ArtFire

The pattern on these copper earrings is an example of Zapotec script. They are 9/16" wide and 1 3/4" long and hang from hypoallergenic niobium earwires with a wire coil detail.

Examples of writing from the pre-Mayan Zapotec culture in Central America date to between 600 and 400 BC. The Zapotec calendar has been decoded, but the language of the script is still unknown, even though Zapotec languages are still spoken.

I-146

As I reached the pictures in the "New Scientist" article I knew I had stumbled on what I had been looking for. Bronze has a feeling of antiquity about it that seems suited to fragments of text, and I wanted to incorporate script into the pieces I was making, but in all the texts I was looking at the meaning had to be considered. Here were "Eight Scripts That Still Can't Be Read", and they were both enormously varied and visually intriguing. From the organic feel of Linear A to the impossible precision of Rongo-rongo, from the almost familiar pictures of Olmec, Proto-Elamite, and the Phaistos Disc to the abstract lines and squiggles of Meroitic, all were visually and intellectually engaging in a different way than known text could be. They say something, but they are more cultural artifact than simple text. Even if one turns out to be a warehouse inventory I won't be disappointed because their meaning goes beyond their translation. So here is my "Undeciphered Texts" collection.

copper, niobium