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How is the Cascajal text laid out and read?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·Part of Is the Cascajal inscription writing?·3 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: the block should be rotated 90 degrees and read in columns, left to right and top to bottomAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Three answers have been proposed. The block should be rotated 90 degrees and read in columns, left to right and top to bottom. leads, with evidence 2 for: partly supported by its tests. Two are still possible.

Why it matters

The 2006 reading in horizontal rows is unlike every later Mesoamerican script; a rotation to columns would remove one objection and changes every sequence analysis⁠[1]⁠[2].

Answers 3

Evidence: 2 for
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
The text runs in horizontal rows as published in 2006.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

History

  1. Rodríguez Martínez et al. puts forward: the text runs in horizontal rows as published in 2006.
  2. Mora-Marín puts forward: the block should be rotated 90 degrees and read in columns, left to right and top to bottom.
  3. Mora-Marín: repeated sequences and layout favour a column format like later Mesoamerican scripts.For: The block should be rotated 90 degrees and read in columns, left to right and top to bottom.
  4. Mora-Marín: the pelt and paw signs, often adjacent, continue into the next column under this order.For: The block should be rotated 90 degrees and read in columns, left to right and top to bottom.
  5. Asked on this site
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