The mercury pool & pyramid connection

a reply to: AxlJones

That made me think of the old thermometers with mercury in them, I wonder if there is a similar reason behind what the ancients did when they used it?

a reply to: LadyButterfly

You never know....

I don't suppose there's a way to date the mercury residue, as it could aid in proving or disproving a theory of mine. It is my belief that the pyramids were discovered, not built by the various groups of indigenous people that their construction is often attributed to. They were re-dedicated as tombs by people who (due to their low-tech lifestyle, not necessarily lower intelligence) couldn't have possibly understood their original purpose, but still would have revered their builders as gods. Indeed, even my own guess would probably seem ridiculous (I think they were chipsets/circuit boards, there i said it.) The mercury wouldn't have been a cultural tie-in any more than the gold and silicon that future archaeologists will find in whatever remains of our hi-tech gadgets.

originally posted by: Harte

originally posted by: anti72

Harte
..

Heat this stuff up and mercury comes out of it.

Mercury has a boiling point of 356.73 °C.

not with a boiling fire for sure, and then you need an environment to collect the mercury vopors..

Only if you want a high efficiency in the extraction.

Check out the pics at this site: Link

Harte

The site that had those pics seems to have gone away, so I'm updating with links to other pics of mercury oozing out of cinnabar (ore.)
pic 1
pic 2

Harte

a reply to: AxlJones

"That raises many questions in my head: Why put liquid there? What do these civilizations have in common?"

Pyramids i imagine. As to whether or not there is a large pool of mercury below the first emperors tomb, its not like China are about to allow any excavations in the area to find out.

Or if they do it, any information gleamed will lightly to be kept in house.

originally posted by: MythMaster
a reply to: AxlJones

It's certainly an interesting aspect of it. I wonder, though, if it has more to do with permanency and using something that doesn't evaporate/stagnate/etc....over time to preserve the intended image versus something more significant. Not saying there isn't anything there, but I find myself questioning how deep it really goes. With all the strange coincidences and seemingly simultaneous development of other ideas/structures/etc.... It seems these mercury pools would be much more common than they are if it went very deep.

Actually in first century China they thought mercury had magical properties. In fact it was believed it can prolong life and ironically that's probably what killed the first emperor. They didn't know you could not handle repeated exposure to mercury. As to why it was there simple they believed mercury was what created metal. Even to the point they used it to extract gold out of ore. Realize they didn't understand why it worked they just knew when the mercury evaporated you were left with gold. Not to mention they thought cinnabar had magical properties as well and used as a pigment in paint and dyes.