Sascab is a naturally occurring mineral material described variously as "decomposed

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

", "

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

", and "the lime gravel mixture the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

used as mortar." It has been used as a building and paving material in

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

since antiquity. In the context of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

the term may also apply to mixtures (with clay and water) of a more finely divided form of the same material (described as "stone dust"). It was used by the ancient Maya in place of (or as a partial replacement for) lime in some applications, without needing to be "burned." According to travel writer Jeanine Kitchel, the American explorer of the Yucatan,

Edward Herbert Thompson Edward Herbert Thompson (September 28, 1857 – May 11, 1935) was an American-born archaeologist and long-time consul to Yucatán, Mexico. Biography Edward H. Thompson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Thompson devoted much of his career to s ...

found (ca.1900) "shallow quarries near

Chichen Itza Chichén Itzá , , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people, Itza people" (often spelled ''Chichen Itza'' in English and traditional Yucatec Maya) was a large Pre-Columbian era, ...

with worked veins of ''sascab''..."

References

* Littmann, E. R. (1958). 'Ancient Mesoamerican mortars, plasters, and stuccos: the composition and origin of sascab' in THOMPSON, RAYMOND H. ED. American Antiquity. Vol. XXIV Number 2 October 1958; Society for American Archaeology. * Folan, William J (1978). Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico: An Analysis of a Prehispanic and Contemporary Source of Sascab. American Antiquity 43:79-85. * Kitchel, Jeanine.
Explorers: Edward Herbert Thompson
" Retrieved May 10, 2005.

(of Campeche, Campeche, Mexico.) Retrieved May 10, 2005. * Osceola, Ilvia Larragán

Retrieved May 10, 2005. Mesoamerican architecture Maya architecture Minerals {{mesoamerica-stub