The blue-green colour of veszelyite seems to have been chosen to blend in with and even imitate jade
Posted on 08/10/2008 11:41:54 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A pigment unknown to art historians has been identified on ancient Maya artefacts from Mexico. The blue-green colour of veszelyite seems to have been chosen to blend in with and even imitate jade, the most precious substance used by the Maya... Tomb 4 was identified as that of the ruler Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ak', "Smoking Jaguar Paw", who was born in AD649 and reigned from 686 to 695, when he was apparently defeated by Jasaw Chan K'awiil I of Tikal, Calakmul's rival to the south. Whether Yuknoom was killed in this battle or died sublater is not known but he was buried with pomp in his capital city. Among his grave goods was a funerary mask of apple-green jade mosaic. The jade plaques were set into white lime stucco over a wooden base, and the stucco was painted green to match the jade. In the adjacent Tomb 6 a woman presumed to be Yuknoom's companion was buried with three more jade mosaics, including two masks, also with the stucco painted green. An earlier tomb in the Structure 3 palace nearby included a wooden vessel with green-painted supports. The assumption was that the green was derived from malachite or chrysocolla, but analyses showed instead the use of veszelyite, the use of which as a pigment "had never been reported for any civilisation to our knowledge", Dr. R. GarcÃa Moreno and his colleagues report in Archaeometry.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
The blue-green colour of veszelyite seems to have been chosen to blend in with and even imitate jade
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Sometime in the past ten years or so there was an article (probably in Archaeology) regarding the secret of Mayan blue. |
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2004:
http://www.esrf.eu/computing/scientific/people/srio/publications/SAB2004.pdf
2008:
http://www.azulmaya.com/investigacion/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226162953.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080226-maya-blue.html
The maggots coming out of the funerary mask are a nice touch.
Now if someone could only solve the secret of Maya Angelou.
Is it anything like Soylent Green?
Although black and a woman, Maya is the poetic equivalent of the prose artist Keroac and the painter Pollard.
All produced crap but were sainted because the art dealers were hard up for money
The Maya -- and Olmec before them -- loved green and blue jadeite from the Motagua Valley in Guatemala. When none was available they carved any green stone at hand including serpentine. I'm delighted archaeologists now seem interested in tracking such minerals to their source. I think it will provide many new insights.
Those are some great masks.
Nice pics
Take LSD and Thorazine at the same time.
I’m just here for the zeppelin or stairway to heaven ping
It’s people!!!!!!!!!
[runs away, screaming]
http://www.mindat.org/min-4176.html
Formula: (Cu,Zn)2 Zn(PO4)2 ·2H2O
System: Monoclinic Colour: Green, blue, greenish ...
Hardness: 3½ - 4
Name: Named after A. Veszeli (1820-1888), Hungarian mining engineer, who discovered the species.
A rare secondary Cu-Zn mineral occurring in the oxidized zones of base metal deposits.
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