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View Full Version : Volcanic Evidence Opens New Maya Mystery



skywizard
2nd June 2014, 21:49
http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/024/715/original/mayan-temple.jpg?1330022050
Temple in the Kingdom of Tikal, one of the most prominent of the Classic Period.


Tough and tiny zircon crystals have helped researchers rule out an enormous volcanic blast as the source of ash used to make Maya pottery, deepening this long-running archaeological mystery.

"While we're a little sad not to have solved the mystery, we're really confident we can say the most likely source quite conclusively isn't a match," said lead author Kevin Coffey, a geology master's student at the University of California, Los Angeles.

However, the results did a reveal a tantalizing new pottery puzzle for scientists to solve — whether the Maya's ash came from one volcano or many spewing cones.

"Every time I turn another leaf in this thing, it opens up a new problem," said study co-author Anabel Ford, director of the MesoAmerican Research Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Potters at Maya cities on the Caribbean side of Central America fused volcanic ash with local limestone to form household and ceremonial pottery, because the ash made their ceramics easier to fire. The distinctive recipe was a hallmark of the Late Classic Period from A.D. 600 to 900, Ford said.

With thousands of people living in cities such as El Pilar and Tikal, the Mayan potters burned through several tons of volcanic ash every year, Ford has estimated. But no one can figure out where the ash came from.

The mystery begins with the fact that there just aren't any volcanoes in eastern Central America. Nor have archaeologists found evidence the Maya mined ash locally.

They could have hauled in the ash from the many volcanoes in what is today's El Salvador and Guatemala, Ford said but she thinks a convenient quarry makes more sense than hauling tons of ash overland every year.


They cut and moved tons of stones, why not a few tons of ash... :hmm:


Read Full Story: http://www.livescience.com/45997-maya-pottery-volcanic-ash-mystery.html



peace...