System of writing used by people of the Maya civilization from about the 3rd century AD to the 17th century. Of the various scripts developed in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Mayan writing is by far the most elaborate and abundantly attested: about 800 signs have been inventoried in more than 5,000 instances (see Maya Codices). Signs some representational, some quite abstract are either logographic, representing words, or syllabic, representing consonant-vowel sequences. Typically, up to five signs are fit into tight square or rectangular clusters, which are further arranged into rows or grids. The language of Classic Period writing ( AD 250-900) is generally thought to be Cholan, ancestral to several modern Maya languages; later inscriptions were in Yucatec. By the 1990s scholars had an accurate grasp of 60-70% of Mayan inscriptions, with some texts almost completely readable and some still quite opaque. Most inscriptions record significant events and dates in the lives of Mayan rulers