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Question for February 2019

Could there be more undiscovered ancient books in Mexico?? Asked by Sheldwich Primary School. Chosen and answered by Professor Davide Domenici

Yes, the chance of finding new pre-Columbian manuscripts is low, but still possible. And such manuscripts could be hidden in very different places.
Dry caves, for example, are excellent places for the preservation of perishable materials: the so-called Codex Grolier, a Maya pictorial manuscript, was purportedly found in a cave in Chiapas, so that we cannot discard the possibility that other manuscripts from similar contexts could be found in the future, hopefully during formal archaeological excavations.

Ancient manuscripts could also be preserved in contemporary indigenous communities: recently, parts of an ancient Mixtec manuscript, either pre-Hispanic or early colonial, were found in the community of San Bartolo Yautepec (Oaxaca), inside a 16th-17th century book of Gregorian chants, where they were reused as parts of the book’s back cover (pic 2).
Finally, ancient Mesoamerican manuscripts could be found very far from their area of origin. Colonial European texts record the shipping and early circulation of Mesoamerican manuscripts in Europe, especially in Italy and Spain. Even if most of the currently known ancient codices are in European libraries, it is obvious that they number far fewer than those originally brought across the Atlantic. Who knows? Maybe in some old library of European noble families there could be a surprise…

Picture sources:-
• Pic 1: photo by Dave Bunnell, Wikipedia (Cave)
• Pic 2: images from the Instituto de Organos Históricos de Oaxaca (IOHIO - follow link below)

‘The Presentation of the Treasures of San Bartolo Yautepec’, IOHO website

Comments (2)

S

Sean Skyhawk

29th Aug 2021

I am kind of scared of how much we’d rediscover if they audited all the world’s academic institutions and libraries as hard as the GOP tried to audit the 2020 election

C

CC

23rd Dec 2020

Very interesting that a new codex fragment was discovered. Do you know of any site that keeps track of new codex discoveries and analysis?

M

Mexicolore

Sadly no, but that’s a great idea...

Professor Davide Domenici

Professor Davide Domenici

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