TY - JOUR AU - Delgado Robles, Alma A. AU - Ruvalcaba Sil, Jose Luis AU - Claes, Pieterjan AU - Manrique Ortega, Mayra D. AU - Casanova González, Edgar AU - Maynez Rojas, Miguel Ángel AU - Cuevas García, Martha AU - García Castillo, Sabrina PY - 2015 DA - 2015/06/24 TI - Non-destructive in situ spectroscopic analysis of greenstone objects from royal burial offerings of the Mayan site of Palenque, Mexico JO - Heritage Science SP - 20 VL - 3 IS - 1 AB - One of the most important Mayan cities of the Classic period (A.D. 200–900) of Mesoamerica is Palenque, in Chiapas. The Mayan civilization attributed great importance to greenstone minerals, in particular jadeite. This study covers the analysis of greenstones found in royal tombs of several temples corresponding to the Classic period: the Temple of the Skull, Temple of the Cross and Temples XVIII and XVIII-A. The aim of this research is to determine the use of greenstone minerals and the raw materials’ sources as a first step in understanding the development of Palenque and its relationships to other sites in the Maya region. Here, we present a non-destructive in situ study of lithic objects carried out by means of a several spectroscopic techniques, such as Raman, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and color measurements, at the Palenque site museum. FTIR and Raman allowed for the identification of minerals including jadeite, omphacite, amazonite, albite, muscovite and green quartz. Moreover, XRF was effective for in situ analysis of the elemental composition of the artifacts. This information was essential for sourcing the raw materials, in particular, jadeite. It was possible to infer the exploitation of an unknown source of jadeite for the earlier burial (A.D. 250–450). During this period the exploitation of the Verapaz and Motagua jadeite deposits also began. These sources were the primary deposits used for the manufacture of the artifacts studied from the period of A.D. 600–850. Also, a greater diversity of minerals is observed during the zenith of Palenque during this period, corresponding to the reign of Pakal. Although, between burials, the color of the artifacts is diverse, the color measurements indicated similarity in color among artifacts within individual burials. SN - 2050-7445 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-015-0048-z DO - 10.1186/s40494-015-0048-z ID - Delgado Robles2015 ER -