ladystonehawk's avatar
What the scientists found out was the Mayans believed the pool was a gateway to the afterlife. When a loved one died, they created a figurine of the person and tossed it into the pool to help them go on to the next world.

The blue color was sacred to them because it reflected the color of the pool, and the afterlife, so their figures were painted with that color.

What baffled the scientists was how did that color stick so well after thousands of years being submerged in water and sludge and whatnot. (The silt at the bottom of the pool was blue and 14 feet deep!)

They were able to recreate the pigments to make the color and found that by burning a particular resin (incense) during their ceremony before the figures were tossed into the pool, caused a chemical reaction that made the blue pigment adhere to the clay or stone of the figures.

So-- that (plus all the hoopla of the Mayan calendar ending in 2012) inspired this piece!