MEXICO: Sergio Gomez, a Mexican archaeologist examining an underground tunnel in the ancient city of Teotihuacan, has made a surprising discovery: “large quantities” of liquid mercury sealed in a chamber. The purpose of the mercury is yet to be determined but, said Gomez, it may have been put there as a symbol of an underground lake or river. What makes the discovery important is the fact that it may be a sign that there is a royal tomb in the tunnel. Mercury was not a commonly mined metal in the Mexico of ancient times, it was quite rare, and as such was highly prized for its reflective properties. This rarity coupled with the considerable amounts in which it was found by Gomez, suggests that the researcher may be close to finding the first ever royal burial in Teotihuacan.
The city, which used to be the largest in both Americas, had some 200,000 inhabitants at its height. The civilisation that built it and ruled the region between 100 and 700 CE, however, remains mysterious. It was unrelated to the Mayans and built huge stone pyramids, but that is about all scientists knew about it until recently, because the civilisation had left no written records following its decline. This decline had occurred long before the Aztecs came on the scene seven centuries later. Purposeful archaeological work in Teotihuacan only started in the 1950s.
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