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Incipient Maya Burnt-Lime Technology: Characterization and Chronological Variations in Preclassic Plaster, Stucco and Mortar at Nakbe, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Eric F. Hansen ,
Carlos Rodriguez-Navarro  and
Richard D. Hansen
Eric F. Hansen
Affiliation:
The Getty Conservation Institute, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90049–1684, [email protected]
Carlos Rodriguez-Navarro
Affiliation:
The Getty Conservation Institute, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90049–1684, [email protected]
Richard D. Hansen
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095
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Abstract

Patterned technological behaviors in the production and use of burnt-lime products can be characterized using optical microscopy and image analysis of pétrographie thin-sections to determine the texture (supplemented by X-ray diffraction analysis). Variations in technological styles have been identified in 21 samples from the ancient Maya site of Nakbe, Petén, Guatemala dating to the Middle Preclassic (1,000 B. C. - 300 B. C.) and Late Preclassic (300 B. C. - 150 A. D.) periods. Middle Preclassic floors exhibit a chaotic texture with a highly random aggregate particle size. Late Preclassic modeled stucco or painted fragments have a well-sorted texture with a low acid-insoluble content (<2%). Load -bearing mortar dating from the early Late Preclassic has a matrix with a high acid insoluble content (>15%), the major phases being quartz (-10%) and clays (∼5%). The variations correlate both with the time of occurrence and the function of the end-product. These issues of construction methods and levels of technology contribute data to aid our understanding of cultural development in this area at a critical time when the Maya were formulating power structures.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 462: Symposium DD – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology V , 1996 , 207
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

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