Archaeometric Study of Pyrite Tesserae Mosaics from El Caño (750–1100 CE), Panama: Evidence of Interactions between the Coclé and Maya Regions

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Hidden Gems: New Research on Lapidary, Lapidarists, and Polished Stone and Shell in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The study aims to identify the origin of mosaic stone tesserae mirrors discovered in El Caño, Gran Coclé (750–1100 CE). It is part of a broader research effort aimed at understanding the exchange system between the central region of the Isthmus and the northern and southern parts of the American continent The research objectives include (1) typological classification of the mirrors from El Caño by measuring the degree of similarity using the Jaccard coefficient, (2) characterization of the materials used to make their stone bases, involving analyses such as optical microscopy, thin sections (petrography), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD); and (3) identification of the tools used in their manufacture, through observations of marks using optical microscope and electron microscopy (SEM and Back Scattered Electron Detector [BSE]). The results indicate that (1) the mirrors are typologically similar to Maya mirrors from the Late Classic and Postclassic periods, (2) the rocks used to manufacture the mirror bases are a special type of sandstone not observed in the geological formations in the Isthmus, and (3) the tools used for shaping were limestone abrasives, consistent with the limestone tools used by the Maya for shaping the stone bases of their mirrors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Hidden Gems: New Research on Lapidary, Lapidarists, and Polished Stone and Shell in the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51790