gems, jade, Mesoamerica, early art, Maya, Olmec, Aztec, Mexico, Guatemala,

In the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, archaeologists found thousands of lapidary objects made from foreign raw materials. Based on detailed analysis of their chemical composition using archaeometric techniques (XRF, PIXE, and Micro-Raman), imperial green and blue jadeite pieces were identified. In this study, we present the characterization of the manufacturing traces of both colours of jadeite using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The imperial jade pieces share the technology of the Lowland Maya region of the Late Classic period, while the blue jadeite objects correspond with Olmec pieces from the Gulf Coast of Mexico. These data confirm the identification of Maya and Olmec relics deposited in Tenochtitlan, whose acquisition and distribution changed over time.