magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

i finished my assigned readings while i was working in the library, and went browsing through the new book shelf for something to occupy my last hour. i always seem to look for architecture books first, but there were only two or three, none of which jumped out at me. so i grabbed a new book on written mayan language.

not much i didn't know. a few things that seemed like misinformation, but that may just be because my own wacky theories have little base in reality. a couple off-handed references of xochipilli, one of which referred back to what sounded like a more in depth reference that i couldn't seem to find anywhere in the book (i don't think it was actually in there).

but then, at the end, in a section about other writing systems of central and south america, was a discussion of the bean language of the moche people of peru. no one is really sure if it was a writing system, or a form of gambling, or if they just liked to draw on beans. but decorated beans show up in quite a bit of their art, sometimes anthropomorphized. and the actual beans have been found in tombs.

whether or not it was the basis of a writing system, i like the idea of a complex language of decorated beans. that's one to hold on to.