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Tourists walk through the Acropolis of Copan, an ancient Maya site in western Honduras, on Sept. 24, 2023. In Copan, intricate lime sculptures and temples remain intact even after more than 1,000 years exposed to a hot, humid environment.
A growing number of scientists have been studying materials from long-ago eras—chipping off chunks of buildings, poring over historical texts, mixing up copycat recipes—hoping to uncover how they’ve held up for millennia. “If you improve the properties of the material by using … traditional recipes from Maya people or the ancient Chinese, you can produce material that can be used in modern construction in a much more sustainable way,” said Carlos Rodriguez-Navarro, a cultural heritage researcher at Spain’s University of Granada.Many researchers have turned to the Romans for inspiration.
Now, scientists think they’ve found a key reason why some Roman concrete has held up structures for thousands of years: The ancient material has an unusual power to repair itself. Exactly how is not yet clear, but scientists are starting to find clues. The builders would gather volcanic rocks left behind after eruptions to mix into their concrete. This naturally reactive material changes over time as it interacts with the elements, Jackson said, allowing it to seal cracks that develop.
When scientists zoomed in, they saw that bits of organic material from the tree juice got incorporated into the plaster’s molecular structure. In this way, the Mayan plaster was able to mimic sturdy natural structures like seashells and sea urchin spines—and borrow some of their toughness, Rodriguez-Navarro said.
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