An ancient Chinese historian wrote that the tomb is filled with mercury and crossbows ready to fire.
  • darmabum@lemm.eeEnglish
    484·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • PassingDuchy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      27·
      1 year ago

      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.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            8·
            1 year ago

            I was going to say “I doubt it was instantaneous”… but I stand corrected

            "They suffered slow oxidation giving way to humid saturation due to groundwater seepage for 2,180 years, followed by rapid oxidation and dehydration in 1974 when the vaults were opened and exposed to the atmosphere. The color coating was severely damaged, then aged and peeled off…

            Practically every warrior and horse was painted, but having been buried for more than 2,200 years the pigments were so old they began to change just 15 seconds after they were unearthed. Within four minutes the painting layers bound together by pigments became dehydrated, tilted and broke from the surface.”

            Source

    • Cortell@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      1 year ago

      I’ve heard of lead being used as sweetener for the Romans but never the Chinese

  • tiredofsametab@kbin.social
    38·
    1 year ago

    Fear of damaging the tomb, as mentioned near the end (archaeology is a destructive process in many cases, and there’s always new technology coming that could have told us more if we hadn’t disturbed something) is definitely a thing. I also think there’s a worry that it’s not what they think it is and there will be great disappointment. It’s not thought to have been looted in antiquity, but that also doesn’t mean it wasn’t.

  • eldoom@lemm.eeEnglish
    261·
    1 year ago

    Alright so how about we build an air tight enclosure around a small part of the door, just big enough to get, say, a small drone through. A mechanical part of this enclosure would be saws or something to breech the door. Would probably want to draw a vacuum in the enclosure first just in case… maybe the enclosure could act as an airlock so researchers could access the drone for charging, upgrading, repairs, and whatnot?

    I heard of this tomb when I was really young and ever since I’ve kinda used it as an engineering exercise in my head. Sometimes I draw things out for myself but this is the first time I’ve ever told anyone about it lol

    • SuddenDownpour@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      1 year ago

      The solution will definitely require one or several bots or drones of some sort, but even the act of getting the bot inside might trigger a trap that damages the room itself. I suppose the archeologists will eventually have to request resources to set up a combined team that involves engineers.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        8·
        1 year ago

        Why not drill in some area you are pretty sure isn’t very significant and just feed a scope in and have a look around?

  • axh@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    Where are all the archeologists inspired by Indiana Jones when they finally got a chance for adventure?

  • yool_ooloo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    1 year ago

    I’ve never heard of an archaeologist too scared of a new endeavor. (I have no friends and fewer archeologist friends.)