Excavaciones arqueológicas en Machaquilá, Petén, Guatemala

Ruíz, Andrés Ciudad; León, María Josefa Iglesias Ponce de; Pavón, Jesús Adánez; García-Gallo, Alfonso Lacadena

doi:10.5209/rev_reaa.2011.v41.n1.7

Cited by 1 publication

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“…In addition to the sites already included from these previous surveys, the consultation of other archaeological reports added a further 18 sites where pyrite mirrors or tesserae have been visually identified: Bejucal (Garrison and Beltrán 2011:303), Bilbao (Mata 2003:833), Calakmul (González 2018:219), Cauinal (Ichon et al 1980:34–36), Chirramos (Ichon and Grignon 1983:86); El Jocote (Ichon and Grignon 1981:29, 67, 93–94), El Paraíso (Shook 1947), El Perú/Waka' (Pérez et al 2015:18), El Zotz (Gillot 2008:127; Piedrasanta 2018:43; Piedrasanta et al 2014:947), Izapa (Clark and Lee 2018:270–275), Machaquila (Ciudad-Ruiz et al 2011:162), Motul de San José (Hart and Gauger 2013:115); San Clemente (Fialko 2013:277), San Juan Las Vegas (Ichon and Grignon 1983:22, 44), Serchil (Roldán 1998:608), Topoxte (Fialko 2000), Uayma (Thomson 1962), and Xultun (Romero 2010:97). Pyrite together with hematite fragments were also reported at the site of Chitomax (Ichon and Grignon 1983:107, 128; Ichon et al 1988:72, 77, 115; and Figure 6).…”

Section: Geographical and Chronological Patterns Of Pre-columbian May...mentioning

confidence: 99%

All that glitters is not pyrite: A geochemical assessment of iron-ore objects used by the Classic Maya

Barrientos Q.,

Sandoval,

Iizuka

et al. 2023

Ancient Mesoam

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Different types of iron ore and pyrite were used to craft a wide variety of reflective artifacts in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, including “mirrors,” pectorals, necklaces, and dental inlays, among others. In the Maya region, most of these have only been visually assessed, without using analytical techniques. Consequently, our understanding of the diversity of raw materials used in artifact production has been limited. This article presents preliminary results from a pilot study aiming to identify the raw materials used in the manufacture of different reflective objects from a small sample of finds from the sites of La Corona and Cancuen, located in Guatemala, through the use of scanning electron microscopy with EDS detectors (SEM-EDS), energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. Although further analyses are needed to confirm the representativeness of the sample, these results indicate the use of hematite and goethite (iron oxides), but not pyrite (iron sulfide). This study also shows how improved knowledge of raw material use can elicit previously unknown patterns of distribution and exchange, and highlight patterns of inter- and intrasite variability in the production, use, and exchange of reflective objects over time in the Maya region throughout the Classic period.

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