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Abstract

Vermillion has been shown to be useful in preserving human bones from 5000 years ago. Remarkably well-preserved human bones have been found in the dolmenic burial 'La Velilla' in Osorno (Palencia, Spain), carefully covered by pulverized cinnabar (vermillion) which ensured their preservation even in non-favorable climatic conditions. We believe the red powder was deliberately deposited for preservative use because no cinnabar mine is to be found within 160 km, because of the large amount (hundreds of kilograms) used, and because its composition, red mercuric sulphide, is similar to that of preparations used in technical embalming. This finding pushes back the data of the use of mercury ore for preservation by four millennia in South America, and by at least one millennium in the Old World. Chemical and thermal analyses of vermillion in La Velilla have demonstrated its great purity and shown that the cinnabar was pulverized and washed (but not heated), producing a bright red-orange tone.
... Esta estrategia nos ha ofrecido un panorama del Campaniforme mucho más completo y rico, y nos ha permitido también poder contextualizar los hallazgos dentro de un marco temporal más preciso gracias a la realización de una amplia batería de dataciones de C14 por AMS de numerosas inhumaciones calcolíticas, contextos habitacionales, productivos y rituales . (Martínez Fernández et al., 1999;Gavilán y Rafael ,1999), La Velilla (Osorno, Palencia) (Martín Gil et al., 1994;Delibes, 2000), La Pijotilla y el Dolmen de Montelirio (Hunt y Hurtado, 2010;Hunt et al., 2011;Fernández Flores et al., 2016), las cuevas sepulcrales 1, 3 y 5 del valle de las Higueras (Huecas, Toledo) (Bueno et al., 2005), las tumbas del Paraje de Monte Bajo (Alcalá de los Gazules, Cádiz) (Lazarich González, 2007), la cueva artificial de Getsemaní-Cerro del Ojo (Pedrera, Sevilla) (Bascón et al., 2016) y Santa Rita (Algarve) (Inacio et al., 2013). Durante la Edad del Bronce, tiene especial continuidad en el ámbito argárico y en sus áreas de influencia (Schubart, 2012;López Padilla et al., 2012). ...
... A pesar de que hasta hace relativamente poco no ha sido habitual la analítica sistemática de las tierras rojas, en muchas ocasiones consideradas "ocres o almagras", contamos ya con documentación del uso de esta materia prima de manera muy generalizada a partir del Neolítico(Martín-Gil et al., 1994;Delibes, 2000). Desde este horizonte la circulación se intensifica y se caracteriza por su multiplicidad de usos, desde contextos singulares a otros más comunes hallados sobre materiales y en estructuras domésticas o productivas. ...
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This paper discusses how the systematic use of archaeometric analyses in the study of Bell Beaker grave goods has not only enabled us to define aspects of the personalities of those for which the funerary rituals were carried out, but also to establish the presence of exotic raw materials as cinnabar that had not, until very recently, been identified through empirical methods: MEB-EDX, DRX, LIBS and ICP-MS. This new research line has revealed a greater gap between the more outstanding and the rest of the Bell Beaker burials in terms of their grave goods than previously thought, where cinnabar is present in rich grave goods and big tombs. This shows the ability of the elites to control or to have the access to the exchange networks, which enabled them to acquire exotic and valued raw materials, including cinnabar. Our research results suggest that cinnabar was placed in the funerary contexts of individuals of great importance that include prestige items as gold and ivory. However, due to a general lack of interest in documenting and analyzing this item, we have yet to study whether this was a regional phenomenon or if it was more geographically widespread.
... The choice of one or the other would depend on the intended purpose of the pigmentation, given that their properties and effects are very different (Delibes de Castro, 2000). Their joint use has been documented in the tombs of 'Alberite I ' and 'Montelirio' in Cádiz and Seville, respectively, or 'La Velilla' in Osorno, Palencia (Delibes de Castro, 2000, Martín-Gil, et al., 1995, Martín-Gil, et al., 1994, Zapatero Magdaleno and Delibes de Castro, 1996, although "the reds associated with the corpses and funerary floors are mostly made of cinnabar, a foreign raw material in most of the known cases" [tr.] (Bueno Ramírez, et al., 2020). ...
... Several hypotheses attempt to explain the presence of cinnabar. As it appears mixed with ochre and clay, it may be regarded as a suitable material for embalming or shrouding rituals (Martín-Gil, et al., 1995, Martín-Gil, et al., 1994, acting as an antiseptic to preserve the body (Delibes de Castro, 2000), although the possibility that its appearance in certain bones and different anatomical areas could have been transferred from the clothing or certain elements of adornment cannot be totally ruled out (Delibes de Castro, 2000, López Padilla, et al., 2012. Its Table 3 Multielement composition (in %) of red-powder sprinkled soil from the burial located in sector 2. use has even been proposed as an indicator of the end of the burial activity, as a 'closure' (Blanco Vázquez and Carrocera Fernández, 2013). ...
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The appearance of red pigments in prehistoric burial sites is frequent. In the study presented herein, the composition and provenance of the pigment sprinkled in a burial dated between the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods in the Cueva de la Sierra, in Campodarbe (Huesca, Spain), were characterized through X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and sulfur (δ 34 S) isotope analysis. The chemical composition of the pigment used in the burial could be unequivocally established as cinnabar, and the S isotope signature pointed to an origin in the ores of the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula, ca. 500 km far from the burial site, suggesting an alternative provenance to the Almadén outcrop, the main cinnabar source in the Iberian Peninsula. The presence of cinnabar in the Ebro valley, on the southern slope of the Central Pyrenees, forces us to rethink the complex processes of interaction between communities that populated the north of the Iberian Peninsula during the final moments of the 4th millennium BC.
... The Materials and Craft of Early Iconographers. Nueva York, EEUU: Springer, p.23. 35 Martín-Gil, J., et al. (1995). The first known use of vermillion. ...
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En este TFM para el Máster de Egiptología (Universidad de Alcalá) se rastrea la presencia del mercurio y del cinabrio en el Antiguo Egipto, desde sus orígenes hasta la época romana. Además de ello se analizan en profundidad las recetas de los papiros de Leiden y de Estocolmo que citan al mercurio y al cinabrio entre las sustancias requeridas. Por otra parte se explora la relación entre la Alquimia, el mercurio y el Antiguo Egipto.
... For this reason, cinnabar is not used in ceramic slips (e.g., Gliozzo 2021;King 2003). Fine grinding and washing of the ore produces a scarlet red to red-orange powder (Martín-Gil et al. 1995). ...
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The extraction and processing of cinnabar (HgS) to create red pigment have a deep history across the Andes. From paint used to decorate the bodies of people living on the North Coast during the early second millennium BCE, to the vibrantly decorated qeros owned by Inka elites during the Colonial period, cinnabar has been sought after and employed by Andean peoples for millennia. In this paper, we explore spatial and temporal patterns of cinnabar use through a collection-based study at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Applying the lens of technological choice to understand the mineral composition of pigments, we employ portable X-ray fluorescence and microscopy to record how, where, and when different Andean groups selected imported cinnabar over more common sources of red mineral pigment, such as iron oxides. Our results also hint at the possibility that ancient craftspeople intentionally combined different mineral pigments to produce desired hues and tints and/or other material and spiritual properties. By examining how cinnabar was deployed on pre-Hispanic Andean objects and images, we gain greater insight into the importance and meaning of this valued exchange material.
... In prehistoric and ancient Europe, however, embalming was less common overall, although there were exceptions in the Roman and Greek world (Brenner 2014). A rare example is known from Spain, where approximately 5000-year-old bones covered with large amounts of powdered vermillion delivered over long distances were discovered (Martin-Gil et al. 1995). ...
... The earliest material testimonies of the use of cinnabar in burials and symbolic contexts, mural paintings and ceramics date back to the Neolithic. For instance, a Neolithic burial (3000 BC) of Palencia (Spain) is claimed to be among the first evidence of the deliberate use of cinnabar in human records, while Argaric Culture tombs (southeast Spain, 2200-1500 BC) are also known for the presence of cinnabar [1]. In addition, the earliest examples of the use of cinnabar as a pigment in wall paintings and ceramics are those of the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük (8000-7000 BC, Turkey) [2,3]. ...
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This study presents a non-invasive in situ methodology based on the use of portable elemental (energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, EDXRF) and molecular (Raman spectroscopy) spectroscopic-based instrumentation as a tool to obtain preliminary information to assist subsequent provenance studies of archaeological cinnabar pigments in the laboratory. In this work, six cinnabar mineral ores, extracted from the Almadén mining district and an original raw pigment coming from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii have been analyzed. As the detection capacities and spectral resolution of the portable instruments are usually poorer than the equivalent benchtop equipment, a comparative study of the in-situ and laboratory results was conducted. Afterward, chemometric data treatment was performed considering both the molecular and elemental information. According to the elemental results, it was not possible to find a strong concordance between the cinnabar ores and the pigment from Pompeii, suggesting the need for additional methodologies in the laboratory (isotope ratio analysis) to complete a proper provenance study. However, this approach was useful to classify the ores according to their mineralogical differences. Therefore, this methodology could be proposed as a useful tool to conduct a representative sampling of the cinnabar mineral ores to be considered in a provenance study of archaeological cinnabar pigments.
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cross-cutting interpretation is proposed of the use of red as a symbolic component in mortuary sites, where cinnabar was the first choice of artificial colour in the exchange networks of prestige items. Its functional variability is also suggestive: as paint (stones,objects, cosmetics, etc.), to be sprinkled, to embalm corpses and as poison. Methodologies for the identification of pigments and their provenance have advanced considerably in prehistoric archaeology in the Iberian Peninsula, and a large database has been constructed attesting widespread distribution from the mines at Almadén. With an older tradition in the context of megalithism, the use of cinnabar reached a peak from the late fourth or early third millennia cal BC. Its presence in hypogea in inland Iberia is a further element to add to the ensemble of items that characterise recent megalithism inthe south of the peninsula. This funerary red is one more product of social exhibition related to the display of ancestors of families and lineages during the late Neolithic and Chalcolithic. Tradition, emulation and exhibition lie at the foundations of the social relations materialised in the realm of the dead in European recent prehistory. Keywords: red, cinnabar, megalithism, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Iberian Peninsula
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Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not always the case: mercury and its compounds have been highly appreciated and used since remote times all over the world with very diverse purposes ranging from decorative, medicinal, metallurgical and symbolic. In particular, cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide), a mineral of an intense red color, has been considered in many cultures as an exotic raw material, highly valued and associated with the elites and sacred practice. In this paper, we examine one such case, set almost 5000 years ago, in Copper Age Iberia, by investigating mercury exposure through human bone. The study presented here includes a total of 170 samples from 70 different human individuals and 22 animals (plus one soil sample) from the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina, south-western Spain. It is the largest ever single-site study of exposure to mercury based on human bone in combination with cinnabar use. Abnormally high values are recorded in some individuals dating between 2900 and 2650 BC, especially in those buried in remarkable tombs belonging to the social elite of this period, but high levels of mercury are also recorded in the rest of the population. Three lines of interpretation are used to explain these results, including the manipulation of cinnabar (grinding it into powder, mixing it with other substances, using it for the decoration of objects, buildings and the human body), its direct consumption through ingestion or inhalation by a ‘special’ social group and the contribution of environmental factors. Based on the currently available evidence, which is carefully reviewed, Valencina represents the most intense and prolonged case of exposure to mercury recorded in human history, which makes it an important site to assess the long and complex history of use of this substance.
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Engravings are the main decorations found on European megaliths, whilst pigments were known only on dolmens along the northern coast of Portugal. This paper collects data from a multidisciplinary archaeological programme aimed at searching for remnants of paint on ancient European megaliths. By developing protocols to detect these paintings on both Iberian megaliths and examples in other European areas, we were able to determine the composition of the pigments. C14 dates were also obtained where organic matter was present. Paintings, engravings, and bas-reliefs on the walls in funerary con�texts, either close to the burials or at the tomb entrance, are part of the symbolic construction of these megalithic structures. Despite issues of poor conservation, pigments can potentially complete and enrich engraved motifs. By identifying new painted decoration, it may be possible to directly date the use and continued maintenance of these megaliths, to reveal the colours applied, to provide insights into the skill of the artisans, and thus a fresh approach to the study of the societies that built these monument
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The authors consider a number of medieval discoveries from the heyday of alchemy: Greek fire, gunpowder sulfurous water, distillation, acids, bases, lead acetate, transmutations, slug gold, Tiffereau's gold, and "Spanish gold." Keywords (Domain): History / Philosophy
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