An archaeologist has discovered “large quantities” of liquid mercury in a chamber below the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, the third largest pyramid of Teotihuacan, suggesting the existence of a king’s tomb or a ritual chamber far below.
In November 2014, Mexican researcher Sergio Gomez and a team announced they had found three chambers at the tunnel’s 300ft end, almost 60ft below the temple, the Guardian reported.
Rosemary Joyce of the University of California, Berkeley, said that archaeologists have found mercury at three other sites, two Maya and one Olmec, around Central America, though the liquid metal had no apparent practical purpose for ancient Mesoamericans.
Gomez speculated that the mercury could be a sign that his team is close to uncovering the first royal tomb ever found in Teotihuacan after decades of excavation and centuries of mystery surrounding the leadership of the cryptic but well-preserved city.
Annabeth Headreck of the University of Denver said that the shimmering, reflective qualities of liquid mercury may have resembled an underworld river, not that different from the river Styx, adding that if only in the concept that it’s the entrance to the supernatural world and the entrance to the underworld.
She noted that mirrors were considered a way to look into the supernatural world, they were a way to divine what might happen in the future, suggesting it could be a sort of river, albeit a pretty spectacular one.
Joyce said that archaeologists know that scintillation fascinated the ancient people generally, and that the liquid mercury may have held been regarded as somewhat magical, there for ritual purposes or symbolic purposes. (ANI)