been found on seals or ceramic pots and over a dozen other materials, including a 'signboard' that apparently once hung over the gate of the inner citadel of the Indus city of Dholavira. Typical Indus inscriptions are no more than four or five characters in length, most of which (aside from the Dholavir ...

See also:

Indus Valley Civilization, Indus Valley Civilization - Overview, Indus Valley Civilization - Settlements, Indus Valley Civilization - Predecessors, Indus Valley Civilization - Emergence of Civilization, Indus Valley Civilization - Cities, Indus Valley Civilization - Science, Indus Valley Civilization - Arts and Culture, Indus Valley Civilization - Trade, Indus Valley Civilization - Agriculture, Indus Valley Civilization - Writing or Symbol System, Indus Valley Civilization - Geography, Indus Valley Civilization - Decline collapse and legacy, Indus Valley Civilization - Bibliography

Read more here: » Indus Valley Civilization: Encyclopedia II - Indus Valley Civilization - Writing or Symbol System