Jochen Fromm<p>One thing the ancient Chinese and the ancient <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/Maya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Maya</span></a> had in common was mercury. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/China" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>China</span></a> whose tomb is guarded by the famous Terracotta army, is believed to have died from mercury poisoning after consuming mercury-based elixirs in his quest for immortality. His unopened 2000 year old tomb still shows elevated levels of <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/mercury" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>mercury</span></a>.<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Qin_Shi_Huang" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleu</span><span class="invisible">m_of_Qin_Shi_Huang</span></a></p><p>Some ancient Maya sites are polluted with toxic levels of mercury too. The contamination of water reservoirs and soil most likely originated from mercury-containing compounds for decoration and art. It is a bit ironic that people in their quest for eternal life and glory got the opposite by drinking mercury-based elixirs or by using mercury-based colors for their monuments, isn't it? <br><a href="https://bigthink.com/the-past/maya-mercury/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">bigthink.com/the-past/maya-mer</span><span class="invisible">cury/</span></a></p>