Burnt lime has played a significant role in daily Maya life since at least as far back as 1100 b.c., and yet its ephemeral nature has limited archaeological studies of its production. The application of new surveying and remote sensing technologies in recent decades is now allowing for a more in-depth investigation of the burnt lime industries that existed in different subregions of the Maya area. This article provides an overview of the current understanding of pre-Hispanic Maya burnt lime production. It then presents an analysis of the factors influencing the development and identification of distinct subregional lime production industries, including: lime consumption requirements and inter-site spacing; natural environment; local social and economic trajectories; and the objectives and survey universes of archaeological investigations. In reporting the tremendous advances made over the past few decades, this paper encourages archaeologists to include a focus on identifying lime production features in their research agendas.

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Ceramic production from ancient Mesoamerican civilizations is related with cultural and technological evolution processes. Studying ritual objects also provides information on ancient traditions and allows researchers to determine the importance of certain materials employed in its manufacture. In this work, a set of 72 of Mayapán’s effigy censers’ sherds was analyzed in situ by using a combination of non-invasive, non-destructive spectroscopic and imaging techniques for material characterization; colorimetry established an initial classification of the pigments present in the objects, XRF provided elemental information, FORS allowed us to describe the molecular characteristics, and hyperspectral imaging established compositional contrasts or similitudes between large regions of the different objects. Pigments were characterized, allowing us to describe the materials used in the decorations of such ritual objects. The pottery matrix was also characterized, leading to a detailed description of the clays and mixtures of minerals employed in the construction of the effigy censers.