Why is there a fish in my cocoa? Maya language and writing in Mexico

The Maya are known as a lost civilization. Their abandoned cities in the rainforest of Central America with their overgrown temple architecture bear witness to a bygone civilization. But the Mayan culture lives on! 30 Mayan languages are still spoken today by around 7 million people in Central America (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador).

On the Mexican peninsula of Yucatán, around 800,000 speakers speak Yucatecan Maya. Today, this language is written using Latin letters. What is the significance of the pre-colonial Mayan hieroglyphic script and how is it being used again today? What is the situation of today’s Maya speakers and what does archaeology have to do with language? These questions and questions from the audience will be discussed by the ancient Americanist Ute Schüren and the ethnologist Harry Thomaß.