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New Insights into Ancient Maya Building Materials: Characterization of Mortar, Plaster, and Coquina Flagstones from Toniná

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2012

Francisco Riquelme ,
Martha Cuevas-García ,
Jesús Alvarado-Ortega ,
Shannon Taylor ,
José Luis Ruvalcaba-Sil ,
Carlos Linares-López ,
Manuel Aguilar-Franco  and
Juan Yadeun-Angulo
Francisco Riquelme
Affiliation:
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. Circuito Interior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico DF 04510, Mexico. e-mail: riquelme.fc@gmail.com Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. AP 20-364, Mexico D.F. 01000, Mexico. e-mail: sil@fisica.unam.mx
Martha Cuevas-García
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico DF 04510, Mexico.
Jesús Alvarado-Ortega
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico DF 04510, Mexico.
Shannon Taylor
Affiliation:
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. Circuito Interior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico DF 04510, Mexico. e-mail: riquelme.fc@gmail.com Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. USA.
José Luis Ruvalcaba-Sil
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. AP 20-364, Mexico D.F. 01000, Mexico. e-mail: sil@fisica.unam.mx
Carlos Linares-López
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, AP l20-364, Mexico D.F. 01000, Mexico
Manuel Aguilar-Franco
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. AP 20-364, Mexico D.F. 01000, Mexico. e-mail: sil@fisica.unam.mx
Juan Yadeun-Angulo
Affiliation:
Dirección de Estudios Arqueológicos. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. INAH. Calle Primo de Verdad 3, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF 06050, Mexico.
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Abstract

This work shows current research on lithic raw material used by the ancient Maya of Toniná. The core of the city of Toniná lies on a steep-sided hill of calcareous sandstones from the shallow marine deposits dated as Oligocene, in the Chiapas Highlands of Southern Mexico. Results of paleontological fieldwork in Toniná show several biostrome sediments mound-like with tabular bafflestones and large coquina flagstones, which are sheet-like rocks enriched with fossil mollusk shells, corals, encrusted organisms, and calcareous debris. The people of Toniná intentionally selected and carved these rocks for use as building blocks and bricks on floors, walls, and stairways. At least two coquina flagstones measuring about 1.90 m long were identified in an archeological context most likely associated with carved stelae. Also non-marine carbonate rocks such as a crudely banded travertine and spongy calcareous tufa from recent sediments of freshwater environments surrounding Toniná were used by the Maya as a raw material on walls, columns, reliefs and murals base.

Results of the chemical, mineralogical and micromorphological analysis on plaster and bedding mortars from the walls of Toniná display a slightly interbedded lime of sparry calcite cemented in a highly porous groundmass with silt-to pebble-size of calcareous and siliciclastic rock-crushed aggregates, sand, and soil remains. Lime fabric reveals enclosing quartz grains, granular calcite crystals, and carbonaceous inclusions which may suggest that the lime has been made from a burnt grain-rich limestone with fibrous cement and porous microfabric. WDX analysis in lime lumps of plaster reveal an average amount of 1.37 wt% MgO associated with a limestone source ranging from regular to a magnesium-enriched limestone (1 to 2 wt %). XRF detect a strontium-rich level in the calcite matrix of plaster which is as high as that of fossil shells, tufa, and coquina. Finally, XRD shows that the mean amount of calcite in plaster is 95 wt% and lower amount (2-2.5w%) of siliciclastic minerals: quartz and albite. In contrast, calcite in mortar ranges less than 90.1 wt%. The concentrations of non-carbonate minerals, such as quartz and albite, are higher than those in plaster because mortar incorporates more siliciclastic rock remains, sand and clay.

Keywords

microstructurechemical compositiongeologic
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1374: Symposium S8 – Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Issues in Materials Science , 2012 , pp. 145 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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