This is important. We already know that mercury was used possibly contemporaneously in China for large tomb structures to create representations of water on a display table for the first emperor. It is too coincidental for one not to inspire the other.
I also do not think it was really rare as artisan gold mining was underway everywhere and mercury is used to refine gold. Most deposits are also easy enough to work as well once located. In that respect they are not that common, however they are usually rich enough to provide an ample supply for hand mining, unlike gold.
If this turns out to be similar to China, it will be a compelling link.
Hunt for ancient royal tomb in Mexico takes mercurial twist
An undated graphic shows the tunnel that may lead to a royal tombs discovered underneath the Quetzalcoatl …
By David Alire Garcia
http://news.yahoo.com/hunt-ancient-royal-tomb-mexico-takes-mercurial-twist-172752096.html
TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico (Reuters) - A Mexican archeologist hunting for a
royal tomb in a deep, dark tunnel beneath a towering pre-Aztec pyramid
has made a discovery that may have brought him a step closer: liquid
mercury.
In the
bowels of Teotihuacan, a mysterious ancient city that was once the
largest in the Americas, Sergio Gomez this month found "large
quantities" of the silvery metal in a chamber at the end of a sacred
tunnel sealed for nearly 1,800 years.
"It's something that completely surprised us," Gomez said
at the entrance to the tunnel below Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Plumed
Serpent, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Mexico City.
Some archeologists believe the toxic element could herald
what would be the first ruler's tomb ever found in Teotihuacan, a
contemporary of several ancient Maya cities, but so shrouded in mystery
that its inhabitants still have no name.
Unsure why
the mercury was put there, Gomez says the metal may have been used to
symbolize an underworld river or lake. Previously uncovered in small
amounts at a few Maya sites much further south, it had never been found
in Teotihuacan.
Difficult to
mine and prized for its reflective properties, mercury was rare in
ancient Mexico. Archaeologists believe may have lent it a supernatural
significance for ritual ends.
ROYAL TOMB SOUGHT
Deeper into the complex comprising three chambers, Gomez expects to find the elusive last resting place of a king.
If Gomez is right, it could help settle a debate over how
power was wielded in Teotihuacan, a city boasting massive stone pyramids
that was home to as many as 200,000 people and the heart of ancient
empire that flourished between 100 and 700 A.D.
Teotihuacan, or "abode of the gods" in the Aztec language of Nahuatl,
was distinct from the Mayan civilization. Its inhabitants left behind no
written record, abandoning the city long before the Aztecs came to
power in the 14th century.
Spaniards
dug at Teotihuacan in the 1670s, but rigorous scientific excavation of
the site did not begin until the 1950s.
Gomez's six-year slog in the tunnel has already yielded
tens of thousands of artifacts including stone sculptures, fine jewelry
and giant seashells leading to the three chambers. The painstaking
excavation has slowed due to extreme humidity, mud, and now, the need
for protective gear to avoid mercury poisoning.
George Cowgill, a U.S. archeologist who has spent more
than four decades excavating Teotihuacan, says the mercury find
increases the odds of finding a tomb.
"But it's still very uncertain, and that is what keeps everybody in suspense," he added.
Mexican archeologist Linda Manzanilla believes that at its
peak, the city was ruled not by a single king, but a council of four
lords, and that Gomez may find the remains of one of them.
To bolster her argument, she cites the absence of a single
palace or the presence of kings in any of the city's many murals.
The excavation of the chambers should be finished by
October, Gomez said, with an announcement of findings by the end of
2015.
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