Earlier Mixtec writing revealed under 16th Century Codex Seldon
Posted On: Aug 28th, 2016 at 11:08
Mexico
The Codex Seldon, one of just twenty remaining from the Spanish invasion in the 16th Century, is now finally revealing its secrets as scientists are using hyperspectral imaging to see what’s underneath the top layer.
The codex is made from deer hide and covered in plaster. On the plaster is a codex, but scientists have always believed that underneath is an earlier Mixtec codex. The new imaging technique has revealed exactly that – a much older Mixtec codex is now revealed and this is one of the most important discoveries in recent years for Mexican archaeology.
With very little original writing in existence, all archaeologists have to go on are Spanish texts, but while some of these were written with great accuracy, most of them were written with extreme bias, rather like the prevailing ideas about queen Cleopatra given to us by the Romans.
This is a very exciting discovery and I await with eagerness the translation of the codex… if they can understand it, that is.
