The Maya used so much red paint that they poisoned their water with mercury, mud sediments reveal
Researchers found extreme levels of mercury in sediment cores in Mexico — and it’s all because the Maya loved red paint.
A new study shows that the ancient Maya inadvertently poisoned their waterways with mercury when they applied massive amounts of red paint to their art and ceremonial objects. The red pigment used, cinnabar, contains mercury which was transformed into toxic methylmercury in lake sediments by anaerobic bacteria. This mercury accumulation led to a decline in freshwater fisheries, a key food source for the Maya, who depended heavily on fish and shellfish.
The study, published in Science Advances, analyzed mud sediments from the Yucatán Peninsula dating back 2,000 years and found extreme mercury levels in two sites, Cobá Lake and Cenote Xcach. Mercury levels in the most polluted sediment reached 2.3 parts per million, far exceeding safe levels for human consumption. The researchers found that the toxin caused the death of freshwater shellfish and reduced algal blooms, indicating severe environmental damage.
While the Maya collapse is attributed to drought, the new findings suggest mercury poisoning could have been a contributing factor, particularly in the Yucatán Peninsula where cinnabar imports stopped around A.D. 520.
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