On June 5, 1975, a lifelike thousand-year-old corpse appeared in front of the archaeologists, although the hair was dissolved due to the coffin liquid, but the face that was still clearly visible was as if it had just been buried yesterday!
At that time, during the excavation of the Han Tomb in Phoenix Mountain, when the Han Tomb No. 168 was excavated, a scene that occurred was still unforgettable by the archaeologists there.
As the archaeological work progressed, it was finally time to open the inner coffin, the crowd had just pried open the inner coffin, and immediately the unpleasant smell emitted was smoked to the point that they could not open their eyes, but the archaeological work continued, a bold archaeologist planned to explore it with his hands first, but he did not expect that he had just put his hand in, and he was really startled:
I felt like I was touching his hand, slippery!
Vaguely, he felt that this time the corpse looked different from the previous one.
Although the inner coffin was still tightly wrapped with several hemp ropes at that time, the people also found that the coffin had begun to seep out a continuous stream of liquid, and they did not know what it was, in order to avoid further damage, the crowd had to hurry to work together to beat the inner coffin, intending to use modern technical means to preserve.
However, at the moment when the inner coffin was opened, everyone was a little shocked: this is an ancient corpse of 2000 years old, still clearly visible face, well preserved, the body is red, under the protection of the inner coffin remains, the skin is still smooth, maintaining its proper luster, and the body tissue is not rigid, and the head and body can be easily shaken.
According to the identification of experts at the scene, the age of death of this ancient corpse should be about 60 years old, male, weighing about 104 pounds, height 1.67 meters, the bones are well preserved, the skin tissue is still very elastic, the limbs and joints can also move freely, and even 32 teeth are still firmly present.
And according to the subsequent autopsy findings, the ancient corpse is not only intact in appearance, the internal organs and organs of the body are also relatively well preserved, the respiratory tract is unobstructed, even the meningeal blood vessels are still clearly visible, and even the brain nerves can be clearly distinguished, which really convinces everyone that they do not know what secret recipe the ancients used more than 2,000 years ago, and can also preserve it so completely.
Later, after analyzing the liquid in the coffin, experts found that there was a cinnabar component, which is what we call mercury sulfide minerals today, which is not only a class of Chinese medicinal materials, but also has the effect of calming and sterilizing, and in ancient times, cinnabar was often used as a raw material for alchemy, which also shows that the mainland is also a famous cinnabar producing country in history, as early as thousands of years ago, in the process of oracle bone seal engraving, cinnabar decoration will be used, which is convenient and clear to identify, and is conducive to long-term preservation.
What puzzled the anatomy experts at that time was that it looked like the eye of the ancient corpse's throat was stuck with a foreign object the size of a coin, could it be that this was also an important means of preserving the corpse's incorruptible body?
When he was ready, held his breath, and picked up this foreign object with a breath clip, he found that it was a jade seal, and what he did not expect was that he directly unveiled the identity of the owner of the tomb, and the clearly visible word "Sui" on it also became an important identity credential on his body, and naturally this also became the origin of Mr. "Sui"!
Of course, this small jade seal alone is obviously not completely convincing, and archaeologists have unveiled its mystery step by step in the follow-up excavation process:
After cleaning up the coffin room full of silt, archaeologists found a piece of Jane that seemed to be nothing special, and after cleaning it, the words written in seal script were displayed dot by bit, because of the ancient scrolls, quite mysterious.
From the content of the bamboo jane, it can be seen that this is exactly the popular "Book of Telling the Land" in the Western Han Dynasty.
As the name suggests, is the book of the land really written for the ground to read? In fact, it is a funeral introduction letter that records the life of the deceased, and the importance of this thing is naturally self-evident, with more than 60 words on it, after more than 2,000 years of history, but you can still see the clouds and understand the dusty history.
It can be known that this letter of notice was written on May 13, 167 BC, which was the beginning of the establishment of the Western Han Empire, during the period of Emperor Wen of Han:
In May of the thirteenth year, Jiangling Cheng dared to sue the underground beggars: Shiyang Wufu Tunnel said to himself and Da Nuliang and other twenty-eight people, Da Wei Yi and other eighteen people, two wagons, one or two ox carts (cars), four pack horses, two mule horses, and four horses. But the officials may be ordered to engage in it, and dare to tell the Lord.
The simple translation is that in the middle of May of the 13th year of Emperor Wen of Han, a "fifth doctor" with 28 male slaves and 18 maids, as well as 2 carriages, 1 ox cart, stallion, and mare, came to hades to report to Prince Yan, and also asked to accept and consider arranging positions as appropriate.
I have to admit that the letter written by the ancients at that time was still quite interesting, and naturally expressed good wishes, yin and yang are separated, life and death are vast, but such a simple land-telling letter also expresses the indifferent attitude of the ancients to life and death, thinking that even if it is dead, it is just a change of place to live.
In other words, what kind of official is the five doctors in this introduction letter?
According to the division of titles in the Han Dynasty, a total of 20 levels were divided from top to bottom, and the five doctors were in the middle position, belonging to the 9th level, which was exactly one level higher than the county order, as for whether this letter of introduction could play its due role underground? In fact, just like our tribute to the ancients today, it depends on whether you believe it or not, but in any case, there should be a sense of cultural tradition and ritual, of course, it is also based on the protection of the environment as the premise standard.
In fact, at that time, archaeologists also found a special situation when excavating ancient tombs, and the reason why the ancient corpses were called red corpses at that time was not entirely because the red stripes were not wearing clothes, but because the corpses were red, just like blood, also known as blood corpses!
Blood corpses, which are rumored to be gods in the novel, are called extremely angry zombies, and it is quite easy to deceive corpses, but in scientific research, it is still necessary to seek truth from facts, and based on facts.
This is mainly due to the use of cinnabar for burial at that time.
If it does not decay for a thousand years, can it be counted as a soft corpse?
In fact, the millennium of non-decay is also divided into dry corpses and wet corpses, soft corpses are also considered wet corpses, soft corpses in the modern sense, also known as peat tanned corpses, because under acidic soil conditions, bone softening caused.
Since cinnabar, that is, the mercury sulfide mentioned above, is soluble in water and acidic, it is not difficult to understand why it is called a soft corpse here!
Of course, acidic conditions alone do not guarantee that the body will not decay for thousands of years, and other conditions are indispensable:
First of all, the tomb uses a double coffin structure, which is really important, in order to ensure its tightness and isolate oxygen.
The appearance of the coffin should also be coated with thick charcoal and green mud, but also in order to completely eliminate oxygen, to prevent the body from being oxidized, coupled with cinnabar water, it is easier to preserve the corpse in such a solution, and the long-term anaerobic sterile environment can make the surface of the corpse form a protective layer of corpse wax.
I have to say that the ancient method of preserving the corpse is indeed very clever, and it is impossible to know what specific operation steps there are, but it is indeed similar to today's formalin soaking and preservation.