This article summarises the history of cinnabar, from its first uses in burials to modern oils on canvas. After a brief introduction on mercury and contamination issues, the article gets to the heart of the topic. First, mercury-based minerals significant for studying pigments, i.e. cinnabar, metacinnabar, hypercinnabar and calomel, are presented. Structural information and properties precede an overview of the geographic distribution of cinnabar deposits. The following section addresses the multiple uses of cinnabar, divided into funerary use, decorative use, lustre and Chinese lacquer production. The use of cinnabar for writing (ink), medicine and cosmetics is briefly described, and a shortlist of uncommon finds is further provided. The following section approaches inherent but less known topics such as cinnabar procurement, trade, production technology, application and alteration. An entire section is dedicated to calomel before concluding with an overview of the analytical methods for the characterisation and provenance investigation of cinnabar.

/pdf/pigments-mercury-based-red-cinnabar-vermilion-and-white-289o4fj7hr.pdf

Pigments — Mercury-based red (cinnabar-vermilion) and white (calomel) and their degradation products

This review explores the past two decades of research on ancient Maya skeletons. The focus is on how this work has contributed to our understanding of health, diet, social change, inequality, migration and mobility, war, violence, and ritual practice, with special attention given to recent methodological developments and debates in the bioarchaeology of the Maya. This review essay highlights the most recent findings in the bioarchaeology of the Maya and how those results were achieved. The essay concludes with suggestions for future research and highlights areas of potential collaboration that have been underutilized to address broader anthropological questions.

Bioarchaeology and the Skeletons of the Pre-Columbian Maya

Multianalytical characterization of pigments from funerary artefacts belongs to the Chupicuaro Culture (Western Mexico): Oldest Maya blue and cinnabar identified in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

New results in ancient Maya rituals researches: The study of human painted bones fragments from Calakmul archaeological site (Mexico)

The design of proxy techniques is an innovative tool to monitor the potentially toxic elements of pollution in road dust. This study evaluated the use of road dust color as a proxy methodology to identify samples contaminated with presumably contaminating elements. FRX determined the concentrations of Fe, Ti, Rb, Sr, Y, Cu, Zn, and Pb in eighty-five road dust samples. The appliance of the RGB system and the Munsell color cards identified five color groups of road dust samples. The discriminant analysis validated these groups by colorimetric indices and presumably contaminating elements. The “very dark gray” color of road dust contains the highest concentrations of Pb, Cu, Zn, and Y. The redness and saturation rates showed high correlations with presumably contaminating elements in “dark gray” and “very dark gray” color samples. The color of road dust, as a proxy technique, allows identifying samples contaminated with presumably contaminating elements.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/4/483/pdf

Color as a New Proxy Technique for the Identification of Road Dust Samples Contaminated with Potentially Toxic Elements: The Case of Mérida, Yucatán, México

We studied the composition, colour chromaticity and form of application of red pigments in human bone samples from seven Classic period Lowland Maya sites. The samples were analysed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Colour was measured using conventional colour identification standards (Munsell) and reflectance spectroscopy. Cinnabar and hematite were identified as the pigments used. We conclude that the reflectance method has advantages over conventional visual results, as it provides precise, objective and quantifiable optical data to distinguish the chromaticity, colour saturation and brightness of the pigments.

Spectrochemical Characterization of Red Pigments Used in Classic Period Maya Funerary Practices

In this work the possibilities of infrared thermography for the study of burned human bones of outstanding
interest in archaeology and anthropology are explored. The technique used consisted in the illumination of the
sample using an infrared solid state laser beam and the observation and the monitoring of the surface temperature
with an infrared camera. The bones analyzed were previously thermally treated in a furnace and boiled
in water. It is shown that the effect of the thermal treatments can be observed in the infrared images, from
which the dynamics of the cooling process of the sample is obtained. It is shown that the cooling process of the
samples could be used to identify the possible burning treatment at which a given material could have undergone
previously. As an auxiliary technique X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the crystallization of the material
and to look for a correlation with different thermal treatments.

Photothermal and optical spectroscopy analysis of burned bones

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Spectrochemical Characterization of Red Pigments Used in Classic Period Maya Funerary Practices

Photothermal and optical spectroscopy analysis of burned bones