Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T18:56:36.751Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Decay Degree determination of Archaeological Shell Objects from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, using a Visible Light Spectrometer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2012

María de Lourdes Gallardo Parrodi  and
José Luis Ruvalcaba Sil
María de Lourdes Gallardo Parrodi
Affiliation:
Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, INAH. Seminario No. 8, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF 06060, Mexico. e-mail: gallardoparrodi@gmail.com
José Luis Ruvalcaba Sil
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM. Apdo. Postal 20-364, México D. F. 01000, Mexico. e-mail: sil@fisica.unam.mx
Get access

Abstract

In four offerings of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan five groupings of Pinctada Mazatlanica shell pendants were found. Due to the burial conditions, damages on the surfaces can be observed in almost all the objects. In order to assess the deterioration degree, we used a visible light spectrometer. This is an inexpensive method to determine qualitatively the reflectance of the light at the surface that is directly related to the amount of organic material remains in these objects. This data may be used as a conservation marker for monitoring the collection and it can provide outstanding information to preserve the fragile shell pendants using a non-destructive method.

Keywords

microstructureoptical propertiesshells
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1374: Symposium S8 – Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Issues in Materials Science , 2012 , pp. 177 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Velázquez Castro, A., La producción especializada de los objetos de concha del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Instituto Nacional de Antroplogía e Historia INAH, Colección Científica 519, Mexico, 2007.Google Scholar
Grimaldi, D. M., (1997) La colección de concha del género Oliva del Museo del Templo Mayor: un estudio para la conservación de concha arqueológica. Dissertation on Conservation. Escuela Nacional de Conservacion, Restauración y Museografía, Instituto Nacional de Antroplogía e Historia INAH, Mexico 1997.Google Scholar
Miranda, J., Gallardo, M.L., Grimaldi, D.M., Román-Berrelleza, J.A., Ruvalcaba-Sil, J.L., Ontalba Salamanca, M. A., Morales, J.G., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 150 (1999) 611–615.Google Scholar
Schulze, N., ¿Cobre para los dioses y oro para los españoles? Las propiedades sociales y simbólicas de un metal sin importancia, in: Producción de bienes de prestigio ornamentales y votivos de la América antigua, Melgar, E., Solís, E., González Licón, R. (comp.), Syllaba Press. , Mexico 2010, 75-85.Google Scholar
Ruvalcaba, J.L. Melgar, J.L, E., Calligaro, Th.. (2011), Manufacturing Analysis and Non Destructive Characterisation of Green Stone Objects from the Tenochtitlan Templo Mayor Museum, Mexico, in Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Archaeometry, 13th - 16th May 2008, Siena, Italy . -Memmi, Turbanti ed., Springer, XLV, Heildelberg, 2011, 299–304.Google Scholar
Gallardo, M.L., M.L. La conservación de las ofrendas de la Casa de las Ajaracas y de la Casa de las Campanas, in: Arqueología e historia en el Centro de México. Homenaje a Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. López, L., Carrasco, D., Cué, L. (comp.) Instituto Nacional de Antroplogía e Historia INAH, Mexico 2006, 555–567.Google Scholar
Agulló-Rueda, F., Espectroscopía Raman, in: La Ciencia y el Arte. Ciencias experimentales y conservación del patrimonio histórico. Vol. I, del Egido, M., Calderon, T. (coords.) Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español. Instituto de Cultura, Madrid, 2008, 117-124.Google Scholar