What is the name of the Maya writing system using glyphs?

The Maya writing system using glyphs is called Maya hieroglyphs, also known as Maya script. It was the writing system of the Maya civilization in Mesoamerica and combined logograms, which represented whole words or ideas, with syllabic signs representing sounds.

The earliest clearly identifiable Maya inscriptions date to roughly the 3rd century BCE. Maya scribes carved texts into stone monuments, painted them on ceramics and walls, and wrote books called codices on bark paper. These records preserved royal histories, dates, rituals, mythology, and astronomical observations.

The word “hieroglyphs” refers to the signs’ picture-like appearance and does not mean the Maya borrowed their writing from ancient Egypt. The two systems developed independently. Common mix-ups include Inca quipu, which used knotted cords rather than glyphs, and the unrelated writing traditions of the Olmec and Aztec cultures. Maya script is the most extensively deciphered writing system from pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.