AIC's 47th Annual Meeting

The Piedras Negras archaeological site, located on the banks of the Usumacinta River, is a site of worldwide major importance for its sculpted monuments, architecture and history. Having been investigated archaeologically, it was the base at the beginning of the decipherment of Mayan hieroglyphic writing by Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1950) when studying its monuments. In 2015, an inventory was made of the monuments carved in limestone that are still scattered throughout the site, making it possible to diagnose their conservation status, and from which, in the short and medium term, a treatment that would help stabilize its condition was proposed. Thus, between 2016 and 2018 it has been possible to protect seven of the best preserved monuments on the site, through a system of roofs and platforms that has allowed the significant improvement of their condition. This stage will be complemented by a biomineralization treatment, a treatment developed in Spain that allows the limestone and stucco to be consolidated through the application of a hydrolyzed casein nutrient that activates the Mixococu Santo bacteria, which are non-pathogenic, heterotrophic, aerobic and microaerophilic. With this food, the bacteria excrete calcium carbonate and thereby consolidate or calcify the rock or stucco where it has been applied, making the materials more resistant to chemical and physical alterations, without blocking the pores.