High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs or Maya hieroglyphs, is the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala, and writing was in continuous use until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century CE (and even later in isolated areas such as Tayasal). Although most Mayan languages utilize the Latin alphabet, Maya writing is still used and taught in some Maya speaking areas of Mexico where it has received official support and promotion by the Mexican government and is taught in universities and public schools in Mayan speaking areas. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, somewhat similar in function to modern Japanese writing. Maya writing was called "hieroglyphics" or hieroglyphs by early European explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries who did not understand it but found its general appearance reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs, to which the Maya writing system is not at all related.