J&P Voelkel

Did you know that the Maya invented one of the most sophisticated writing systems of the ancient world? They wrote in hieroglyphs that were sometimes whole words and sometimes just syllables. The glyph shown in this dot means both artist and scribe. To the Maya, they were the same thing. Every scribe was an artist too. They painted hundreds, some say thousands, of folding bark-paper books - most of which, tragically, were destroyed in the Spanish Conquest.

To research their Maya-themed Jaguar Stones books, Jon and Pamela (J&P) Voelkel have learned to read and write Maya glyphs; explored over forty Maya sites in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico; canoed down underground rivers; and tracked howler monkeys in the rainforest. Jon’s most frightening experience was being lost in a pitch-black labyrinth under a Maya pyramid. Pamela’s most frightening experience was being interviewed by Al Roker on Today.

Find out more at www.jaguarstones.com