The Americas’ oldest book is an intricate work of Maya astronomy

Only four known Maya books have survived both Spanish colonial destruction and the passage of time. Created in the 11th or 12th century, the Códice Maya de México (the Maya Codex of Mexico) is the oldest of these works and the only one to predate the arrival of the conquistadors in the 16th century. In this brief introduction to the remarkable work from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the art historians Andrew Turner and Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank guide viewers through its accordion-folded fig-bark paper, vivid pigments and intricate imagery, which combine mythological scenes and calendrical notations to chart the movements of Venus. Here, myth and astronomical knowledge converge, offering a glimpse into a complex worldview rich with insights into how ritual and the cosmos shaped life in Maya society.