Why do people think the mercury in Qin Shi Huang's tomb didn't sink in the ground yet?
Hard evidence. Men took thousands of samples from the dirt over the tomb. The dirt held mercury, much more than it should. The poison made a map in the soil. A map of rivers, just like the historian Sima Qian wrote in his book. The mercury stays because the tomb is a fortress against the earth-It was built to keep things out, especially water. The builders pounded the local loess soil, layer on layer, until it was harder than stone-This rammed earth sheds water. Below that seal-archaeologists know there are thick palace walls and clever-drains. The mercury is not just in the ground. It is sealed in a dry, dark chamber-A box built to defeat time and water. For two millennia, it has.
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