Michael D. Coe and the Códice Maya de México (Grolier) Controversy

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Celebration and Critical Assessment of "The Maya Scribe and His World" on its Fiftieth Anniversary" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The controversial display of “Códice Maya de México” at the Grolier Club in 1971 and its subsequent publication by Coe in “The Maya Scribe and His World” opens debate regarding archaeologists’ involvement with unprovenienced objects. The sudden appearance of the previously unknown manuscript in the exhibition took Mesoamericanists by surprise and sparked bitter debate over its authenticity that lasted 46 years, largely because the object lacked archaeological context and the controversial nature of its exhibition caused many to react defensively. Though costly and time-consuming, the codex was recently authenticated and is now considered the oldest book of the Americas. While secretly removing the codex from Mexico clearly violated established protocols, one wonders if it would ever have been authenticated if its exhibition had not drawn so much attention, having previously been condemned as a forgery by two scholars with no particular expertise in codices. We argue that one possible solution is that prominent unprovenienced objects go through a more thorough evaluation process that involves independently working specialists that can determine if it should be subject to more rigorous analysis. Though looting is deplorable, labeling authentic objects as fakes is an equally destructive act that condemns them to oblivion.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Celebration and Critical Assessment of "The Maya Scribe and His World" on its Fiftieth Anniversary   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36832.0