Maya Script
The Mayans are literate as they developed their own system of writing, one can actually represented a spoken language. The writing system was known as Maya script, which was one of only three writing systems independently developed in the world. The Mayan hierogylphs were a combination of syllabograms (phonetic symbols) which represented different sounds and logograms (words); it is estimated that there were about 550 logograms and 150 syllabograms. The writing was mostly carved into stone and wood, painted on pottery, or written on codex (paper book) to portray the image of Gods and kings. A Mayan script was written in two columns each with two glyphs; it is read two glyphs at a time starting from the top left and moving down to the column below. Sentences followed the structure of verb-object-subject and adverbs before verbs when necessary. The Maya script continued to influence on the other mesoamerican civilizations such as the Aztecs who later incorporate more phonetic symbols into their own writing system; it was also being secretly used when during the reign of Spanish conquistadors.