Mysterious tombs
At the end of 1971, a unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army stationed in Changsha, Hunan Province, was building an underground air raid shelter for a military hospital when strange gases suddenly appeared on the ground.
Someone brought a match to wipe it, but unexpectedly a spark and a blue flame appeared, which startled everyone.
Although the man escaped unscathed, the blue flames remained.
As soon as the news came out, the archaeologists heard the wind and said flatly: "There are ancient tombs here!" ”
We will excavate under suspicion, and indeed, we have found an ancient tomb of the Han Dynasty, and 2,000 immortal female corpses have been unearthed, even when the Japanese prime minister visited China, he wanted to retrieve it.
What the hell is going on here?
Strange blue fire
In the 1970s, Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited the Forbidden City during his visit to China.
During this period, Prime Minister Tanaka saw the precious cultural relics excavated from the Mawangdui Han Tomb, heard about the 2,000 incorruptible female corpses unearthed in Mawangdui, and asked the Chinese side to give the female corpses to Japan as a gift to establish diplomatic relations with Japan, but the Chinese side refused.
The mawangdui Han tomb and the thousand-year-old incorruptible female corpse unearthed in Changsha, Hunan Province, have aroused great interest from the Japanese prime minister.
197112, a unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army stationed on the eastern outskirts of Changsha, Hunan Province, planned to build an underground air raid shelter for the army hospital and chose a location on a small mound known locally as Mawangdui.
It is actually called a "saddle pile" because it is made up of two small mounds that are close together and look like a flat saddle from a distance. Legend has it that during the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang visited this place, so the locals affectionately called him "Ma Wang". And this is also the location of the Mawangdui No. 3 Tomb that we are talking about now. Just the accent, and then the call became "Ma Wang Heap".
Soon the construction team that took over Mawangdui began work, often encountering landslides on the way.
Trouble did not block the way of the construction team, and they soon dug more than 20 meters under the pile of horses. "We've dug a pit of dirt!" One worker told reporters, "I guess it's a big pit. "There was a lot of rock and rubble in this pit, but it was all covered with a thick layer of mud. The workers noticed that the excavated soil was somewhat strange, unlike the ordinary soil in the area, which, like the flower spots, was of different colors and was difficult to excavate.
The construction team had to stop the construction and explore with steel brazing. They found a hole about 1 meter in diameter at a depth of 30 meters above the ground. So, the workers went in and began to punch their eyes. Soon, they dug the hole to a depth of more than 60 meters. But the steel braze had just drilled a hole, and suddenly a strange foul-smelling gas erupted from the ground.
Someone had brought a match and was about to test what kind of gas it was, but as soon as it lit, it ignited a terrible blue flame that burned the man's face red.
Everyone panicked, immediately turned around and ran, and the blue flames continued to burn. "Come and help!" I shouted, and as I ran, I shouted, "Look, this is the flame..." "What is this?" Everyone was stunned. "What is it?" After the news came out, it caused quite a stir.
Soon, hou Liang, who works at the Hunan Provincial Museum, learned of the news and immediately realized that the workers were facing an ancient tomb, rushed to the scene, and when he saw Mawangdui in the distance, he almost certainly said: "There is an ancient tomb here!" ”
The reason why Hou Liang is so sure is because after the founding of New China, the famous archaeologist Xia Nai once visited Mawangdui here and believed that there must be a Mawangdui in the 2nd century BC under Mawangdui, that is, during the Western Han Dynasty of China.
However, the mausoleum is well preserved and there is no need to excavate it, as Xia Nai has just reminded the local government to pay attention to protection.
In the blink of an eye, 20 years had passed, and by the time Hou Liang heard the news, it was already the third day, and there was no smoke on the ground, but it seemed that there was still gas leaking out.
Hou Liang borrowed an oxygen bag from the hospital, and he wanted to take some gas to test what was inside, but the gas was too thin, collected for half a day, and the bubbles in the oxygen bag only bulged a little, leaving a big gap for future research.
But tombs like this have a special name, "Fire Cave", and are usually well-preserved tombs that have never been disturbed. Because there is a huge chimney in the tomb, which is full of pungent smells, it is hard to believe that this is an ancient tomb! When I discovered this secret while digging, I thought: Be careful! However, after drilling through the steel brazing, the gas leaked and the tomb was damaged.
The planned hospital project was forced to stop, the central government approved the project, and the provincial government approved 6,000 yuan of archaeological team funding.
There was a lot of money at that time, but the team lacked everything. After buying the excavation equipment, the money was almost spent. In order to attract those people to dig graves, Hou Liang had to find another way.
An underground treasure trove
At first, Hou Liang hired a group of local migrant workers to help him, but it was still not fast enough.
When all this didn't work, Hou Liang and other archaeologists went to local universities in Hunan to mobilize, and as long as the school was willing to recruit students to help them, their archaeological team would go to those schools for free classes and lectures in return.
The colleges readily agreed, and soon a group of curious students joined in, greatly speeding up the process.
Excavation work began in January 1972, and in addition to migrant workers and university students, the archaeological team has several special members. At that time, archaeologists had two main tasks: one was to discover ancient tombs; the other was to clear out the relics left by stolen excavators. In the process, we also found a number of cultural relics, including some porcelain, pottery and bronze. These people knew a lot about ancient tombs and were, to some extent, experienced "experts" in the field of ancient tombs, because they had already robbed tombs before liberation.
After the founding of New China, the provincial cultural relics cleaning team needed technical experts, and the "Tufuzi", who made a living from tomb robbery, joined the provincial museum and found many amazing excavations of Mawangdui.
The archaeological team first asked the bulldozer to remove part of the sealing soil and expose the tomb opening, which is 20 meters long from north to south and 17 meters wide from east to west, making it a large ancient tomb.
The subsequent clean-up work was difficult and had to be done manually. During the clean-up process, they will encounter many problems and difficulties: the entrance to the cave is destroyed, the cave thieves cannot enter, etc. In order to solve these difficult problems, people have to rack their brains to study various methods. One of the most commonly used is the method of digging holes. However, these trifles did not dampen their enthusiasm, and they were disappointed when they saw three consecutive holes.
Fortunately, after less than 10 meters of excavation, two of the three robbery caves have abandoned the archaeological team and found pre-liberation pull-back shoes, Tang Dynasty oil lamps and copper coins, which may belong to two groups of tomb robbers of different eras.
The third robbery hole is very deep, almost on a par with the team members, but after 17 meters the robbery hole disappeared, and the ancient tomb does not seem to have been stolen by the tomb robbers.
When the stolen cave disappeared, the team found an additional layer of mud, a type of enclosed enclosed "white plaster mud" commonly used in ancient tombs.
Amazingly, the workers found leaves while cleaning up the white plaster mud, followed by emerald green branches and yellow-green bamboo baskets, all of which were relics from the burial.
Although they had not yet entered the burial chamber, the discovery excited everyone in the room.
The white plaster mud is three feet thick, much thicker than the white plaster mud in other ancient tombs. Archaeologists say: This is a rare ancient pottery. This pottery piece is fired from a complete piece of white clay, and its color and texture are very similar to the ancient pottery excavated in ordinary tombs. Archaeologists have already identified it. The team also found a layer of more than 5,000 kilograms of black charcoal under the whitewashed mud, which took 4 trucks to clean up.
Under the charcoal, the team saw a huge bamboo mat with a long-awaited rafter hidden underneath.
The tomb is square, tapering from top to bottom, like a funnel, the bottom of the burial chamber is 6.72 meters long, 4.88 meters wide and 2.8 meters high, this structure has amazed many experienced archaeologists.
The hard work of these months was not in vain, because the mausoleum is a rich underground treasure trove surrounded by colorful treasures, just in the frame of the coffin of the owner in the center of the mausoleum, which are still difficult to hide despite the silt.
The archaeological team unearthed more than 1,000 artifacts in the rafters, including silk fabrics, musical instruments, lacquerware and so on. Archaeologists speculate that the tomb is a 2200-year-old Han Dynasty tomb with an unprecedented variety of cultural relics, exquisite production and rich content.
This includes a gauze that is almost as thin as a cicada and flows like smoke, weighing only 48 grams. Remove the collar and cuff trim and only 25 grams remain. It is said that it can be folded up and put into a regular matchbox.
Archaeologists tried to copy one, but never succeeded.
The state also listed it as one of the first national treasures to be banned from being exhibited abroad, which also proved the preciousness of the plain silk Zen clothes.
In addition, in the corner of the rafters, the expedition also found a lacquerware, opened the lid, and filled it with lotus soup.
Lotus root is a very rare plant, many people will watch, but when taking pictures with the camera, the lotus leaf will quickly oxidize and decompose as soon as it touches the air, melting into a soup.
It was a disgrace to the archaeologists, but it was also exciting: for such a huge tomb, with so many beautiful and special things accompanying it, its owner must have been a special person.
Mrs. Sim chai
When they began to examine the coffin of the owner of the tomb, there was an unexpected thing that everyone saw- the coffin of the owner of the tomb was not one, but four.
According to ancient records, only if the Son of Heaven was not lifted to a high place, there should be four coffins, and even the prince had two coffins. Today, however, it has been found that many of the tombs are 3-story coffin structures. So, how exactly were these "nobles" buried? Where will their souls go? This has cast doubt on the identity of the tomb owner.
The innermost sarcophagus is the owner of the tomb, while outside the sarcophagus inside, there is also a well-preserved 2-meter-long T-shaped T-shaped painting with a bright and complex pattern that highlights a high level of painting.
Archaeologists speculate that the painting should have been the "fān" used in ancient times to summon spirits, and this is the first time such a huge painting has been found, which immediately fills the gap in the field of history related to the continent.
The archaeological team spent the whole day opening the final inner coffin, which was sent to a relatively warm and humid space in the museum.
When the coffin lid was opened, a strong pungent sour smell filled the room, and inside lay a woman, all wrapped in silk fabric, well preserved, the skin still elastic, the joints partially moving, and even her long eyelashes were clearly visible on the surface, not at all like an ancient corpse, leaving everyone stunned.
When she was injected with preservatives, the soft tissue swelled and spread, a miracle not only in the history of world archaeology, but also in the history of mankind.
In the process of cleaning up the artifacts, archaeologists found a seal engraved with the words "Concubine Xin Ugly". Therefore, the name of the tomb owner is also known as "Concubine Xin Ugly".
After an autopsy, archaeologists found that Mrs. Xin Chai suffered from a variety of diseases, including coronary heart disease and cholelithiasis. She died in her fifties, and due to her smooth skin, there was reason to think she had died suddenly.
She also had a large amount of undigested melon seeds in her stomach, as well as the skeletal remains of various animals found in her grave, which led archaeologists to believe that Mrs. Xin Chai was a more gluttonous woman, which led to her overnutrition, led to multiple bile colic, and eventually coronary heart disease.
Image: Restoration
During the archaeological excavations, in addition to Mrs. Sinchai's tomb No. 1, the team also found the second and third graves.
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This Li Cang is the marquis of the tomb group.
The remains in Tomb No. 3 were identified as a man in his 30s, possibly the son of Li Cang, but unlike Mrs. Xin Chai, the remains were badly decayed.
Archaeologists believe that Mrs. Xinchai's body can be preserved for thousands of years, mainly because her burial chamber is buried deep underground and is not affected by changes in air and humidity. And this is precisely a common phenomenon in ancient Chinese tombs: there is no obstruction in the tomb passage, which can be said to be completely exposed. In addition, there are many kinds of excavated relics and a huge number; the burial items are mainly ceramics. In addition, the thick rammed soil layer and the white white plaster mud have a leak-proof function, and the charcoal can also play a good moisture absorption role.
In this way, her burial chamber formed a constant temperature, constant humidity, sterile, oxygen-free environment, which played a good antiseptic effect.
Some suspect that these mysterious gases also helped, but were too expensive and thin to detect, and eventually became a drawback for archaeologists.
Despite thousands of years of integrity and integrity, the mystery of Mrs. Xin Chai's tomb remains unsolved.
For example, why she, as Lady Hou, was treated as a four-story coffin of Tianzi remains a mystery. However, in "Dream of the Red Chamber", this question seems to have been answered to a certain extent. As can be seen from the novel, Cao Xueqin has high expectations for the status of the Hou family's daughter. These mysteries can only be solved in the hope of future archaeological discoveries.