Michael D. Coe, an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher, and author, was born in 1929. With a career spanning over four decades, Coe is primarily known for his extensive research in the field of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies, particularly his work on the Maya civilization, where he is regarded as one of the foremost Mayanist scholars of the latter 20th century.
Throughout his illustrious career, Coe has conducted extensive investigations across various archaeological sites in North and South America, specializing in comparative studies of ancient tropical forest civilizations, such as those of Central America and Southeast Asia. As of 2005, he holds the chair of Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, at Yale University, and is Curator Emeritus of the Anthropology collection in the Peabody Museum of Natural History, where he served as Curator from 1968 to 1994.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Coe worked for the CIA as part of the front organization Western Enterprises in Taiwan, aimed at subverting Mao's China, as revealed in Tim Weiner's book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.
A prolific author, Coe has written numerous scientific papers across a broad range of archaeological, anthropological, and ethnohistorical topics. He has also authored several popular works for the non-specialist audience, including The Maya (1966) and Breaking the Maya Code (1992),which have been best-selling and widely reprinted. Coe co-authored the book Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (1962) with Rex Koontz.
Coe received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University in the early 1950s. Shortly after commencing his graduate studies program, he married Sophie, the daughter of the noted evolutionary biologist and Russian émigré Theodosius Dobzhansky. Sophie translated the work of epigrapher Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov, "The Writing of the Maya Indians" (1967),which was based on De Landa's phonetic alphabet and credited with originally breaking the Maya code.
