Maya Blue is the name of a pigment, used by the Maya civilization to decorate pots, sculpture and panels. While its date of invention is somewhat controversial, the pigment is seen predominantly within the Classic period beginning about AD 500. The distinct blue color, as seen in the murals at Bonampak in the photo, was created using a combination of materials, including indigo and palygorskite (called sak lu'um or 'white earth' in the Yucatec Maya language).
Maya blue was used primarily in ritual contexts, pottery, offerings, copal balls and murals. By itself, palygorskite was used for medicinal properties and as an additive for ceramic tempers, in addition to its use in the creation of Maya blue.
Maya Blue Mines
The striking turquoise color is quite tenacious as such things go, with visible colors left on stone stele after hundreds of years in the subtropical climate at sites such as Chichén Itzá and Cacaxtla. Mines for the palygorskite component of Maya blue are known at Ticul, Yo'Sah Bab, Sacalum, and Chapab, all in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico.
Maya Blue requires the combination of ingredients--indigo and palygorskite--at temperatures between 150 and 200 degrees centigrade were necessary to get molecules of indigo incorporated into the white palygorskite clay. The process of embedding (intercalcating) indigo into the clay makes the color stable, even under exposure to harsh climate, alkali, nitric acid and organic solvents.
Scholarly Studies of Maya Blue
Maya blue was first identified by Harvard archaeologist R. E. Merwin at Chichén Itzá in the 1930s. Much work on Maya Blue has been completed by Dean Arnold, who over his 40+ year investigation has combined ethnography, archaeology, and materials science in his studies. A number of non-archaeological material studies of the mixture and chemical makeup of Maya blue have been published over the past decade.
A preliminary study on sourcing palygorskite using trace element analysis has been undertaken. A few mines have been identified in the Yucatán and elsewhere; and tiny samples have been taken from the mines as well as paint samples from ceramics and murals of known provenience. Neutron activation analysis (INAA) and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) have both been used in an attempt to identify the trace minerals within the samples, reported in a 2007 article in Latin American Antiquity listed below.
Although there were some problems with correlating the two methodologies, the pilot study identified trace amounts of rubidium, manganese and nickel in the various sources which may prove useful in identifying the sources of the pigment.
Recent investigations have also centered on the composition of Maya Blue, indicating that perhaps making Maya Blue was a ritual part of sacrifice at Chichén Itzá. See Maya Blue: Ritual and Recipe for more information.
Sources
Anonymous. 1998. Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology at Ticul, Yucatán, Mexico. Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin 21(1&2).
Arnold, Dean E. 2005 Maya blue and palygorskite: A second possible pre-Columbian source. Ancient Mesoamerica 16(1):51-62.
Arnold, Dean E., Jason R. Branden, Patrick Ryan Williams, Gary M. Feinman and J.P. Brown. 2008. The first direct evidence for the production of Maya Blue: Rediscovery of a technology. Antiquity 82:151-164.
Arnold, Dean E., Hector Neff, Michael D. Glascock, and Robert J. Speakman. 2007. Sourcing the Palygorskite Used in Maya Blue: A Pilot Study Comparing the Results of INAA and LA-ICP-MS. Latin American Antiquity 18(1):44–58.
Berke, Heinz 2007 The invention of blue and purple pigments in ancient times. Chemical Society Reviews 36:15–30.
Chiari, G., et al. 2008 Pre-columbian nanotechnology: Reconciling the mysteries of the Maya blue pigment. Applied Physics A 90(1):3-7.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
