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Life after death: a physicochemical study of materials used by the ancient Maya in human bone ointments

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Abstract

Ancient Maya believed in life after death. They used to prepare dead bodies during burial ceremonies whose purpose was to celebrate the dead and to help them passing through the way from earthly life to the beyond one. Bodies preparation included coloured scented body ointment application, with a deep symbolic connotation and probably also a conservative purpose. The aim of this research was to characterize pigments and binders used by ancient Maya in the preparation of body ointments used to paint human bones. Emblematic painted bone samples from Xcambó (Maya archaeological site located in the municipality of Dzemul, in the Mexican state of Yucatán) were investigated through a non-destructive and micro-destructive analytical techniques. Results pointed out the presence of two mainly red pigments, i.e. red ochre and cinnabar, as already observed in other Maya painted bones. The new insight of the research is the identification of the organic compounds used as binding media in the ointments: a mixture of vegetable drying oil (probably Chia seed oil) mixed with an aromatic compound (bitumen). This knowledge, together with that obtained in the last decades, is important to reconstruct the cultural habitat and social customs of this pre-Hispanic civilization and transfer them to today’s context.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the Bioarcheology Laboratory of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Mexico) for having provided us with the samples that have allowed this research, which is part of a larger study by PhD. Vera Tiesler and PhD student Kadwin Perez López. We also thank the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI), whose online resources have provided a map of the Mayan area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sciences and Technologies for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Department of Environmetal Sciences, Informatic and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155/b, Venice, Italy

    Francesca Caterina Izzo & Carolina Rigon

  2. Departamento de Historia del Arte, Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, Valencia, Spain

    Maria Luisa Vázquez De Ágredos Pascual

  3. MINTOTA Research Group, Departament de Química Analítica, Facultat de Química, Universitat de València, Dr. Moliner 50, Burjassot, 46100, Valencia, Spain

    Pilar Campíns-Falcó

  4. Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Hobbemastraat 22, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Henk van Keulen

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  1. Francesca Caterina Izzo
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  2. Carolina Rigon
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  3. Maria Luisa Vázquez De Ágredos Pascual
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  4. Pilar Campíns-Falcó
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  5. Henk van Keulen
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Correspondence to Francesca Caterina Izzo.

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Highlights

• New insights into the Maya body ointment preparation in burial ceremonies.

• The binders used to paint human skeletons in Maya burial ceremonies were identified by direct analysis on real human bone samples.

• Thanks to UV-VIS and EDX (elemental microanalysis) investigations we identified red pigments as red earth (or ochre) and cinnabar.

• Results obtained on organic fractions suggest the presence of a vegetable drying oil mixed with a bituminous material.

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Izzo, F.C., Rigon, C., Vázquez De Ágredos Pascual, M.L. et al. Life after death: a physicochemical study of materials used by the ancient Maya in human bone ointments. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 7 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01473-3

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