(Filed: 15/09/2006)
The Cascajal block has 28 distinct symbols. The reading order is more difficult to establish, though most Mesoamerican scripts read left to right.
The paired sets of eyes in signs 31 and 32 suggest the facial markings seen on some Olmec objects.
Several paired sequences, such as the eyes or a throne sign paired with an evident mat sign, both common tropes for rulership, point to poetic couplets.
Signs 4, 40, and 3 show a preoccupation with maize, which fuelled the society and was celebrated with a god of fertility.
Sign 9 may be a skin; sign 6, a strung bead or plaque; sign 12, a dart tip; sign 58, an object shown grasped in Olmec iconography; sign 11, a bivalve; sign 56, a possible perforator, used in ritual bloodletting; and sign 13, a vertical fish.
Three signs appear four times, six appear three, 12 occur twice, and seven occur once.
