De Landa alphabet

Despite its inaccuracies, the information provided by him would much later prove to be crucial to the mid-20th century breakthrough in the decipherment of the Maya script, starting with the work of the Soviet epigrapher and Mayanist Yuri Knorozov.

His work was written after he had been recalled to Spain to face trial by Inquisition for allegations of improper behaviour while there, and he wrote it as a defense of his mission there.

The pre-existing establishments, such as the Mayan religious order, were all destroyed by invading Spanish belligerents, such as De Landa, to make way for Christian “enlightenment”.

In furtherance of this goal, nearly all the Mayan texts were destroyed, in deference to writings that conformed to Biblical doctrine.

[1] It was not until the early 1950s when Knorozov published his landmark paper, analyzing it and other inscriptions in a new light, that substantial progress began to be made.