This mysterious Maya codex has been verified as the oldest known text of ancient America
Wow.
Researchers have verified the authenticity of an ancient Maya text from the 13th century, solving the long-standing riddle of whether the mysterious fragment was actually genuine.
The Grolier Codex, thought to have been uncovered by looters in the 1960s, has long been treated with suspicion by archaeologists and historians, but a new analysis of the text suggests that it is both genuine and the oldest known manuscript written in the Americas.
Whereas the other surviving Maya codices were found during the 19th century, the Grolier long stood out as a potential fake, only coming to light in the late 20th century. The pages were reportedly found by looters in a cave in Chiapas, Mexico, before findings its way into a private collection.
"Its history is cloaked in great drama," says anthropologist Stephen Houston from Brown University. "It was found in a cave in Mexico, and a wealthy Mexican collector, Josué Sáenz, had sent it abroad before its eventual return to the Mexican authorities."
The codex takes its name from the Grolier Club in New York City, where it was displayed in the 1970s, but ever since its discovery, researchers have debated whether or not the pages were a forgery, cunningly designed to emulate the style of ancient Maya writing, illustrations, and materials.
The fact that it was discovered by looters and not archaeologists also didn't help.
And then there's Sáenz's colourful telling of how he came into possession of the manuscript, which has long encouraged doubters.
