1500-year-old Mayan paint job peeled backJill Rowbotham | January 23, 2008
MORE secrets of the Mayan civilisation are being revealed via groundbreaking research into paint pigments used on a temple at one of the culture's most significant sites: Copan, in Honduras.
Brisbane physical and chemical sciences PhD student Rosemary Goodall used an infrared analysis technique, FTIR-ATR spectral imaging, never before applied in archeology.
It revealed a map of the painted surfaces of stucco masks that adorn the corners of the Rosalila temple, built in about AD550.
Mrs Goodall found that the Mayans mixed finely ground muscovite mica in their paint, which would have made parts of the building glitter in the sun.
But visualising the buildings is only part of the brief for the former oil industry chemist, who is completing her doctorate jointly at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology.
"We need an idea of the paint technology and techniques and how the people were doing these things," Mrs Goodall said.
This knowledge can allow deductions about the significance of the materials, some of which were used only for ceremonial purposes while others such as iron oxide were used to paint buildings.
By tunnelling into the ruins of Copan, the archelogists of the long-term UQ-led field research program uncovered multiple layers of buildings.
They are studying materials from different periods to see if changes in materials could reveal cultural changes in the community.
"Once you know what the materials are made of, it aids you in conserving and restoring the site," Mrs Goodall said.
This was of particular importance in tropical central America.
The advantage of FTIR-ATR spectral imaging was that while other techniques provided analysis of a microscopic area, it mapped a larger portion from which the recipe of paint could be more easily deduced.
Rosalila, which was in use for more than 100 years, was unearthed intact in 1989: a pyramid had been built over it.
Mrs Goodall collected the paint fragments during a two-week site visit in 2005 and hoped to obtain funding to return for more samples.
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