Maya blue is a pigment found in different archaeological sites of different cultures from Mesoamerica, and also in colonial buildings in Mexico and Cuba. The pigment is made from a thermally treated mixture of indigo and palygorskite. Pigment samples from Aztec and non-Aztec archaeological sites as well as reference Yucatecan palygorskites were studied in this paper to assess their differences. The characterization of the samples was carried out by a combination of a crystal–chemical-point analyses using electron microscopy to obtain the structural formulae of the palygorskite crystals, and studied using high-resolution X-ray diffraction. The data show evidence that the palygorskite used by non-Aztec cultures, such as the Maya, is compatible with palygorskite from known sources in the Yucatan Peninsula, while the palygorskite used by the Aztec culture is different in its structure and has an origin that is still unknown.

中文翻译：

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玛雅蓝的晶体化学和衍射分析表明阿兹台克颜料中发现的坡缕石的不同来源*

玛雅蓝是在中美洲不同文化的不同考古遗址以及墨西哥和古巴的殖民建筑中发现的颜料。颜料由经过热处理的靛蓝和坡缕石混合物制成。本文研究了来自阿兹特克和非阿兹特克考古遗址的颜料样本以及参考尤卡坦坡缕石，以评估它们的差异。样品的表征是通过使用电子显微镜进行晶体化学点分析的组合进行的，以获得坡缕石晶体的结构式，并使用高分辨率 X 射线衍射进行研究。数据显示，非阿兹特克文化（如玛雅人）使用的坡缕石与尤卡坦半岛已知来源的坡缕石兼容，