SUMMARYMercury and radium in old-world tech (Nov 6, 2026). MERCURY, Record: Teotihuacan, liquid mercury under the Feathered Serpent temple (INAH 2015). Record: Lamanai, a pool of liquid mercury in a Maya offering (Pendergast, Science 1982); mercury pollution in soil at many Maya sites (Cooke et al., 2022), mostly from cinnabar paint. Record: Qin Shi Huang's tomb, Sima Qian (c. 94 BCE) wrote of rivers of mercury; mercury gas leaking from the mound measured by laser (Zhao et al., Scientific Reports 10:10414, 2020), peaks of 27 ng/m³ against a 5–10 background; the tomb is unopened. Record (text): Samarangana Sutradhara (King Bhoja, 11th c.) describes wooden flying machines driven by mercury heated over fire; an old text, no machine found. Killed as ancient: the Vaimanika Shastra mercury engines (written 1918–23). Pattern: mercury (quicksilver) turns up in the Americas, China and India in sacred and royal places
OPENwhat it was for (ritual, preservation, power); needs deep research. RADIUM, Killed: no radium found in any ancient object; radium was isolated in 1898 (Curies). Killed: Mohenjo-daro "radioactive skeletons," traced to Gorbovsky, Riddles of Ancient History (1965), who misread a 1960s measurement of one Egyptian bone; no measurement of Mohenjo-daro remains published. Killed: Tartaria radium stoves (P749). Natural fact: Oklo, Gabon, natural nuclear reactors about 2 billion years old (found 1972), made by nature, not people.