Giant boulder that damages an irreversible passage; a wall of fire at the moment the gold item is touched; a pit of spikes under a carefully laid straw floor.
These are just a few booby traps synonymous with the tombs of ancient rulers, whether it’s Indiana Jones or Lara Croft exploring their depths. But despite their fame and their everlasting love for booby-trapped adventures, is there any truth to that? Is it possible that an ancient pharaoh’s tomb still has a fully functioning booby-trapped system?
Before we dive into this, let’s take a quick look at the point – no, no evidence of a rolling boulder trap has been found in the original tomb. Sorry for shattering your dream, but it was totally fabricated by very fictional storytellers. This is also true for more alien traps such as toxic darts and credit counter-weight systems. But there are a number of great cool discoveries in the depths of ancient tombs that could probably deter thieves.
The tomb of the first Qin emperor, including the body of Qin Shi Huang, is one of most infamous tombs in the world. Famous for its various dangers that prevent its full exploration, it is one of the most impressive underground tombs in the world, featuring a whole chamber of terracotta warriors. Built sometime between 246 and 208 BC, about 2,000 years ago, the tomb is located at the bottom of a huge gigantic to house the “army” that protected the inner tomb.
At its center are the remains of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, a legendary leader who ruled the first unified China. As you can guess from the army of fake fighters, Qin Shi Huang expressed his desire to be widely protected even after his pass. The tomb was never excavated, mainly due to the unusual height of mercury in the tomb. See, Qin Shi Huang (like many at the time) believed that mercury could perpetuate immortality, and this is alleged to have caused a poisonous metal peg around his tomb.
The stories speak of a large system of rivers and lakes with shiny material and it certainly worked to prevent entry. However it is controversial and others think that the mercury is only the result of industrial pollution in the region. Either way, the toxic system of mercury and groundwater creates a hard zone to break the tomb.
