There is an old saying in the Chinese cultural relics industry, which is called "the cultural relics on the ground look at Shanxi, and the underground cultural relics look at Shaanxi". As the ancient capital of the Thirteenth Dynasty, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, not only has a profound historical and cultural heritage, but also has a rich collection buried underground. No, in 1970, Hejia Village, Beilin District, Xi'an City, unearthed a batch of Tang Dynasty gold and silverware, with a quantity of more than 1,000 pieces. After this batch of gold and silverware was handed over to the museum, the gold actually "evaporated" 3 pounds in half a year. What the hell is going on? Listen to shi jun to give everyone a slow talk.
The remains of He Jia Village were unearthed
On the afternoon of October 15, 1970, a construction site in Hejia Village, Xi'an City, was busy as usual. Workers should move bricks, and they should transport soil. When the ground foundation was dug to 0.8 meters above the surface, a gray clay urn was suddenly revealed. I don't know who shouted: "Out of the baby!" The brothers of migrant workers working nearby threw down their tools and came together to watch the liveliness.
As soon as they opened the lid of the urn, they were immediately stung by a dazzling golden light, and they saw that it was full of gold and silver utensils. The person in charge of the construction site did not dare to delay, and immediately reported to the Revolutionary Committee at that time and notified the local cultural relics protection department. The Shaanxi Provincial Museum hurriedly sent archaeologists to the site to protect and excavate cultural relics. While protecting the site, the archaeological team continued to explore the surrounding area.
On October 11, not far from the north side of the first urn, archaeologists took the Luoyang shovel down, the shovel suddenly flashed, followed by a crisp metal collision sound. The archaeologists were overjoyed, and the efforts of the past few days were not in vain. They dug out the surrounding soil and found a second clay urn. This urn is about the same size as the previous one, the only difference being that it is covered with a layer of silver slag.
Next to the urn is a small silver jar with a beautiful animal's head onyx cup lying inside. This agate cup is made from a whole piece of red agate that is rare in the world, with bright colors and beautiful shapes. The cup is 6.5 cm high, 15.6 cm long and 5.9 cm in diameter. Although this object has obvious Western characteristics, some experts firmly believe that it was written by Tang Dynasty craftsmen and is therefore of great artistic value.
After opening the second pottery urn, the first thing you see is a piece of square jade, under which is pressed a silver plate, a silver bowl, a gold basin, a gold basket and a gold cup, a jade belt, a silver box, and other things. Open the lid of the gilded parrot's silver jar, which still contains water, a few lumps of gold leaf floating on the water, and 12 golden dragons standing on it in an orderly manner. There are also a variety of colorful gemstones in the jar.
After the cultural relics were unearthed, they were urgently transported to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, and the agate cup of the animal head also became the treasure of the provincial museum. After inventory and statistics, a total of more than 1,000 cultural relics were unearthed this time, 271 pieces of gold and silver utensils, 8 pieces of silver collars, 22 pieces of silver cakes, 60 pieces of silver plates, 466 pieces of gold, silver and copper coins, as well as agate, jade belts, gold leaf, etc., which will not be listed in detail here.
Among the 466 coins unearthed, there are as many as 39 kinds of coins, including the popular Kaiyuan Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty, the Gaochang Jili of the Gaochang Kingdom in the Western Regions, the Hetong Kaiju minted by the Japanese Yuan Ming Emperor, and the Sassanid silver coins of Persia and the Gold Coins of the Eastern Romans. The 4 silver cakes unearthed are also the first discovery of the actual silver of the mediocrity.
The mystery of the disappearance of gold
Due to the large number of cultural relics unearthed this time and their value is very wide, this batch of cultural relics has been called "He Jia Village Relics" by experts. Many cultural relics have been identified as national treasures by the state, and some treasures are orphans on a global scale. However, the 11 kilograms of red gold leaf unearthed in the first pottery urn were only 8 kilograms left after being sealed in the museum for half a year. What's going on here?
It turned out that when the jar was sent to the museum for registration, the red gold leaf was soaked in the parrot beam jar. After the experts dried the water control in the jar, the result was 11 pounds. As a result, in January of the following year, when an expert compiled the archaeological report and re-measured the red gold leaf, he found that the weight of the two pieces of red gold leaf was 2.2 pounds less. In April, the cultural relics were officially registered and put into storage, and when they were measured again, they were missing another 240 grams. Could it be that someone is watching over and stealing?
To prevent this from happening, museum leaders have stepped up their oversight of red gold leaf. However, when the red gold leaf was measured for the fourth time, it was found that it was 63.7 grams less. What the hell is going on? Museums have had to ask academics in other industries for advice. Later, physics and chemistry experts at Northwestern University pointed out that the water did not completely evaporate when the red gold foil was soaked in the jar before. So the first few times they weighed, it was the weight of the water that was included. Later, the water in the jar was controlled to dry, and the water in the red gold leaf slowly evaporated, so the amount became lighter and lighter. After figuring out the origin of the matter, the leaders of the museum finally put their minds at ease. The archaeological discovery of Hejia Village is indeed of great significance in the archaeological history of the mainland.