Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not always the case: mercury and its compounds have been highly appreciated and used since remote times all over the world with very diverse purposes ranging from decorative, medicinal, metallurgical and symbolic. In particular, cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide), a mineral of an intense red color, has been considered in many cultures as an exotic raw material, highly valued and associated with the elites and sacred practice. In this paper, we examine one such case, set almost 5000 years ago, in Copper Age Iberia, by investigating mercury exposure through human bone. The study presented here includes a total of 170 samples from 70 different human individuals and 22 animals (plus one soil sample) from the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina, south-western Spain. It is the largest ever single-site study of exposure to mercury based on human bone in combination with cinnabar use. Abnormally high values are recorded in some individuals dating between 2900 and 2650 BC, especially in those buried in remarkable tombs belonging to the social elite of this period, but high levels of mercury are also recorded in the rest of the population. Three lines of interpretation are used to explain these results, including the manipulation of cinnabar (grinding it into powder, mixing it with other substances, using it for the decoration of objects, buildings and the human body), its direct consumption through ingestion or inhalation by a ‘special’ social group and the contribution of environmental factors. Based on the currently available evidence, which is carefully reviewed, Valencina represents the most intense and prolonged case of exposure to mercury recorded in human history, which makes it an important site to assess the long and complex history of use of this substance.

如今，汞已成为西方国家健康和环境当局关注的问题，并已通过立法并实施计划以将其从人类活动中彻底消除。但情况并非总是如此：自古以来，汞及其化合物就在世界各地受到高度重视和使用，其用途多种多样，从装饰、药用、冶金和象征意义等。特别是朱砂（HgS，硫化汞），一种浓红色的矿物，在许多文化中被认为是一种奇异的原材料，受到高度重视，并与精英和神圣的实践联系在一起。在本文中，我们通过调查人体骨骼中的汞暴露情况来研究一个这样的案例，该案例发生在大约 5000 年前的铜器时代伊比利亚。这里介绍的研究包括来自西班牙西南部瓦伦西纳铜器时代巨型遗址的 70 名不同人类个体和 22 种动物的总共 170 个样本（加上一份土壤样本）。这是有史以来规模最大的单点汞暴露研究，基于人骨并结合朱砂的使用。公元前 2900 年至 2650 年之间的一些人的汞含量异常高，特别是那些埋葬在属于这一时期社会精英的著名坟墓中的人，但其他人群中的汞含量也很高。使用三种解释来解释这些结果，包括朱砂的处理（将其磨成粉末，与其他物质混合，用于装饰物体、建筑物和人体）、通过摄入或吸入直接食用朱砂由“特殊”社会群体和环境因素的贡献。根据经过仔细审查的现有证据，瓦伦西纳代表了人类历史上记录的最强烈和最长时间接触汞的案例，这使其成为评估这种物质悠久而复杂的使用历史的重要地点。