The use of volcanic materials for the manufacture of pozzolanic plasters in the Maya lowlands: a preliminary report

Spatial distribution and development of soils in tropical karst areas from the Peninsula of Yucatan, Mexico

“…Such large volumes of fine earth may not have been transported as eolian dust from the Sahara as suggested by several authors (Prospero, 1999;Prospero and Lamb, 2003). In contrast, volcanic glass found in antique ceramics suggests the presence of volcanic ash in the Peninsula of Yucatan itself (Varela and Leclaire, 1990;Villaseñor and Graham, 2010).…”

“…However, volcanic glass (10-60%) has been identified in Maya ceramics over the whole peninsula (Varela and Leclaire, 1990), containing 56% SiO 2 and 35% Al 2 O 3 (Villaseñor and Graham, 2010). The volcano El Chichón in Chiapas is the most likely source of ash (Varekamp et al, 1984) because the 1982 eruption and previous ones had local, regional and global impacts (Krueger et al, 2008).…”

Characterisation of archaeological mortars and plasters from kyme (Turkey)

“…As a mixture of lime, sand and water, mortars reflect the building technology of the civilisation. Thus, mortars may supply us with important information on local raw materials used to make them, and on the constructive history of a monument (Franzini et al, 2000;Moropoulou et al, 2000Moropoulou et al, , 2003Crisci et al, 2004;Miriello and Crisci, 2006;Riccardi et al, 2007;Carò et al, 2008;Barba et al, 2009;Miriello et al, 2010aMiriello et al, , 2010bVillaseñor and Graham, 2010;Sanjurjo-Sánchez et al, 2010).…”

The production and exchange of moulded-carved ceramics and the ‘Maya Collapse’

“…This finding suggests that volcanic ash inclusions may have acted locally as fluxes, promoting vitrification and hence the overall hardness and homogeneity of the end product (cf. Villaseñor and Graham, 2010). Such attempts at initiating vitrification suggest that either potters had greater control over the firing process, or they might have been aware of the advantage of volcanic ash tempers when pots were fired to temperatures high enough for some vitrification to take place as volcanic ash tempers were used throughout the Late Classic (see Jones, 1986).…”