Sap from special trees made the resulting plaster extremely resistant.
Admir Masic, a materials scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who wasn’t part of the study.Navarro and his team were curious to know what made Maya plaster so special so they used X-rays and electron microscopes to analyze brick-sized plaster chunks from Copán’s walls and floors. They discovered small amounts of organic materials like carbohydrates in the structures.
As a next step the authors decided to make the historic plaster themselves following what they believed to be the right recipe. To do this, they sought the help of living masons and Maya descendants near Copán. Their inquiries led them to the specific trees whose bark the sap used in the ancient plaster came from. The end result was a pretty sturdy plaster that was also insoluble in water.
This would explain how well the Maya structures have fared despite the passing years and environmental factors.Now the researchers are further investigating if other previous civilizations could have stumbled upon the same recipe? Soon, they may have the answer for populations from Iberia to Persia to China.
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