Preclassic Maya lime and stucco industry
Industria de cal y estuco del Preclásico maya
- Date
- c. 600 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Nakbé and El Mirador, Petén, Guatemala
- Credited to
- Preclassic Maya builders of Nakbé and El Mirador
- Field
- Tools
What it is
By burning limestone in kilns and slaking it with water, the Maya obtained lime for mortars and stuccos used to coat pyramids, floors and great masks from the Preclassic. Mass production demanded enormous amounts of firewood.
The start date is approximate (Hansen and colleagues place monumental stuccos at Nakbé about 600 BC or earlier). The link between lime-kiln deforestation and political collapse is a debated hypothesis. Lime was already known for nixtamalizing maize.
What it led to
- monumental architecture with painted and modelled stucco in the lowlands
- sealed floors and causeways (sacbeob) and waterproof cisterns
- pressure on forests, which some researchers link to ecological crises