12 Facts About Mixtec writing

Mixtec writing originated as a logographic writing system during the Post-Classic period in Mesoamerican history.

Mixtec writing are an indigenous people of Mesoamerica, located in the western region of the modern Mexican states of Oaxaca, eastern part of Guerrero, and southern part of Puebla.

Mixtec writing language is part of the Otomanguean family of languages, a family found in Mesoamerican that includes Zapotec, another indigenous language found in Oaxaca.

Today Mixtec writing speakers are still found in Oaxaca and the neighboring regions of Puebla and Guerrero, though migration is spreading Mixtec writing speakers across Mexico and through the United States.

Early Classic period, 200 BCE – 300 CE, found the Mixtec writing civilization becoming more complex, with the adoption of a hierarchical settlement system.

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Mixtec writing is classified as logographic, meaning the characters and pictures used represent complete words and ideas instead of syllables or sounds.

The characters used in Mixtec writing can be sorted into three types, pictographic symbols, ideographic symbols, and phonetic signs.

The phonetic symbols used in Mixtec writing are important to the meaning of the words in which they are used, because Mixtec writing language is tonal.

Origin of the Mixtec writing system is unknown, but other Mesoamerican pre-Columbian writing systems, such as that of the Aztecs, are found to have similar traits.

The Mixtec writing system is found on codices dating to the Post-Classic period preceding the arrival of the Europeans in 1520 AD.

The Mixtec codices are writings recorded on decorated strips of bark and animal hide.

Today, the number of Mixtec writing speakers is around half a million people, spread across Mexico and the United States.