What is cinnabar in literature?

Cinnabar, α-HgS – mineral, mercury(II) sulfide. The most common mercury mineral. It has a beautiful scarlet color, and when freshly chipped it resembles blood stains. Cinnabar means “dragon’s blood” in Arabic. Mercury sulfide also has a second, cubic polymorphic natural modification (β-HgS), known as metacinnabarite (a relatively rare black mineral).

Structure and appearance

Crystallizes in trigonal system, trigonal-trapezohedral type of symmetry L 3 3L 2. The crystal structure is hexagonal, generally reminiscent of the distorted structure of NaCl with a coordination number of 6 (more precisely, 2+4 for both Hg and S). The specificity of the crystalline structure of cinnabar is continuous chains of S – Hg – S with a covalent bond between the ions, extending parallel to the “c” axis along the right or left helical axis (which determines the pronounced ability to rotate the plane of polarization).
Forms predominantly small rhombohedral or thick-tabular crystals and very characteristic growth twins along (0001). However, in a number of deposits (China, Chauwai in Kyrgyzstan) well-formed translucent crystals measuring up to 2-3 cm or more were found. But more often it is found in the form of veins, inclusions, crystalline granular aggregates or powdery masses.

Materials

Contains 86,2% mercury. Cleavage is perfect in one direction. Fragile. The color is red, and a characteristic dark bluish-gray to lead-gray discoloration is often observed. In air, it gradually oxidizes from the surface, becoming covered with a thin film of tarnish (HgO). In thin fragments, cinnabar is transparent and has a bright “diamond” shine. Hardness on the Mohs scale 2 – 2,5; density 8,1 – 8,2 g/cm³. Under p.tr. melts easily and when heated in air to ~200°C completely evaporates with the formation of mercury vapor and sulfur dioxide; on coal it sublimes without a residue. Soluble only in aqua regia.

Origin and deposits

Cinnabar is the most common mercury mineral. It is formed in hydrothermal near-surface deposits, together with quartz, calcite, barite, stibite, pyrite, galena, marcasite, and less commonly with native mercury and native gold. Cinnabar is often deposited in veins among highly metamorphosed jasperoid rocks associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs. The world’s largest mercury deposit Almaden is located in Spain, which until recently accounted for about 80% of global mercury production. It is also mined in Ukraine (Nikitovskoye deposit), Montenegro (Avala), Slovenia (Idrija), USA (New Almaden), many significant deposits have been explored and are being developed in China. Of the numerous deposits in Central Asia, the largest is Khaidarkan in Kyrgyzstan. Also Chauvay (Kyrgyzstan), Adrasman and Dzhizhikrut (Tajikistan). In Russia, a large deposit is known in Chukotka.

From the history

Cinnabar was mined in the Roman Empire for mercury and a natural red pigment. Some of the Roman mines are still in use today. Pliny the Elder mentions in his writings that Ancient Rome purchased up to 4,5 tons of mercury annually from Spain. One of the oldest mercury deposits in Ukraine, Nikitovskoe, is located in the Donbass (Donetsk region, Gorlovka), and has been developed since ancient times; Here, at various depths (up to 20 m), ancient mine workings were discovered, in which tools could be found – stone hammers. An even more ancient mine is Khaidarkan (“Great Mine”) in the north of the Fergana Valley, where numerous traces of ancient work have also been preserved: large workings, metal wedges, lamps, clay retorts for firing cinnabar, large dumps of the resulting cinders. Archaeological excavations show that mercury was mined in the Fergana Valley for many centuries and only in the 13th-14th centuries, after Genghis Khan and his successors destroyed the craft and trading centers here, and the population switched to a nomadic lifestyle, ore mining in Fergana was stopped . But in the middle of the 20th century. actively resumed at the Khaidarkan field (Kyrgyzstan). In ancient times, cinnabar was mined not only and not so much as a source of mercury, but also as an irreplaceable and expensive mineral pigment. Other mercury deposits were also developed in Central Asia. For example, inscriptions in the palace of the ancient Persian kings of the Achaemenids (VI-IV centuries BC) in Susa indicate that cinnabar, which in those days was used mainly as a mineral pigment, was brought here from the Zeravshan mountains located in the territory modern republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (Adrasman estate?). Apparently, cinnabar was mined here in the middle of the first millennium BC.

Application

Cinnabar has been used since ancient times as a red dye, and also as a source for mercury. As an indispensable bright scarlet artistic paint, cinnabar was widely used already in Ancient Egypt. The crystal structure of cinnabar is HgS. Gray – mercury (Hg), yellow – sulfur (S). Cinnabar (eng. CINNABAR) – HgS Before you is one of the frescoes of the Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii, depicting some kind of Dionysian sacrament (mystery). The vibrant red color is produced by cinnabar (mercuric sulfide, HgS), the second red stone after ocher (see picture of the day Paints of the Ancient World: red ochre), which attracted the attention of ancient artists. The resulting pigment after grinding cinnabar is known as vermillion. Its name comes from the Latin word worms, which originally meant another red dye obtained from scale insects (kermes) – cochineal (see picture of the day Cochineal). Cinnabar crystals from the Almaden deposit, Spain. Photo from en.wikipedia.org Deposits of mercury and, accordingly, cinnabar, which is its main mineral, are relatively rare, but traces of the use of this paint are discovered unexpectedly early. Clay-covered human skulls dating back about 8650 years unearthed in Kfar Ha-Khoresh (modern-day Israel) were painted with cinnabar rather than the more common red ochre. The nearest cinnabar deposit, where there are traces of development with similar dates, is located in Anatolia (Turkey), a thousand kilometers to the north, which indicates the presence of extensive trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean at that time. In the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük (8-7 thousand years BC), located in Anatolia itself, cinnabar was used more often – not only for decorating skulls, but also for painting walls. But even there, not far from the deposit, the use of cinnabar is sporadic, which indicates the low availability of this substance. Like many other mineral pigments, cinnabar adheres well to clay and is great for decorating ceramics. In Europe, the most ancient finds of this type date back to the sixth to fifth millennium BC. They were made by representatives of the Vinca culture, who lived in the territory of modern Serbia. Their source of mercuric sulfide was a small occurrence on Mount Avala, which after the decline of that culture was forgotten and not used in later times. Fragments of pottery from various Neolithic sites in Serbia with traces of paint made from cinnabar. Image from the article M. Gajic-Kvascev et al., 2012. New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a coloring pigment in the Vinca culture In the popular consciousness, cinnabar is strongly associated with the culture of the East, primarily of ancient China. Cinnabar has indeed played an important role in Chinese culture since Neolithic times, being used not only for creativity, but also for funeral rituals, traditional medical practices and alchemical recipes for elixirs of longevity. The Neolithic Hemudu culture, whose first sites were excavated 22 km from the city of Ningbo, used cinnabar paint to impart color to varnished wood products (see Lacquerware). Dated to the fifth millennium BC. e. A wooden bowl discovered during archaeological work was covered with a mixture of lacquer tree sap (Toxicodendron vernicifluum) and cinnabar and is the oldest example of this traditional Chinese technique. This technique has survived virtually unchanged to the present day and has been popular throughout Chinese history. Lacquered wooden bowl of Hemudu culture. Photo from en.wikipedia.org In the Yangshao culture, which existed almost at the same time as Hemudu (5000–3000 BC), cinnabar was used to decorate buildings. The red color of this pigment had obvious ritual significance, so the walls and floor of the sanctuary were painted with cinnabar. Around the middle of the first millennium AD, it was Chinese alchemists who learned to produce synthetic cinnabar – through the reaction of mercury with sulfur. Along the Great Silk Road, this information first came to Arab scientists, and then to Europe. The most ancient Latin manuscript that has come down to us with a description of this chemical reaction and instructions for its implementation is Codex Lucensis 490 (Manoscritto di Lucca 490) – dates back to 787–816. Lacquered carved wooden box painted with cinnabar paint, Ming Dynasty, 1403–1424. Photo from en.wikipedia.org Cinnabar is also present on the oldest example of easel painting that has come down to us – the tablets from Piza of the 6th century BC. e. Wooden tablets found near the ancient city of Sikyon in Greece depict ritual scenes of offering gifts to deities. These tablets served as a symbolic sacrifice to the nymphs in the cave sanctuary, and they were quite simple and cheap. On three of the four tablets discovered, vermillion was used to highlight details of clothing and outlines of figures. It is interesting that a chariot painted using this pigment, discovered in the Celtic necropolis of Vix on the territory of modern Burgundy, dates back to the same time (VI century BC). The necropolis is known for numerous finds of Greek and Etruscan artifacts, which indicates the existence of intensive trade at that time. By the middle of the first millennium, cinnabar was firmly established in the palettes of European masters, but in terms of breadth of application it was certainly inferior to the cheaper red color based on iron oxides (red ochre). Prices for cinnabar were determined by the flow of material coming from the fields. To make the pigment, large accumulations of cinnabar are needed, ready-made pieces that can be ground into powder. Simply thin veins or small crystals in the host rock (which is what typical mercury ore looks like) will not work. So it was possible to obtain mercury from such a stone, but cinnabar itself was not. In the first century AD, the Roman architect Vitruvius proposed the following recipe for obtaining red pigment: “Place dried pieces of ore in iron mortars, grind, wash and dry repeatedly until impurities are completely removed and a uniform color appears.” Large frescoes using cinnabar began to appear only in Roman times, when active development of the Almaden mercury mines in the territory of modern Spain began. But even after this, the price of the dye still remained very high. Thus, already in the first century AD in Pompeii, a pound of vermillion cost 300 asses, and a pound of Egyptian blue, also expensive and difficult to produce, cost 100 asses. Perhaps cinnabar for painting the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii was purchased at exactly these prices. Fresco of the Villa of Mysteries, bright red background covered with cinnabar-based paint. Photo source: wikipedia.org