In the Beginning was the Codex

Summary

During excavations at Cerén in the summer of 1989, a flattened expanse of paint – roughly the size of a book, with several colors visible and possibly multiple layers – was found on the floor of a niche located at the base of a bench within one of the domestic buildings (Structure 2). The archaeologists' response was both elation at the prospect that these constituted the remains of a codex (painted bark paper or animal skin "book," depicted on elite Maya ceramics, with only a very few examples surviving from the time of Contact), and deep concern, given their very deteriorated and vulnerable state thanks to long-term archaeological burial in subtropical conditions. The serendipitous events that led me in my first foray south of the U.S. border to this artifact and its remarkable context have resulted in career-long involvement with archaeological conservation in Central America. The development of field recovery techniques for, and the technical elucidation and preservation of artifacts made from illusive craft technologies remain a special focus, including hoped-for painted codices – first at Cerén, subsequently at Copán (Honduras), Baking Pot (Belize), and Waka'-El Perú (Guatemala) – the outcomes of which will be presented in this paper.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• After the Volcano Erupted: Papers in Honor of Dr. Payson Sheets (Part 1)

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Spatial Coverage