Archaeologists are too scared to open the tomb of China's first emperor because they fear booby traps
Archaeologists are too scared to open the tomb of China's first emperor because they fear booby traps
An ancient Chinese historian wrote that the tomb is filled with mercury and crossbows ready to fire.
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They mention high mercury levels as a trap or from wine that the emperor drank, but neither is likely (they often used to add lead to wine as a sweetener, but not mercury AFAIK). But, mercury contamination in tombs, especially in Asia, is very common from the heavy use of the deep red pigment cinnabar, also called vermillion, which is mercury sulfide.
Faik the worry isn't from wine the emperor drank (though I think the consensus is he did take a hell of a lot of mercury as medicine believing it'd give immortality). It's the described artistic floor map of China (at the time) with the rivers of liquid mercury suggested as being real by the high mercury readings.
I’ve heard of lead being used as sweetener for the Romans but never the Chinese
Dude the emperor used to take his boat out on a lake of mercury.
Well clearly that's why he's dead now.