The markings of Mictal

Question

I found this sketch in the notes old Alembic took while exploring the ruins of the ancient city of Mictal. The man must have copied some writing he encountered among the ruins.

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If only I could figure out what these markings mean...

UPDATE - hints

It is a set of instructions.

(I'll give it another week before I post the next.)

@Raystafarian It might be anything - a map, a code, a religious pattern or even a recipe for the king's favorite tomato soup! — Yehuda Shapira, Mar 06 '16 at 08:29
is it the 'short circuit' robot - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Circuit_(1986_film)? — JMP, Mar 15 '16 at 14:28
@JonMarkPerry No, but perhaps it may have something to do with robots or computer programs — Yehuda Shapira, Mar 15 '16 at 14:33

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '16 at 20:27

They were trying to communicate...

bubble sort! The balls are weights that need to be sorted. The big box explains how to weigh things and that you need to put the heavier one on the right; the box under that goes through one iteration, after which the heaviest weight is on the right. The bottom set of boxes is all of the iterations.

Here's a picture explaining everything (cut into three parts since Imgur wasn't happy with a 5 MB image):

Wow! I like the way you made everything clear with the colors — Yehuda Shapira, Mar 19 '16 at 20:37

The markings of Mictal

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