Maya Mystery Solved!

Safe in a museum vault in Mexico City sits a mysterious book that has been the source of controversy for decades. Known as the Grolier Codex, the book was ­discovered by looters in a Mexican cave in 1965. They claimed it dated back hundreds of years to the time of the Maya people, but many experts said it was a fake. Now, after half a ­century, researchers have determined that the text is not only the real deal, it’s also the oldest book ever found in the Americas.

To learn the truth, experts ­analyzed the book’s pages. They determined that both the paper and the ink were types used by the Maya people, who lived ­centuries ago in what is now ­Mexico and Central America. (See map, below.) The year the book was found provided another clue. In 1965, scholars didn’t yet know about some of the ancient gods depicted in the text, which means that the book couldn’t have been forged.

Ultimately, the team of researchers verified that the text is about 800 years old. Says ­Stephen Houston, one of the experts: “It gives us a glimpse into life during a time period that we don’t fully understand.”