Mayan civilization

In this chapter, the very widespread industrial application of colloid chemistry will be described. Surprisingly enough, mankind has been aware of colloids for many thousands of years. The old Egyptian and Mayan civilizations, without cement, used their knowledge about adhesion (between blocks of stones) when building pyramids. 

Given the importance of water for life, it should come as no surprise that development of civilizations has been closely tied to reliable sources of fresh water. During the first millennium, Mayan civilization was one of the most advanced on Earth. Mayan city-states covered much of the Yucatan peninsula in what is now easternmost Mexico. 

Many stone doUs in the curious shape of a mushroom from the Mayan civilization were excavated in Guatemala, southern areas of Mexico, and El Salvador. At first, the meaning of these doUs was not known. Subsequently, it was found that the shape of these doUs indicated reverence for the... 

The Mayan civilization of Mexico and Central America relied on natural organic pigments for its colors, which are very interesting, since they do not appear to be duplicated in other parts of the world. Whites were made by mixing lime with the juice of the chichebe plant natural earths (iron oxides)... 

Although there is much current excitement about nanomaterials, there is really nothing new about nanoscience. In fact, the earliest civilizations used nanoscale materials for a variety of applications. For example, the Mayans used a magnesium aluminum silicate clay called palygorskite, which contained nanosized channels that were filled with water. The Mesopotamian civilizations used colored glass for decorative applications that contained embedded metallic nanoparticles. 

Most of the plants quoted in these books proceeded from Central Mexico, including those found in the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and comprising species from temperate, arid, dry and humid tropical vegetations. The ethnobotanical information concerns mostly to the main civilizations that once developed in these regions, for instance, the Aztec and Tarascan, but not to those that thrived in Southeast region of Mexico, such as the Mayan. Finally, these books were not only devoted to native knowledge, but also contained in different proportion, newly acquired European ideas, practices and plants. 

Natural biomaterials were widely used by physicians from ancient civilizations of India, China, Egypt, and Central America and it was the ancient Mayans who discovered the unique property of nacre to heal seamlessly onto living human bone without causing harm. 

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