The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript

Author(s): Anthony Aveni

Editor(s): Gabrielle Vail

Year: 2004

Summary

This volume offers new calendrical models and methodologies for reading, dating, and interpreting the general significance of the Madrid Codex. The longest of the surviving Maya codices, this manuscript includes texts and images painted by scribes conversant in Maya hieroglyphic writing, a written means of communication practiced by Maya elites from the second to the fifteenth centuries A.D. Some scholars have recently argued that the Madrid Codex originated in the Petén region of Guatemala and postdates European contact. The contributors to this volume challenge that view by demonstrating convincingly that it originated in northern Yucatán and was painted in the Pre-Columbian era. In addition, several contributors reveal provocative connections among the Madrid and Borgia group of codices from Central Mexico. Contributors include Anthony Aveni, Harvey M. Bricker, Victoria R. Bricker, John F. Chuchiak, Christine Hernández, Bryan R. Just, Merideth Paxton, John M. D. Pohl, and Gabrielle Vail. Available for download here is the cover page, title page, table of contents, and first chapter entitled "Research Methodologies and New Approaches to Interpreting the Madrid Codex" by Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni. The book in its entirety (426 pages) is available from University Press of Colorado.

Cite this Record

The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript. Anthony Aveni, Gabrielle Vail. Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado. 2004 ( tDAR id: 374934) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8XG9QB7

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

URL: http://www.upcolorado.com/book/The_Madrid_Codex_Paper


Spatial Coverage

min long: -92.241; min lat: 15.327 ; max long: -86.594; max lat: 22.248 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Beth Svinarich

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
madrid-codex.pdf 3.52mb Feb 28, 2012 12:36:21 PM Public