Michael Douglas Coe, Professor and Curator Emeritus at Yale University, whose main concentration has been on the Maya and the Olmec, is world famous for his research and publications on those groups.
Dr.
Coe was born in
Dr. Coe received Guatemala's highest honor-The Order of the Quetzal. The award was presented at a symposium on San Bartolo by the vice president of Guatemala. Dr. Coe was honored fro his contribution in making information available to not only scholars but to the general public. Some of the places Dr. Coe conducted field research are Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. He has done research on Maya hieroglyphic writing and iconography, the Maya and Olmec civilizations of MesoAmerica, Khmer cultural history, the history of chocolate and the archaeology of colonial New England.
The Peabody Museum holds Dr. Coe's artifact collection from the archaeological site at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan. Dr. Coe is Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at Yale University in the Peabody Museum of Natural History. He served as Advisor of the Center for Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington. He is also a member of the National Academy of Science, the Royal Anthropological Institute, and the Mexican Anthropology Society. One of Coe’s most recent books is called Breaking the Mayan Decipherment. In the book, he refuted Eric Thompson's claim, which stated that the Mayan hieroglyphics were not a writing system, which Coe had already proven was true. Dr. Coe is the author of at least 18 books and monographs.
Written by: Jarrod Sehr
Edited by: Lillian Dolentz, 2009