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Studies on The Mayan Mortars Technique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Diana Magaloni ,
R. Pancella ,
Y. Fruh ,
Jaqueline CaÑetas  and
V CastaÑo
Diana Magaloni
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, UNAM, Mexico City
R. Pancella
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Conservation de la Pierre, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Y. Fruh
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Conservation de la Pierre, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Jaqueline CaÑetas
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, UNAM, México City
V CastaÑo
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, UNAM, México City
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Abstract

This paper explores the technology that Mayan artisans used in the preparation of the lime renderings for mural painting. The Mayan mixed lime with some kind of organic material, which presents amino acids in its composition.

Mortars from 16 different archaeological sites were analyzed by several analytical methods: optical microscopy followed by specific staining tests over cross sections, gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The first results pointed out that the use of an organic additive in the lime plasters′ substrates of mural paintings was a wide spread technology used in the Maya area -with some variations depending on the site location and its chronology. This finding suggested that the addition of such material would probably modify the mechanical resistance of the lime plaster substrates.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 483
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

REFERENCES

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