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Spanish Decipherment: Spanish Explorer Jose Calderonque

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Decipherment began when Spanish explorer Jose Calderon stumbled upon the city of Palenque. The great city had been mysteriously abandoned in the 9th century and concealed by the forest long before the Spanish had invaded; it was there that the preserved tablets had been found. The news of this discovery sparked an interest in artists and explorers who wished to be a part of the decipherment project. In 1832, archaeologist Constantine Rafinesque used only five pages of the Dresden Codex to identify and crack the first piece of the Maya code; a counting system. The counting system theory was made up of dots and bars and later proven correct and advanced upon by artists and archaeologists worldwide. With the excitement of the discovery, artist

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