In Hejia Village, Shaanxi Province, two large jars and a small jar have been unearthed, and their appearance has shown the world the treasures of the Tang Dynasty. Among the many treasures inside the jar, there is also a plain gold box, and when the archaeologists opened the box, they found a mysterious metal in it, and this metal was used for consumption! What's going on here? What is the metal in the box? If you want to know, let Xiaobian reveal the secret for you:
On October 5, 1970, in the village of Hejia in the southern suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, a huge project was being carried out intensely. The site was filled with the roar of huge machines and the back and forth of workers. No one knew that all of them were about to witness a miracle.
While digging the foundation at the construction site, a worker's shovel suddenly hit a "hard object", and at first, he thought it was a stone. However, as the excavation progressed, the workers found that what they had dug out was not a stone, but a huge clay pot. But to be honest, even so, the workers are not curious, because Xi'an is the ancient capital of the Sixteen Dynasties, and it is common sense to dig out some antiquities.
But when the workers opened the jars, everyone couldn't help but be stunned, "I'll drop a good look, this won't be digging up the treasure!" The workers beat drums in their hearts, did not stop in their hands, picked up shovels and began to quickly find other "treasures", and after only a moment's effort, they really dug out a clay pot and a silver jar. After the local archaeologists arrived, they immediately counted the precious cultural relics stored in the three jars and found that the Chinese belonged to the Tang Dynasty, a total of more than 1,000 pieces.
It is worth mentioning that experts also found a plain gold box in the silver jar, which was quietly placed in the jar, although after thousands of years, it can still see the luxury of its year. With reverence in mind, the experts trembled and opened the gold box with a trembling face, and everything in front of them stunned them! In the plain gold box, there is nothing but a pile of metal chips, which look golden and take on the form of wheat bran, so experts temporarily call it "golden bran".
What kind of metal is "golden bran"? What will it do? With doubts in mind, the experts brought the golden bran to the laboratory for a comprehensive test. The results of the experiment were unexpected, these gold brans are indeed pure gold, and the purity is extremely high. As for their role, experts have given a shocking answer, golden bran is actually a food!
Hearing this statement, it is estimated that you will be the same as Xiaobian, and it feels hard to believe. We have the impression that gold is a rare precious metal that can be made into necklaces, rings, and ornaments, but we have never heard of it being used as food. Historically, there are not many people who eat gold, but most of them commit suicide by swallowing gold, rather than enjoying the appetite.
In fact, in history, the ancients have long had a history of eating gold, and even recorded it in the classics. The Tang Dynasty's "Treatise on Medicinal Properties" and the Ming Dynasty's "Compendium of Materia Medica" have examined the efficacy of Jin, believing that it "breaks the cold air, removes the wind, and calms the spirit". In medieval Europe, the extravagant aristocrats also liked to use gold as an embellishment for food. However, it is worth noting that the gold they eat is not a gold nugget or gold bar, but a thin layer of gold leaf. The nobles of that time ate gold because they believed that gold could make people live a long life and show their wealth and honor. I have to say that their practice is probably not something that normal people can't think of.
The golden bran in the gold box of vegetarian noodles in Hejia Village, Xi'an City, is actually a kind of shajin, and the purpose of the ancients to eat it is nothing more than for their own health. In ancient feudal society, due to the limitations of medical development, the average life expectancy of human beings is not long, so the royal nobles also like to eat dan medicine, hoping that they will live forever, and golden bran may play the role of "medicine primer".
Modern science believes that the metallic nature of gold is not active, it is difficult to dissolve in stomach acid, so the human body will not produce any medicinal effect after eating. It is also worth noting that impure gold may contain some heavy metal impurities, which once enter the human body, will also cause poisoning of eaters and seriously endanger their health.
From this, we can also see that although gold is precious, it is not an ideal food. As the so-called "best use of things", each thing has its own unique use, not depending on its own value. In addition, we still have to thank archaeology, without the hard work of archaeologists, I am afraid that the ancients' consumption of golden bran will become a permanent secret. Archaeology has bid us farewell to ignorance and found a golden key to the door of wisdom for mankind.
Wen xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wenlan Hairun Studio, written by: Special history writer: Changshan Zhao Zi worm