Mesoamerican Codices Database: An On-line Tool for Researching the Maya Codices

FAIN: RZ-50311-04

Gabrielle Vail
Unicode Consortium (Mountain View, CA 94043-3941)

The preparation of a database of the four extant Maya codices--manuscripts painted with pictures, hieroglyphic texts, and calendrical glyphs--and a monograph interpreting one of the codices.

This project expands upon a database created through NEH funding to make the Maya Madrid Codex available as an on-line resource to researchers and other interested individuals. The database facilitates access to this Postclassic (c. 14th or 15th century) Maya document and allows searches of its hieroglyphic, iconographic, and calendrical content. During the tenure of this grant, we will incorporate the other three Maya codices (the Dresden, Paris, and Grolier manuscripts) into the database structure, thereby providing an on-line tool for comparative research involving these prehispanic Maya books. Additionally, we will complete a commentary of the Madrid Codex to be published as a monograph with an accompanying CD-ROM housing the database for those with limited Internet access.