Introduction: In 1972, the Hunan archaeological team found three large tombs of the Han Dynasty in Mawangdui in Changsha, and after archaeological excavations, many national treasure-level cultural relics were unearthed, among the many cultural relics, the well-preserved body of the owner of Tomb No. 1, Xin Chai, is a national treasure among national treasures.
In fact, after the founding of New China, in archaeological excavations, it is often found that ancient corpses that have been preserved for hundreds or even thousands of years are often found, why is only the female corpse of the Mawangdui Han Tomb so concerned?
Experts explained that the ancient corpses excavated by archaeology before were basically dried corpses that had undergone special treatment, which is commonly referred to as "mummies". The mawangdui female corpse is a wet corpse, the skin is still elastic when it is unearthed, and even the joints on the arms and legs can move freely, which is absolutely unique in the world.
Who is Xin Chai?
At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, in order to win over the forces of all sides, Liu Bang successively enfeoffed seven princes and princes to guard the four sides, of which the meritorious wu rui was crowned as the king of Changsha and stationed in the Jiangnan region. Later, with the development, the local princes gradually became a threat to the central government, and six of the seven princes were killed by Liu Bang on the pretext, and only the king of Changsha escaped Liu Bang's murder.
The reason is that there is a South Yue state in the south of the Changsha Kingdom, which has always been a major problem for the Han Dynasty, and in order to stabilize the southern frontier, Liu Bang did not dare to easily move Wu Rui, the king of Changsha. However, in order to monitor Wu Rui, Liu Bang sent the official Licang to Changsha to serve as Xiangguo to monitor Wu Rui.
In the second tomb of Mawangdui, the archaeologists found three seals, which were engraved with "Licang", "Changsha Cheng Xiang", "Seal of the Marquis of Yuan", and it is recorded in the "History" that when Emperor Hui of Han was crowned, the Licang of Changsha Cheng Xiang was "Yuanhou", so experts deduced that the owner of the tomb of the second tomb was the Changsha State Xiang Xiang Licang.
In Tomb No. 1, a seal was unearthed, on which was written "Concubine Xin Chai" 3 characters, according to which experts inferred that the female corpse of the Mawangdui Han Tomb was a concubine of the Changsha State Minister Licang during the Western Han Dynasty.
Why was her body able to remain incorruptible for two thousand years?
According to the archaeologists' recollection, after the coffin in Tomb No. 1 was opened, it was filled with a colorless and odorless liquid, and Xin Chai's body was soaked in this liquid. Could it be that the body is so well preserved because the liquid has an antiseptic effect?
After scientific testing, experts found that the liquid in the coffin is not a preservative, but the groundwater slowly seeps into the coffin and gathers, although there are some anti-embalming metal components in it, but it is by no means the reason why the body is not decomposing.
Experts said that the main reason why the female corpse of Mawangdui is so well preserved is because the seal is well sealed. The four-story coffin and chamber where the body is placed are completely sealed by means of buckle, mortise and bolt jointing. After burial, in order to keep the coffin dry, it is necessary to fill the coffin with charcoal that is 0.4 to 0.5 meters thick and weighs about 5,000 kilograms.
After the charcoal is placed, a white paste mud of up to 2 meters thick is accumulated around it, which is a kind of artificial high-density mud with strong viscosity and high sealing. After everything is completed, layer by layer of soil is compacted, piled up into tens of meters of sealing soil, the coffin buried deep in the ground is isolated from the world, so that the constant temperature, constant humidity, hypoxia, sterile environment, in order to make the corpses and burial items in the tomb completely preserved after 2000 years.
After the mawangdui female corpse was unearthed, it immediately attracted the attention of the world's scientific community, under the world's attention, the Chinese science department conducted a systematic dissection of the female corpse, and the result was that the seeds of a certain melon were found in the abdomen of the corpse, so experts inferred that Xin Chai was likely to die of acute gastroenteritis caused by eating melon. In addition to this, scientists have also found schistosomiasis eggs in the corpse.
This discovery immediately attracted the attention of the Japanese, because schistosomiasis is also known as Japanese schistosomiasis in the medical field, and was first found in Japan. The discovery of schistosomiasis eggs on the female corpse of Mawangdui shows that the records of schistosomiasis in China's ancient medical techniques "Thousand Golden Medicine Recipes" and "Inner Classics" really exist, and the time has been advanced by more than 2,000 years.
An old professor in charge of dissecting the corpse at that time recalled that at that time, the eyes of the scientific community around the world were focused on the female corpse of Mawangdui, which Westerners called "Oriental Sleeping Beauty". It just so happened that when the Japanese prime minister visited China, on behalf of the Japanese scientific community, he proposed whether he could join the team that dissected the female corpse to study together, and after being rejected by China, the Japanese side lowered the requirements, hoping to get a hair of the female corpse for research, so Japan can provide a large amount of free donations.
Japan's anomalous behavior aroused the alarm of China, replying that not a single hair could be given. In addition to Japan, the Americans at that time also made the same demand, and said that they could exchange precious space seeds for it, but they were still rejected, and finally China said: We will study it ourselves and not let foreigners interfere.
Why the female corpse of Mawangdui makes Western countries salivate is still a mystery, but some netizens boldly speculate that it is likely that Western countries want to study the genes of the ancient Chinese, compare with the genes of modern people, and master the genetic code and laws of Chinese. What are your thoughts on this?