I thought I would devote a more generic thread to this subject.
[From the trailer]
The object at the centre of the 'Altar table' looks very similar to the 'sealed sacrificial bowl' from the movie start sequence at the waterfall. Once the engineer removes the 'outer foil', the inner mini-urn reacts with the atmosphere (like the urns in ampule room) and then he drinks the contents, and dissolves etc.
[From the movie]
But the movie shows a green crystal stone lying at the centre of this 'altar table'.
The altar table of course lies in front of a large image of a very xeno-alien looking creature. Unfortunately it now appears that the creature in the image is the 'deacon' goblin-alien that is seen at the end of the movie, birthed from the engineer. Design issues aside, it is still intriguing as to the relationship between the black goo and the 'deacon'.
But the change of imagery from bowl to green crystal remains a mystery!