In some novels and film and television dramas related to the theme of tomb robbery, the word corpse poison is not uncommon, under artistic processing, corpse poison is rendered extremely frightening, most of the people who are stained with corpse poison are not saved, and finally the body stiffens, loses consciousness, and becomes a living dead.
But we inevitably have such a question: does corpse poison really exist in real life? Is it really as powerful as it appears in novels and film and television works? Speaking of which, the tomb of "Lady Xin Chai" can give us some inspiration.
Ancient corpses were unearthed
In 1972, the excavation of an ancient corpse shocked the archaeological community at home and abroad, and this ancient corpse was Mrs. Xin Chai, excavated from Tomb No. 1 of Mawangdui in Changsha.
Mrs. Xin Chai's body was buried in the tomb for more than 2100 years, but after excavation, it was found to be well preserved, not only the integrity of the body was not destroyed, the hair was still there, and even the lines of the fingers were clearly visible, which can be said to be the best preserved corpse in the world.
In general, the corpses excavated by archaeologists are dry corpses, which are easy to preserve and therefore more common, but their integrity is greatly reduced, so the tomb of Mrs. Xin Chai has extraordinary significance for the world archaeology community.
Stained with "corpse poison"
Mrs. Xin Chai's body was placed on display in a museum in Hunan Province, attracting many tourists to visit, but the surprising experience of the archaeological team excavating Mrs. Xin Chai's tomb is little known.
During the excavation of the Mawangdui Han Tomb, in order to ensure the integrity of the cultural relics and make them not damaged by the excavation tools, archaeologists had to get close to the cultural relics, and it was more common to excavate by hand.
However, it is often walked by the river where there are not wet shoes, and some archaeologists accidentally touched the coffin liquid in the coffin during the handling process.
At first, the crowd didn't pay much attention, and after a little cleaning, they didn't pay any more attention, but after a while, strange spots appeared on their bodies to varying degrees.
It is okay to say that one person has a skin disease, but it is not normal for so many people to have this situation at the same time, especially if these infected people are all people who have been contaminated with the coffin liquid before.
Later, all these people received medical treatment, and the spots on the body gradually disappeared, but there were also a very small number of people who may have been in serious contact, so the spots on the body still existed, but fortunately, the body was not affected, but it did not look very beautiful.
Some people who heard about this incident casually deduced that the archaeologists were infected with corpse poison in the process of archaeology, but their imaginary corpse transformation plot did not appear, and as a result, everything was normal, and the rumors of corpse poison were self-defeating.
What is corpse poison
In fact, the public's impression of corpse poison is mostly heard from some literary works and film and television works.
Especially in some zombie films, those dead bodies carry corpse poison, and once people are stained with corpse poison, their skin will rot, and then their bodies will stiffen, and then they will completely lose their consciousness of human beings and become a walking corpse.
But modern science proves that corpse poison does not actually exist, just like the "Mrs. Xin Chai" tomb mentioned above, archaeologists even if they accidentally touch the coffin liquid is only a few small spots, corpse poison is just a product of virtual literature.
Historical records
Regarding the "corpse poison" that does not exist, there are also relevant records in the historical records. The Yuan Dynasty scholar Sheng Ruzi's "Discussion on the Old Learning of Shuzhai" talks about "corpse poison".
In the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, the Southern Song Dynasty was in turmoil, the country was in turmoil, the imperial court and the Jin soldiers were at war, and the society was chaotic, and several courageous tomb robbers decided to take advantage of the opportunity to rob the tomb.
It turned out that the Jin soldiers had also stolen the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty after fighting with the Southern Song Dynasty, and they destroyed the periphery of the Yongchang Mausoleum, saving other tomb robbers a lot of trouble.
A thief surnamed Zhu thought he had a golden opportunity and gathered a group of people to rob the tomb of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty.
Although Jin Bing entered the Yongchang Mausoleum, Zhao Kuangyin's mausoleum survived, who had wanted to escape the jin bing's disaster, but also ushered in the civilian tomb robbers.
The tomb robbers surnamed Zhu successfully opened Zhao Kuangyin's underground palace under the "paving" of Jin Bing, they were already experienced, and now some predecessors opened the way for them, and entering and leaving the mausoleum was like entering no man's land.
When the others entered the underground palace, their eyes lit up, and they loved the gold and silver treasures in the house, but the tomb robber surnamed Zhu was not moved, he ignored other money and money, and walked towards Zhao Kuangyin's coffin with a clear goal.
Of course, this did not mean that he regarded money as dung, just to satisfy his curiosity, but that his ambition and experience told him that the most valuable thing must be in the coffin of the emperor.
But what he didn't expect was that as soon as he opened the coffin, the corpse lying inside spewed out a strange black gas, and then the entire face of the tomb robber surnamed Zhu turned black.
The superstitious tomb robbers all thought that he had been poisoned by the corpse, and as a result, after a long time, the tomb robber surnamed Zhu did not change anything, but the black stains on his face could never be removed.
Because the ancient technology is limited, it is not surprising that it cannot be eliminated, and the tomb robber surnamed Zhu is also known as "Zhu Lacquer Face".
Although it did not have any effect on his body, his tomb robbery was exposed, and he was finally captured by the government and severely punished.
The true face of corpse poison
Regarding corpse poisoning, the explanation given by modern science is that corpse poisoning is a normal natural phenomenon. After death, the flesh becomes a natural petri dish for many bacteria, and various substances of the human body allow these bacteria to grow and multiply, and then various bacteria and molds combine to become what people call "corpse poison".
After the word "bacteria" and its concept were popularized, the word "corpse poison" gradually disappeared from our sight.
Although corpse poison does not exist, the corpse does have a certain impact on the human body, and the relevant personnel will pay attention to related matters when handling the corpse.
The body produces some harmful gases during the decomposition process, so the funeral home staff will also block the anus, mouth and nose of the body before cremation to prevent the leakage of harmful gases.
As for those ancient corpses that do not know how long they have been, there is a high probability that they will carry some harmful gases when they are unearthed, which is no wonder that people will be so impressed by corpse poison, but as long as they have relevant knowledge and protection, the corpses are not so terrible as rumors.
All fear comes from the unknown, due to the limitations of science and technology, the ancients' misunderstanding and panic about "corpse poison" is still forgivable, but as a modern person, compared with the previous superstitious and unfounded statements, we should still seek truth from a scientific point of view, so that we can find the truth of the matter.