Dressed to Kill: Chilean Mummies' Clothes Were Colored with Deadly Toxin
By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | July 27, 2018 07:39am ET
Cinnabar — a naturally occurring, bright-red mineral — contains mercury, and can release highly toxic gases when heated.
In a centuries-old grave of two female mummies in Chile lingers a risk to archaeologists today: fabric tinted red with cinnabar, a highly toxic mineral that comes from mercury ore.
The hazardous red powder was first detected when the mummies were discovered in the 1970s. But although cinnabar's signature color had been previously associated with Inca culture elsewhere, it had never been seen in a cultural context in the region where the mummies were found, archaeologists reported in a new study.
https://www.livescience.com/63181-mummies-poison-clothing.html
