Mushrooms as a source of colorant for the Classic Maya?
Updated Jan. 3, 2019
First Posted December 14, 2018
All Mayanists know mushroom stones and the Aztec delight in hallucinogenic mushrooms (species which do not grow at Yaxha). We know this because Professor Lowy came to Yaxha to look for hallucinogenic mushrooms in the 1970’s while I had the mapping project (so we had facilities for visiting scholars). Of course he found only the mushrooms which were visible the month when he visited. But there is no evidence that any mushroom at Yaxha is hallucinogenic.
The FLAAR team is back at Yaxha after 44 years; this time we are working on plants, animals, mushrooms, and lichen. While doing research on lichen I was surprised to learn that mushrooms and lichen can also be a source of colorant. We do a field trip once a month (because there is not strong enough Internet and because electricity from solar panels is not (yet) strong enough to power our batteries, we can stay only about 5 days per month. We hope to be able to improve Internet reception and electrical power as soon as donations are available, so we can stay and do even more research in this remarkable botanical park. If you or your company can help, please let us know.
Lots of species o mushrooms were edible; these are easiest to find. To figure out which Maya mushrooms are sources for colorants will be a challenge: but that is what keeps me interested in learning more.
The range of the colors of the mushrooms we have found so far at Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo is impressive. However this year was extremely dry; if it rains more next year we can f ind even more colors. So no blue mushrooms at Yaxhayet, but blue mushrooms do occur in nearby Belize.
After lots of research I learned that the most common mushrooms at Yaxha are sources of colorant for the Mayan people for thousands of years. But... there is another mushroom which looks identical on the top. So to be sure you have the colorant-capable mushroom you have to turn it over to see the structure on the underside: these Yaxha mushrooms are all colorant capable!
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Camera NIKON D810, lens Zeiss Makro-Planar 2/100 ZF.2; settings: f/10, speed 1/250, ISO 12800. Photo by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth |
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