Raman spectroscopic and SEM study of cinnabar from Herod's palace and its likely origin

Abstract

Mineral samples of cinnabar were obtained from the ancient mining sites of Tarna and Almaden in Spain and from Hunan province in China. A comparison is made using a combination of scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy with the cinnabar coated on the wall of Herod's palace. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the cinnabar samples from Spain were impure, whereas the sample from the wall of Herod's palace was highly pure. No conclusion can be drawn as to the likely origin of the Herod's palace cinnabar and the mineral is just as likely to have originated in Tuscany or China as Spain.