Several centuries after they were built, mayan cities continue to impress us, and more recently, as researchers have found that they contaminated with high mercury content.
In a study published in the journal The frontiers of environmental science scientists have discovered mercury pollution below the surface of Mayan citieswhich is several centuries old.
But the researchers found that this pollution is not modernbut this is the result widespread use of mercury and mercury-containing products Maya between 250 and 1100 AD.
“The discovery of mercury buried deep in the soil and sediments of ancient Mayan cities is difficult to explain until we start looking at the archeology of the region, which tells us that the Maya used mercury for centuries,” said Dr. Duncan Cook, Associate Professor of Geography at the Australian Catholic University and lead author of the study.
A review of all data on mercury concentrations in soil and sediments from archaeological sites of the ancient Mayan world shows that mercury pollution is found almost everywhere.
Even today there areas where pollution is so severe this may pose a health risk to current archaeologists.
Why is there high levels of mercury pollution?
The authors note that sealed vessels filled with mercury were found. “elemental” (i.e. liquid) at several Mayan sites such as Kiriqua (Guatemala), El Paraiso (Honduras) and the ancient multi-ethnic metropolis of Teotihuacan (central Mexico).
Elsewhere in the Maya region, archaeologists have found objects decorated with paints containing mercurymade mainly from the mineral cinnabar.
The researchers come to the conclusion that the ancient Maya often used paints and powders containing cinnabar and mercury. decorate. This mercury may have leaked from patios, floors, walls and ceramics and then spread to land and water.
“For Maya, objects may contain ch’ulel, or soul power, that lived in the blood. Therefore, the bright red pigment of cinnabar was a priceless and sacred substance, but unknown to them, it was also deadly,” explains Dr. Nicholas Dunning, professor at the University of Cincinnati and co-author of the study.
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Source: La Opinion
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