Cinnabar is the only important ore of mercury. For thousands of years, cinnabar has been mined and heated in a furnace. The mercury escapes as a vapor that can be condensed into liquid mercury.

People began using cinnabar for pigments thousands of years ago in Italy, Greece, Spain, Japan, China, Turkey, and the Mayan countries of South America. Through time, people in almost every country where volcanoes are present discovered cinnabar and realized its utility as a pigment. Cinnabar is one of a very small number of minerals that was independently discovered, processed and utilized by ancient people in many parts of the world.

Cinnabar was mined at the volcano, ground into a very fine powder, and then mixed with liquids to produce many types of paint. The bright red pigments known as “vermilion” and “Chinese red” were originally made from cinnabar.

Cinnabar has been especially popular for making red lacquer in China. Its use in lacquer has declined because of its toxicity, but some use of cinnabar in lacquer continues. Cinnabar has also been used in powdered form for ritual blessings and burials.

Powdered cinnabar was used as a cosmetic in many parts of the world for thousands of years. Eventually it was discovered that cinnabar is toxic, and its use in pigments, paints, and cosmetics began to decline.

Today most, but not all, items made and sold under the name “cinnabar” have been made with less toxic and nontoxic imitation materials. Antique items made with toxic mineral cinnabar are still found in the marketplace. If you encounter an item for sale that is described or labeled as “cinnabar” you should be skeptical. If it is real cinnabar, it could be hazardous. If it is imitation cinnabar, if should be labeled as “imitation”.