Characterization of Maya Blue Pigment in Pre-Classic and Classic Monumental Architecture of the Ancient Pre-Culombian City of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico)

This paper presents the first evidence of the use of Maya Blue pigment in late pre-classic (c.300BC-300AD) architecture in the Maya Lowlands. This was detected combining an innovative technique, the voltammetry of microparticles (VMP), with atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM/EDX), visible spectrophotometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The pigment was found on the polychrome facade of substructure IIC of pre-Columbian city of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico). The identification of Maya Blue in this building may prove to be the earliest known use of this colour on the monumental architecture of the Maya Lowlands. The colour was seen to precede the Maya Blue pigments identified in other archaeological sites and dated from later periods and this, together with the analytical results recently obtained in the early classic (c.300AD-600AD) and the late classic (c.600AD-850/900AD) wall paintings of Calakmul, reveal the technical development of this complex pigment in Maya wall painting throughout classic and post-classic periods. © 2010.We are grateful to the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia of Mexico (INAH) for permitting the exploration of samples, and especially to the Archaeologist Ramon Carrasco Vargas, current Director of "Calakmul Project". Wegratefully acknowledge the financial backing from the Spanish "I + D + I MEC" project CTQ2008-06727-C03-01/BQU and 02/BQU, and the Generalitat Valenciana "I + D + I" projects GV04B/197 and ACOMP/2007/138, which are also supported by ERDEF funds as well as the SB2005-0031 project ascribed to the program of postdoctoral stages of novel researchers in Spanish universities and research centres from the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (MEC).Vázquez De Agredos Pascual, ML.; Domenech Carbo, MT.; Domenech Carbo, A. (2011). Characterization of Maya Blue Pigment in Pre-Classic and Classic Monumental Architecture of the Ancient Pre-Culombian City of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico). Journal of Cultural Heritage. 12:140-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2009.12.0021401481