Mural paintings in Ancient Peru: The case of Tambo Colorado, Pisco Valley

Abstract

Tambo Colorado is one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the Southern Peruvian coast, because of its stunning architecture, its extraordinary pictorial decoration, and its strategic location in the section of the Great Inca Road. The Research Project Tambo Colorado considers necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis encompassing nature of the materials (archaeometric analysis) as well as a proper understanding of their conservation status of its architecture. In this regard interdisciplinary research provides the necessary tools to achieve these goals. For this reason our team is integrated by archaeometrists, engineers, conservators and archaeologists. Due to of this transdisciplinary approach, one of the main objective is the study of painting technology developed by the craftsmen of the site. The first results obtained, thanks to an analytical strategy combining observation and elemental and structural analysis (colorimetry, SEM-EDS, XRF, XRD and SXRD), allow us to identify the coloring materials used. These data enabled to reconstruct the operational chain followed to elaborate the murals (since the pigments extraction to the making of the murals) but also to consider and develop a suitable surfaces conservation plan.

Archaeometric case studies on decorations of pre‐Columbian pottery using X‐ray spectroscopy maps and profiles

“…A new find of plenty use of manganese oxide as black paint in Tambo Colorado's mural polychromy fuels the question of its origin, particularly as the study ascertained the local origin of mineral material of the white, red and yellow pigments [31]. Considering that Tambo Colorado is located in one of the communication ways of the Inca Empire linking Cuzco to the coast and going through Ayacucho, a distant but central origin for the black pigment is supposed by the authors of the study [31]. The use of manganese minerals for black decorations of Inca, Wari, Moche and Cajamarca pottery may support this hypothesis [14,20,[27][28][29].…”

An investigating on the ritual elements influencing factor of decorative art: based on Guangdong's ancestral hall architectural murals text mining

“…Additionally, while "Plants and Animals" (2.92%) and "Artifacts" (4.15%) occupy low weights, "Nonaction Verbs" (9.73%) occupy a medium degree of influence, reflecting the indirect and metaphorical logical relationship of information transmission of the mural content [50]. It can be assumed that the decoration of flowers, plants, and household utensils in the mural may play an allegory [51].…”

In search of Humboldt’s colors: materials and techniques of a 17th-century lacquered gourd from Colombia

“…Whites commonly used in South American artifacts have ranged from calcium-containing minerals, such as calcite, gypsum, and apatite [61][62][63][64], to lead white [65]. Similarly, scientific analysis carried out to date on qero cups has highlighted a predominant use of lead white in the form of hydrocerussite (basic lead carbonate, 2PbCO 3 •Pb(OH) 2 ) and cerussite (neutral lead carbonate, PbCO 3 ) [5,6], along with a naturally-occurring mixture of cristobalite (SiO 2 ), anatase (TiO 2 ), and α-quartz (SiO 2 ) [30,66].…”