Cinnabar use in Prehispanic Peru and its possible health consequences

Beginning around 1400 BCE, cinnabar (HgS) was highly valued and widely traded in prehispanic Peru. A review of the ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence suggests that this mercury ore was mainly used in powdered form as a face and/or body paint on special occasions and that its application was sometimes limited by gender, age and class. Scholarly reservations about this conclusion are based on the possible health consequences of this practice. A review of the literature on cinnabar toxicity demonstrates that these concerns are not justified by the medical dangers posed by the occasional use of cinnabar face and/or body paint.