This postdoctoral fellowship is part of the MAYACOSTA research project, which aims to determine the nature of the relationships between the Maya region and northern Costa Rica between 500 BCE and 600 CE. The project focuses on the exchange of some of the most sacred objects of Maya royalty, such as iron ore mirrors. These artifacts are found in significant quantities in northern Costa Rica, over 1,000 km from their potential production areas, even though no similar objects have been discovered in the regions between. Iron ore mirrors are directly associated with Maya religious material from the Late Preclassic and throughout the Classic Period (250–950 CE). These mirrors typically consisted of three characteristic components: a backing, often made of stone; an adhesive layer composed of clay mixed with organic material; and iron ore tesserae, which could be pyrite or hematite, affixed to the adhesive. These adhesives have never been studied in detail and could provide insights into the technical traditions of specific production workshops. The botanical species used as sources for the organic materials vary according to geographic and ecological context, resulting in compositional differences based on production site. Characterizing these adhesives could therefore help trace the origins of mirrors found in Costa Rica.
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