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: Harvey M. Bricker, Victoria R. Bricker, John F. Chuchiak IV, Christine L. Hernández, Bryan R. Just, Merideth Paxton, and John Pohl. Additional support for this publication was generously provided by the Eugene M. Kayden Fund at the University of Colorado.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.

At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.

Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete

Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.

Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.

We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.

Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.

Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.

Yes, you can access The Madrid Codex by Gabrielle Vail, Anthony Aveni, Gabrielle Vail,Anthony Aveni in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Latin American & Caribbean History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

University Press of Colorado

Year

2009

Print ISBN

9780870819391, 9780870817861

eBook ISBN

9780870818615

Topic

Social Sciences

Subtopic

Latin American & Caribbean History

Index

Social Sciences

Research 

Methodologies 

and

New

Approaches

to

Interpreting 

the

Madrid 

Codex

G

ABRIELLE

V

AIL

AND

A

NTHONY

A

VENI

THE

MADRID 

CODEX 

IN

PERSPECTIVE

Progress 

in

scholarly 

endeavor 

often 

comes 

in

spurts. 

Unexpected 

revolution-

ary

breakthroughs 

are

followed 

by

long 

periods 

of

what 

historian 

of

science 

T.

S.

Kuhn 

calls 

“normal 

science,” 

in

which 

the

community 

of

investigators 

ral-

lies 

around 

a

new

paradigm, 

applies 

it,

and

tests 

it

out, 

each 

according 

to

his

or

her

particular 

purview—until 

another 

breakthrough 

occurs. 

Such 

has

been

the

case 

in

the

decipherment 

of

Maya 

writing. 

The

first 

wave 

of

progress 

broke

around 

the

turn 

of

the

nineteenth 

into 

the

twentieth 

century 

with 

the

discovery

and

documentation 

of

Maya 

stelae 

and

the

publication 

of

the

earliest 

facsimi-

les

of

the

handful 

of

pre-Columbian 

bark 

paper 

texts, 

or

codices. 

The

profu-

sion 

of

numbers 

and

dates, 

the

easiest 

to

decipher 

because 

of

their 

pronounced

regularity, 

led

early 

scholars—including 

Sylvanus 

Morley, 

Ernst 

Förstemann,

and

later 

Eric 

Thompson—to 

the

view 

that 

the

Maya 

elite 

were 

little 

more

than 

pacific 

worshippers 

of

esoterica: 

“So 

far

as

this 

general 

outlook 

on

life 

is

C

H

A

P

T

E

R

1

Contents
Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Abbreviations
1: Research Methodologies and New Approaches to Interpreting the Madrid Codex
Part 1: Provenience and Dating ofthe Madrid Codex
Part 2: Calendrical Models and Methodologies for Examining the Madrid Almanacs
Part 3: Connections Among the Madrid and Borgia Group Codices
Part 5: Overview: The Madrid Codex in theContext of Mesoamerican Traditions
Index

About this book

Frequently asked questions

Information

Table of contents