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Maya Blue

Secret to Mayan Blue Paint Found

Unlike many other types of clay, palygorskite has long interior channels. This allows palygorskite to absorb and to hold fairly large amounts of dye.


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The absorbent properties of palygorskite are also used in anti-diarrhoeal medications such as Kaopectate. Beyond the composition of Maya Blue, however, there is little known as to how the pigment was produced, and what role it played in the Maya culture. But now, a piece of pottery, which has resided since the s at the Field Museum in Chicago, may help solve the mystery. Commonly found in the Yucatan, cenotes are a type of sink hole filled with ground water.

Maya Blue and the Secret of Longevity

A tunnelling microscopy analysis of the Field Museum pottery showed that in addition to the indigo and palygorskite, copal, a natural resin, was also present. It appears that the combination of these three ingredients can explain the resilience of Maya Blue. Copal burns between and C, temperatures that force the indigo dye into the palygorskite channels where it becomes trapped.


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It is now believed that Maya Blue was prepared as part of a ritual process to appeal to the rain god Chaak. When the sky was persistently blue and the rain failed to arrive, the Mayas would organise a ceremony to prepare the sacred colour. Various offerings would be prepared at this ceremony, and human sacrifices, painted with Maya Blue, were thrown into the cenote. Satisfied, Chaak would then call in the dark clouds to cover the sky and bring in the rain.

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The Colors of the New World. The Getty Research Institute.


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A second possible pre-Columbian source". Sanchez del Rio; A.

Sanchez del Rio; P. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Haude, Mary Elizabeth The Book and Paper Group Annual. De Bonampak al Templo Mayor: Retrieved from " https: Views Read Edit View history. This page was last edited on 25 August , at