Green epidote: painting the past in Cerro de Oro, Cañete Valley, Peru. A chemical and mineralogical analysis of the green-yellowish ceramic pigment

Abstract

The following study proposes to analyze one of the most characteristic pigments of the Cañete Valley during the Middle Horizon period, specifically, the green-yellowish color in the Cerro de Oro ceramic repertoire. Defining the origin and use of this pigment allows for a better understanding of the access to raw materials and the operational chain in the manufacture of one of the ceramics that define this regional development. Ceramic fragments with the greenish pigment and epidote samples, both found at the Cerro de Oro archaeological site, have been used as samples for this study. To define the chemical and mineralogical composition of the pigment, XRF, Raman and XRD analyses were carried out. These analyses have allowed us to identify epidote as the colored mineral, and its behavior at high temperatures suggests that this mineral could be related to the pigment found in the ceramics of the site.