REVIEW Pigments — Mercury-based red (cinnabar-vermilion) and white (calomel) and their degradation products Elisabetta Gliozzo 1 Received: 22 January 2021 /Accepted: 30 June 2021 # The Author(s) 2021 Abstract This article summarises the history of cinnabar, from its first uses in burials to modern oils on canvas. After a brief introduction on mercury and contamination issues, the article gets to the heart of the topic. First, mercury-based minerals significant for studying pigments, i.e. cinnabar, metacinnabar, hypercinnabar and calomel, are presented. Structural information and properties precede an overview of the geographic distribution of cinnabar deposits. The following section addresses the multiple uses of cinnabar, divided into funerary use, decorative use, lustre and Chinese lacquer production. The use of cinnabar for writing (ink), medicine and cosmetics is briefly described, and a shortlist of uncommon finds is further provided. The following section approaches inherent but less known topics such as cinnabar procurement, trade, production technology, application and alteration. An entire section is dedicated to calomel before concluding with an overview of the analytical methods for the characterisation and provenance investigation of cinnabar. Keywords Cinnabar-metacinnabar-hypercinnabar . Vermilion and pigment analysis . White mercury and calomel, corderoite and terlinguaite . Archaeometry and archaeology Premise This Topical Collection (TC) covers several topics in the field of study, in which ancient architecture, art history, archaeolo- gy and material analyses intersect. The chosen perspective is that of a multidisciplinary scenario, capable of combining, integrating and solving the research issues raised by the study of mortars, plasters and pigments (Gliozzo et al. 2021). The first group of contributions explains how mortars have been made and used through the ages (Arizzi and Cultrone 2021; Ergenç et al. 2021; Lancaster 2021; Vitti 2021). An insight into their production, transport and on-site organisa- tion is further provided by DeLaine (2021). Furthermore, sev- eral issues concerning the degradation and conservation of mortars and plasters are addressed from practical and technical standpoints (La Russa and Ruffolo 2021; Caroselli et al. 2021). The second group of contributions is focused on pigments, starting from a philological essay on terminology (Becker 2021). Three archaeological reviews on prehistoric (Domingo Sanz and Chieli 2021), Roman (Salvadori and Sbrolli 2021) and medieval (Murat 2021) wall paintings clarify the archaeological and historical/cultural framework. A series of archaeometric reviews illustrate the state of the art of the studies carried out on Fe-based red, yellow and brown ochres (Mastrotheodoros et al. 2021); Cu- based greens and blues ( Švarcová et al. 2021); As-based yellows and reds (Gliozzo and Burgio 2021); Pb-based whites, reds, yel- lows and oranges (Gliozzo and Ionescu 2021); Hg-based red and white (this paper) and organic pigments (Aceto 2021). An over- view of the use of inks, pigments and dyes in manuscripts, their scientific examination and analysis protocol (Burgio 2021) as well as an overview of glass-based pigments (Cavallo and Riccardi 2021) are also presented. Furthermore, two papers on cosmetic (Pérez-Arantegui 2021) and bioactive (antibacterial) pigments (Knapp et al. 2021) provide insights into the variety and different uses of these materials. Introduction Mercury is the only metal (chalcophile) that occurs in liquid form at room temperature. Due to its colour and form, it has This article is part of the Topical Collection on Mortars, plasters and pigments: research questions and answers * Elisabetta Gliozzo elisabetta.gliozzo@uniba.it; elisabetta.gliozzo@gmail.com 1 Department of Humanities, University of Bari, Bari, Italy Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2021) 13:210 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01402-4