The Grolier Codex: The only Mayan codex in Mexico

The “Grolier Codex” had been involved in a polemic that lasted for over 50 years, after being illegally removed from a cave in Chiapas . The codex is, in fact, authentic, and will be known as the “ Mayan Codex of Mexico ”. It's the oldest legible Mesoamerican manuscript in America and will be incorporated into the Memory of the world program, as named by the UNESCO .

“It's a Pre-hispanic document, it's authentic and it reminds us of the symbolic universe in the Mayan culture , and could date back to the year 1100 AD. The studies we have carried out were linked to the ones done before, which had proposed its authenticity, and we have concluded that this is one of the few Pre-hispanic codexes in the world”, said Diego Prieto , the INAH's general director.

In 2015, the archeologist Michael Coe , from Yale , carried out studies and established its authenticity and considered it as one of the most ancient documents in America, dating back to the first half of the 13th century. In Mexico , experts on the ancient culture and in Mayan writing had avoided making any kind of declarations, because they had certain doubts about its authenticity, as it was found by looters and was then acquired by Josué Sáenz , a collector. In 1960, José Luis Franco, an archeologist, denied its existence.

The debate lasted several years but in 2016 US experts led by Coe , published in the Maya Archeology magazine an article that said that the manuscript belongs to an ancient calendar based on the cycle of Venus, and is one of the most ancient documents in America . The Grolier Codex , along with other three Mayan documents located in European cities, Dresden, Paris, and Madrid , was considered as the “ fourth Mayan codex ” by the expert, and it's the only one in Mexico .

In 1981, Coe asked Dr. Sáenz to lend him the original codex to display it in an exhibition about Mayan writing organized by the New York Grolier Club. It was known as the Grolier codex since then. In 1973, Coe published the results of radiocarbon tests carried out on a piece of ancient paper related to the codex. The document was said to date back to 1230 AD.

The last investigation

Between 2017 and 2018, the INAH carried out an integral research project for the first time, led by Sofía Martínez del Campo and Baltazar Brit o, who formed a team integrated by historians, archeologists, physical anthropologists, curators, archaeobotanists, biologists, physicians, epigraphists, geologists, and forensic entomologists to analyze the manuscript.

In a symposium that started yesterday, titled “ The Mayan Codex of Mexico, formerly known as Grolier” , they are talking about the historical research, language, materiality, the raw material, the date based on radiocarbon studies , among other studies carried out by experts from the INAH, UNAM , and the University of Colorado.

Prieto said that “It's been confirmed that this is the oldest American manuscript known and it's part of the national archeological heritage. Now it'll be guarded by the National Anthropology Library ”.

Baltazar Brito

explained that the codex confirms all of Venus's movements . “It's the last Mayan codex of them all because it has influence from the center of Mexico , in this sense, we can call in rare ; we consider it atypical , we don't know about another document with these characteristics. In 1971 and later, very little was known about Venus's movements , there has been information about the Mayan epigraphy since then and that is why we know that the information in the codex couldn't have been falsified because that information simply didn't exist.

The exhibition “ The Mayan Codex of Mexico ” will take place from September 27 to October 7 at the National Anthropology Museum.

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