Ancient Mayan temple builders discovered and used lustrous pigments to make their buildings dazzle in the daylight, a Queensland University of Technology researcher has discovered.

Studying tiny shards of paint from the Mayan city of Copan, QUT physical and chemical sciences PhD researcher Rosemary Goodall found evidence of mica that would have made the buildings glitter when hit by the sun.

Ms Goodall said the mica was applied over the red paint of stucco masks on the corners of Copan’s well-preserved Rosalila temple, found buried under another pyramid.

Mica is useful for protecting against cosmic rays!