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Technological and Material Characterization of Lapidary Artifacts from Tamtoc Archaeological Site, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2012

Emiliano Melgar ,
Reyna Solís  and
José Luis Ruvalcaba
Emiliano Melgar
Affiliation:
Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, INAH. Seminario No. 8, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF 06060, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected]
Reyna Solís
Affiliation:
Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, INAH. Seminario No. 8, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF 06060, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected]
José Luis Ruvalcaba
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. Apdo. Postal 20-364, Mexico DF 01000, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Tamtoc is a very important archaeological site in San Luis Potosi, in the Central region of Mexico. The pre-Hispanic Huastec culture developed in this site (900-1100 A.D.). During the archaeological excavations, a large amount of lithic artifacts were recovered from burials and offerings. Among them, pieces of semitransparent crystalline objects of color blue, green, yellow and white and green stone pieces were discovered in one of the most important ceremonial precinct, inside a water reservoir of the monument 32 “The Priestess”. The aim of this work is to measure the composition of the artifacts for provenance study and to establish the manufacturing technique and tools used to produce them. For material analysis, a combined analysis involving X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy was applied. The main elements as well as some traces can be measured by XRF while the mineral identification can be established by Raman. The results indicate that most of the pieces are calcite with traces of rare elements.

On the other hand, experimental archaeology using a well established methodology of optical and electron microscopy examination of the manufacturing traces was applied. From this technological study the specific use of tools and materials were established for this site.

Keywords

chemical compositionmanufacturearchaeology
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1374: Symposium S8 – Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Issues in Materials Science , 2012 , pp. 103 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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