He Burned Every Mayan Book, Then Tried to Remember Them
Colonial Americas

He Burned Every Mayan Book, Then Tried to Remember Them

A Spanish friar spent three days burning every Mayan book he could find—then spent the rest of his life trying to remember what they said.

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Colonial AmericasMaya16th CenturyBook BurningLinguisticsCold WarDiego de LandaYuri KnorozovCultural DestructionDecipherment

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