The chemistry of Maya Blue
Composite Colorants
Maya Blue resists attack by solvents, acids, bases and temperatures as
high as 3000C.
This stability has made the chemical analysis of Maya Blue especially
difficult as it can not be treated with common reagents. It was only in
the 1960s that scientists, using spectroscopic techniques, were able to
show that the pigment was composed of two main ingredients: indigo, a
vegetable dye, and palygorskite, an unusual magnesium aluminium silicate
clay. Unlike many other types of clay, palygorskite has long interior
channels. This allows palygorskite to absorb and to hold fairly large
amounts of dye. The absorbent properties of palygorskite are also used
in anti-diarrhoeal medications such as Kaopectate. Beyond the
composition of Maya Blue, however, there is little known as to how the
pigment was produced, and what role it played in the Maya culture.
To get more information visit Mcgill