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R.I.P. Micahel Coe.
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Horace LaBadie
Oct 1, 2019, 7:58:01 AM10/1/19
to
Yale's Michael Coe, who contributed to the deciphering of Maya glyphs,
has died at age 90.
"He also risked his career in the 1960s to back the findings of Soviet
linguist Yuri Knorozov, who argued ‹ correctly ‹ that the Maya writing
system had a phonetic component. (Dr. Coeąs wife, the daughter of noted
Soviet-born geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, translated many of
Knorozovąs writings from Russian into English.)
In the face of opposition from preeminent Maya scholar J. Eric S.
Thompson, Dr. Coe threw his support to Knorozov and co-wrote a 1968
article in which he translated the glyph for cage, showing how it
contained individual syllables.
łIt was a crystal-clear example that opened up how patterns could be
studied to crack the code,˛ said Miller, a Mesoamerican art historian
and director of the Getty Research Institute.
Dr. Coe was also closely identified with the Grolier Codex, which was
said to have been found in a cave near Tortuguero, Mexico, before being
acquired by a collector and displayed at a 1971 art exhibition organized
by the Grolier Club in Manhattan.
Scholars questioned its authenticity, with one declaring that its
contents ‹ almanacs of Venus ‹ were so confusing as to łmake any Maya
priest tear his long hair.˛ In an interview with the New York Times, Dr.
Coe acknowledged that the document was ła real hot potato˛ but
proclaimed that he would łstake my professional reputation on it.˛
Its survival, he added, was łnothing less than a miracle.˛ Three other
Maya books were known to have survived through the centuries, and
countless texts had been destroyed by conquistadors and Catholic priests.
In 2016, a team of Mayanists including Dr. Coe conducted an analysis
that supported the Grolier Codexąs authenticity. Two years later,
researchers from Mexicoąs National Institute of Anthropology and History
reached the same conclusion ‹ triggering a celebration that Miller
described as vindication for Dr. Coe and, in a sense, the ancient Maya.
łSome of their last words,˛ she said, łwould now be recognized and
heard.˛"
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/michael-coe-influential-
archaeologist-and-maya-scholar-dies-at-90/2019/09/30/e5d458b0-e2c3-11e9-a
331-2df12d56a80b_story.html>
has died at age 90.
"He also risked his career in the 1960s to back the findings of Soviet
linguist Yuri Knorozov, who argued ‹ correctly ‹ that the Maya writing
system had a phonetic component. (Dr. Coeąs wife, the daughter of noted
Soviet-born geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, translated many of
Knorozovąs writings from Russian into English.)
In the face of opposition from preeminent Maya scholar J. Eric S.
Thompson, Dr. Coe threw his support to Knorozov and co-wrote a 1968
article in which he translated the glyph for cage, showing how it
contained individual syllables.
łIt was a crystal-clear example that opened up how patterns could be
studied to crack the code,˛ said Miller, a Mesoamerican art historian
and director of the Getty Research Institute.
Dr. Coe was also closely identified with the Grolier Codex, which was
said to have been found in a cave near Tortuguero, Mexico, before being
acquired by a collector and displayed at a 1971 art exhibition organized
by the Grolier Club in Manhattan.
Scholars questioned its authenticity, with one declaring that its
contents ‹ almanacs of Venus ‹ were so confusing as to łmake any Maya
priest tear his long hair.˛ In an interview with the New York Times, Dr.
Coe acknowledged that the document was ła real hot potato˛ but
proclaimed that he would łstake my professional reputation on it.˛
Its survival, he added, was łnothing less than a miracle.˛ Three other
Maya books were known to have survived through the centuries, and
countless texts had been destroyed by conquistadors and Catholic priests.
In 2016, a team of Mayanists including Dr. Coe conducted an analysis
that supported the Grolier Codexąs authenticity. Two years later,
researchers from Mexicoąs National Institute of Anthropology and History
reached the same conclusion ‹ triggering a celebration that Miller
described as vindication for Dr. Coe and, in a sense, the ancient Maya.
łSome of their last words,˛ she said, łwould now be recognized and
heard.˛"
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/michael-coe-influential-
archaeologist-and-maya-scholar-dies-at-90/2019/09/30/e5d458b0-e2c3-11e9-a
331-2df12d56a80b_story.html>
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Oct 1, 2019, 8:22:13 AM10/1/19
to
On 2019-10-01 11:58:00 +0000, Horace LaBadie said:
> Yale's Michael Coe, who contributed to the deciphering of Maya glyphs,
> has died at age 90.
>
> "He also risked his career in the 1960s to back the findings of Soviet
> linguist Yuri Knorozov, who argued ‹ correctly ‹ that the Maya writing
> system had a phonetic component. (Dr. Coe¹s wife, the daughter of noted
> Yale's Michael Coe, who contributed to the deciphering of Maya glyphs,
> has died at age 90.
>
> "He also risked his career in the 1960s to back the findings of Soviet
> linguist Yuri Knorozov, who argued ‹ correctly ‹ that the Maya writing
> Soviet-born geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, translated many of
> Knorozov¹s writings from Russian into English.)
Very interesting. However, Jan won't be impressed to know that Dr Coe's
wife was a daughter of a notorious barger into cosmology.
[ … ]
--
athel
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Oct 1, 2019, 8:23:56 AM10/1/19
to
--
athel
Peter T. Daniels
Oct 1, 2019, 10:28:36 AM10/1/19
to
"Carl Sagan" is aware that Lynn Margulis's first husband was _the_ Carl
Sagan (and the Sagan she wrote with was her son).
What comes across clearly in (the first edition at least of) Coe's book
*Cracking the Maya Code* was his class resentment that Thompson had all
the benefits of English social status while he had to work up from below.
It also needs to be taken into account (as George Stuart does in his
detailed historiography of Maya glyph studies (1992) that Knorozov
was politically suspect simply because he was Russian and in the Soviet
academic system: his groundbreaking work was published in 1952 (not "the
60s"), and Sophie Coe's partial translation of his 1963 book was published
in 1967. (He lived until 1999 but subsequent contributions are not well
known.)
Franz Gnaedinger
Oct 2, 2019, 3:20:54 AM10/2/19
to
On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 4:28:36 PM UTC+2, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 8:22:13 AM UTC-4, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> > On 2019-10-01 11:58:00 +0000, Horace LaBadie said:
> >
> > > Yale's Michael Coe, who contributed to the deciphering of Maya glyphs,
> > > has died at age 90.
> > >
> > > "He also risked his career in the 1960s to back the findings of Soviet
> > > linguist Yuri Knorozov, who argued ‹ correctly ‹ that the Maya writing
> > > system had a phonetic component. (Dr. Coe¹s wife, the daughter of noted
> > > Soviet-born geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, translated many of
> > > Knorozov¹s writings from Russian into English.)
> >
> > Very interesting. However, Jan won't be impressed to know that Dr Coe's
> > wife was a daughter of a notorious barger into cosmology.
>
> Speaking of celebrity names, I wonder whether the troll calling itself
> "Carl Sagan" is aware that Lynn Margulis's first husband was _the_ Carl
> Sagan (and the Sagan she wrote with was her son).
>
> What comes across clearly in (the first edition at least of) Coe's book
> *Cracking the Maya Code* was his class resentment that Thompson had all
> the benefits of English social status while he had to work up from below.
Courant normal in academe, has always been so, will always be so.
> On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 8:22:13 AM UTC-4, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> > On 2019-10-01 11:58:00 +0000, Horace LaBadie said:
> >
> > > Yale's Michael Coe, who contributed to the deciphering of Maya glyphs,
> > > has died at age 90.
> > >
> > > "He also risked his career in the 1960s to back the findings of Soviet
> > > linguist Yuri Knorozov, who argued ‹ correctly ‹ that the Maya writing
> > > system had a phonetic component. (Dr. Coe¹s wife, the daughter of noted
> > > Soviet-born geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, translated many of
> > > Knorozov¹s writings from Russian into English.)
> >
> > Very interesting. However, Jan won't be impressed to know that Dr Coe's
> > wife was a daughter of a notorious barger into cosmology.
>
> Speaking of celebrity names, I wonder whether the troll calling itself
> "Carl Sagan" is aware that Lynn Margulis's first husband was _the_ Carl
> Sagan (and the Sagan she wrote with was her son).
>
> What comes across clearly in (the first edition at least of) Coe's book
> *Cracking the Maya Code* was his class resentment that Thompson had all
> the benefits of English social status while he had to work up from below.
Mścisław Wojna-Bojewski
Oct 2, 2019, 3:41:51 AM10/2/19
to
- Cave art gives us no clue to how the people of Lascaux or Altamira
spoke.
- The pictographic symbols in Göbekli Tepe give us no clue to how the
people of Göbekli Tepe spoke.
- Anyone stating the opposite must make available some evidence that
can be scrutinized by other scholars, and the clues this person claims
to have found, must be observable and recognizable by other people.
- Moreover, the discoverer must be able to explain, in commonsense
logical terms, how he or she has arrived at his results. His chain of
conclusions must be "nachvollzogen" by other scholars.
- You have not been able to present us with either evidence or
conclusions. Instead, you have repeatedly attacked and poured scorn
over people who have demanded such things.
- On the other hand, PIE is based on solid evidence and its proponents
have left us clear instructions, evidence, and reasonings to be
"nachvollzogen".
- Their conclusions are based on a comprehensive understanding and
comparison of the languages involved.
- On the other hand, you are demonstrably ignorant of several branches
of Indo-European. You have admitted that you know not a single Slavic
language.You actually pour scorn and disdain over people who have
learnt languages unknown to you.
- Instead of following the common rules of scientific method, you suggest that other people should observe the rules you have devised by yourself.
- Thus and therefore, your Magdalenian fails on the level of method and cannot be taken seriously as science or scholarship.
spoke.
- The pictographic symbols in Göbekli Tepe give us no clue to how the
people of Göbekli Tepe spoke.
- Anyone stating the opposite must make available some evidence that
can be scrutinized by other scholars, and the clues this person claims
to have found, must be observable and recognizable by other people.
- Moreover, the discoverer must be able to explain, in commonsense
logical terms, how he or she has arrived at his results. His chain of
conclusions must be "nachvollzogen" by other scholars.
- You have not been able to present us with either evidence or
conclusions. Instead, you have repeatedly attacked and poured scorn
over people who have demanded such things.
- On the other hand, PIE is based on solid evidence and its proponents
have left us clear instructions, evidence, and reasonings to be
"nachvollzogen".
- Their conclusions are based on a comprehensive understanding and
comparison of the languages involved.
- On the other hand, you are demonstrably ignorant of several branches
of Indo-European. You have admitted that you know not a single Slavic
language.You actually pour scorn and disdain over people who have
learnt languages unknown to you.
- Instead of following the common rules of scientific method, you suggest that other people should observe the rules you have devised by yourself.
- Thus and therefore, your Magdalenian fails on the level of method and cannot be taken seriously as science or scholarship.
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