Decay Degree determination of Archaeological Shell Objects from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, using a Visible Light
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Decay Degree determination of Archaeological Shell Objects from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, using a Visible Light Spectrometer María de Lourdes Gallardo Parrodi1, José Luis Ruvalcaba Sil2 1 Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, INAH. Seminario No. 8, Centro Histórico, Mexico DF 06060, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected] 2 Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM. Apdo. Postal 20364, México D. F. 01000, Mexico. e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT In four offerings of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan five groupings of Pinctada Mazatlanica shell pendants were found. Due to the burial conditions, damages on the surfaces can be observed in almost all the objects. In order to assess the deterioration degree, we used a visible light spectrometer. This is an inexpensive method to determine qualitatively the reflectance of the light at the surface that is directly related to the amount of organic material remains in these objects. This data may be used as a conservation marker for monitoring the collection and it can provide outstanding information to preserve the fragile shell pendants using a non-destructive method. INTRODUCTION The Great Temple Project was created in order to rescue and study the archaeological traces of the culture that dominated the Central High Plateau until the arrival of the Spaniards in the XVI century. Since 1978, more than 130 offerings have been recovered; all of them had different materials and were deposited for the Mexica’s gods in the main building of their society: The Great Temple. The offerings were the mean by the Mexica communicated with their gods, because of that the offered objects have a lot of importance, since not only the deities, the represented forms and concepts are important, but the selected raw materials, its origins, manufacture and particular characteristics also reveal crucial data for the integral comprehension of this culture. The archaeological project has distinguished itself since its beginning for favoring a continuous interdisciplinary practice. By this way, the objects have been addressed in relation to its contexts, establishing their symbolic relations, their meaning and in many cases we have been able to understand better its behavior inside its immediate environment in the burial particular conditions. Moreover, some alterations suffered by the objects during its original use and after some treatments subsequent to the excavation have been identified in some cases. In the case of alterations of the pieces it has been possible to establish the cause, the mechanisms and the effects of deterioration. Considering that the archaeological collection now has more than ten thousand pieces and is still growing, this kind of approximations have been made in the most representative cases. Among the archaeological materials from the Great Temple, we highlight the presence of shells (Figure 1), which were laid down in the offerings in natural or worked state. The amount of them that can be found is remar
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