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 In the bowels of Teotihuacan, a mysterious ancient city that was
once the largest in the Americas, Sergio Gomez this month found
"large quantities" of the silvery metal in a chamber at the end of a
sacred tunnel sealed for nearly 1,800 years.
"It's something that completely surprised us," Gomez said at the
entrance to the tunnel below Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Plumed
Serpent, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Mexico City.
Some archeologists believe the toxic element could herald what would
be the first ruler's tomb ever found in Teotihuacan, a contemporary
of several ancient Maya cities, but so shrouded in mystery that its
inhabitants still have no name.
Unsure why the mercury was put there, Gomez says the metal may have
been used to symbolize an underworld river or lake. Previously
uncovered in small amounts at a few Maya sites much further south,
it had never been found in Teotihuacan.
Difficult to mine and prized for its reflective properties, mercury
was rare in ancient Mexico. Archaeologists believe may have lent it
a supernatural significance for ritual ends.
ROYAL TOMB SOUGHT
Deeper into the complex comprising three chambers, Gomez expects to
find the elusive last resting place of a king.
If Gomez is right, it could help settle a debate over how power was
wielded in Teotihuacan, a city boasting massive stone pyramids that
was home to as many as 200,000 people and the heart of ancient
empire that flourished between 100 and 700 A.D.
Teotihuacan, or "abode of the gods" in the Aztec language of
Nahuatl, was distinct from the Mayan civilization. Its inhabitants
left behind no written record, abandoning the city long before the
Aztecs came to power in the 14th century.
Spaniards dug at Teotihuacan in the 1670s, but rigorous scientific
excavation of the site did not begin until the 1950s.
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Gomez's six-year slog in the tunnel has already yielded tens of
thousands of artifacts including stone sculptures, fine jewelry and
giant seashells leading to the three chambers. The painstaking
excavation has slowed due to extreme humidity, mud, and now, the
need for protective gear to avoid mercury poisoning.
George Cowgill, a U.S. archeologist who has spent more than four
decades excavating Teotihuacan, says the mercury find increases the
odds of finding a tomb.
"But it's still very uncertain, and that is what keeps everybody in
suspense," he added.
Mexican archeologist Linda Manzanilla believes that at its peak, the
city was ruled not by a single king, but a council of four lords,
and that Gomez may find the remains of one of them.
To bolster her argument, she cites the absence of a single palace or
the presence of kings in any of the city's many murals.
The excavation of the chambers should be finished by October, Gomez
said, with an announcement of findings by the end of 2015.
(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; editing by Dave Graham, Simon
Gardner and G Crosse)
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