Editing Maya codices (section)

==Other Maya codices==
Given the rarity and importance of these books, rumors of finding new ones often develop interest. [[Archaeology|Archaeological]] excavations of Maya sites have turned up a number of rectangular lumps of plaster and paint flakes, most commonly in elite tombs. These lumps are the remains of codices where all the organic material has rotted away. A few of the more coherent of these lumps have been preserved, with the slim hope that some technique to be developed by future generations of archaeologists may be able to recover some information from these remains of ancient pages. The oldest Maya codices known have been found by archaeologists as mortuary offerings with burials in excavations in [[Uaxactun]], [[Guaytán]] in San Agustín Acasaguastlán, and Nebaj in [[Quiché Department|El Quiché]], [[Guatemala]], at [[Altun Ha]] in [[Belize]] and at [[Copán]] in [[Honduras]]. The six examples of Maya books discovered in excavations date to the Early Classic (Uaxactún and Altun Ha), Late Classic (Nebaj, Copán), and Early Postclassic (Guaytán) periods. Unfortunately, all of them have degraded into unopenable masses or collections of very small flakes and bits of the original texts. Thus it may never be possible to read them.<ref>Whiting 1998: 207–208</ref>