In the next five thousand years of Chinese history, five thousand years of civilization and culture have been accumulated, and after the polishing and passage of time, they have left us with many wonderful stories and valuable wealth.
The strong historical atmosphere and the long-standing culture of literature and civilization over the past five thousand years have made every Chinese son and daughter proud and proud.
Speaking of history and culture, we are also a proud ancient civilization!
Countless excavated cultural relics let us recognize more of the wisdom of our ancestors,
And when we saw a toothbrush unearthed from a Liao tomb a thousand years ago, we realized that even if we only rely on our hands, we can have such a brilliant civilization!
The world's first toothbrush
Toothbrushes are a necessity in our lives and are used every day. But just like taking a bath and washing your face, nowadays, people have only begun to pay attention to their own hygiene and cleanliness every day, then in ancient times, because of the harsh conditions, many ordinary people had no way to bathe and wash their hair every day. Then we're going to know,
How did people brush their teeth in ancient times?
Now we have a variety of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and daily necessities. But in ancient times there were no such things, so how did the ancients protect their teeth?
At the 2008 China Chifeng Folk Antique Art Exhibition and Exchange Conference, the crowd found something similar to a toothbrush and curiously looked around. According to the person who brought the exhibition, this thing was excavated from a Liao tomb.
It has a history of more than 1,300 years
，
This thing is made of animal bones, 21 centimeters in length,
The head is wide and the tail is thin, the widest head has a centimeter, and there are two rows of round holes, which are designed to install hair,
It looks roughly the same as the toothbrush we use now.
However, when they were unearthed, these hairs were carbonized and disappeared due to the sudden sight of oxygen after being closed for a long time, and the toothbrush also cracked from a slightly thin place in the middle.
However, according to the shape, this should be a toothbrush used by ancient people.
Previously, it was believed that the invention of the world's first toothbrush was in 1498 during the Ming Dynasty, while Europeans invented the toothbrush in 1780.
The discovery of this Liao Dynasty toothbrush predates them by nearly six hundred years, changing the perception of where and when the world's first toothbrush occurred.
So even if there was no expert valuation at that time, the collector still decisively bought it, because its cultural and archaeological value was very high.
The origin of the toothbrush
Before this Liao Dynasty toothbrush was found on an antique stall,
It is believed to be the world's first toothbrush, invented by Emperor Ming Xiaozong and made of pig bristles embedded in bone.
The craftsmanship is exquisite. And we know that there was already a Sino-foreign exchange during the Ming Dynasty, so as soon as this toothbrush was invented, it was spread to Europe and was welcomed by many people.
But in fact, at that time, the technology and raw materials used by Ming Xiaozong to make toothbrushes belonged to the royal family to use, whether in China or in foreign countries, the class division at that time was very obvious, there were many things that ordinary people could not touch, so for a long time, toothbrushes could not be popularized.
People still clean their teeth in the traditional way, that is, by applying salt with their hands to clean their teeth.
So at that time, the toothbrush had just been invented, and it was also used as the exclusive application of the princes and nobles.
It was not until 1780 that Europeans invented their own toothbrushes using the inspiration of toothbrushes passed down from China. It is said that it was because of an accident that a British cobbler was imprisoned for a crime. Bored, he began to think of ways to improve his current life.
At dinnertime, he secretly brought back a leftover bone, and then found a guard who usually took good care of him and asked for a little pig's bristle, and when he went to the cell to sleep at night, he ground the leftover bone on the ground into a wide and narrow rod, and then he found a few nails from nowhere, drilled a few small holes in the wide end, and stuffed the pig's bristle into the hole
It became the first toothbrush in British history
。
His toothbrush practice is actually similar to what we circulated at that time, but after the British cobbler was released from prison, he used his "invention" to set up a toothbrush factory, relying on the huge profit of making toothbrushes, this person also founded a company.
He is the creator of Britain's largest century-old toothbrush company, William Ellis.
It can be seen from this that people's daily necessities such as toothbrushes are actually invented to be similar, and people who seize business opportunities can develop. This also has to make people admire Ellis's ability to create and seize the opportunity decisively, the fierceness of his vision!
Treasures of artifacts that have been "picked up and leaked"
Although toothbrushes have risen and developed gradually in the West, what cannot be changed in history is that China is the birthplace of toothbrushes
。 But without the 2008 Antique Art Exchange, without the collector who bought it at a glance, the Liao Dynasty toothbrush that could rewrite history would not necessarily be discovered.
Speaking of this, it really makes people feel that there is no danger. The history of the mainland has a long history, and the Chinese civilization has never been broken in the past 5,000 years, but there are many uncertainties in the historical civilization that is buried in the loess soil and is not easy to be discovered.
However, the most frightening thing is not the historical civilization that has not yet been discovered, but more those who only care about making money for themselves and leaving the country's civilization and interests behind, tomb robbers, traders who sell cultural relics, and so on. These people secretly stole the relics in the ancient tomb and sold them to some merchants with ghost fetuses for higher benefits.
Things that have caused the mainland's cultural logistics to fall abroad are happening all the time
。 Whether it is from film and television dramas or realistic reports, we will see some Chinese cultural relics that are still unrecoverable in foreign countries, and whenever I see these, I feel sorry and sad.
However, when collectors see an ancient treasure and decide to buy it, the first thing that comes to mind is themselves
"Earn a lot"
If it is for the country, for history, this is indeed a big profit,
Because as the first country to invent the toothbrush, this is a proud thing to rewrite the history of the world,
And it can also contribute to historical research, and it is indeed a big profit.
But if for individuals, it is a little unacceptable, after all, this kind of historical relics belong to the state, belong to the part of historical civilization, we should not take it for ourselves,
This kind of "leak picking" behavior is also not recommended.