Recently, a hot search about historical archaeology has aroused heated discussions.
Let's quote the content of the Xinhua News Agency, because it is authoritative, the most reliable, the most accurate, and there will be no deviation. As history buffs, we have talked about this historical figure many times, and I think it is necessary to share it with you.
It is said that if you open the history books, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong (543-578 AD), was one of China's most accomplished emperors. He was born in Xianbei and close to Chinese culture, unified the north and went down to the Sui and Tang dynasties, but he died young, full of legend.
"Chirp and chirp, Mulan is a household weaver. "The well-known heroine Hua Mulan lived in the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties when the ethnic groups were integrated. The Northern Zhou Dynasty was a dynasty established by Xianbei during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and its third emperor, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, was "eloquent, calm and courageous, and energetic". It not only unified northern China, but also promoted Han culture and ethnic integration, laying the foundation for the prosperity of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
According to records, after the unification of northern China, Yuwen Yong was ambitious, ready to "level the Turks, set the south of the Yangtze River", but unfortunately at the age of 36 on the way to the Turks suddenly died of a vicious illness, and his ambition was not rewarded, and he was buried with the Empress Wude Ashina in the Xiaoling Tomb of Xianyang, Shaanxi.
What did Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty look like? Yan Liben, a great painter of the Tang Dynasty, painted a portrait of him in his "Picture of the Emperors of the Past Dynasties." In the portrait, Yu Wenyong has a plump face, a graceful posture, and a slightly high nose and beard. Interestingly, Yu Wenyong turned out to be Yan Liben's grandfather. However, Yu Wenyong died too early, and the two never met.
In order to unravel the historical mystery, Wen Shaoqing's team from the Institute of Science and Technology Archaeology of Fudan University and the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology used craniofacial reconstruction technology and genomic data to restore its appearance.
The results of the restoration show that Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, has black hair, yellow skin and brown eyes, which is in line with the typical appearance of Northeast Asia and East Asians, and has strong exotic characteristics from the Xianbei people imagined - lush beard, yellow hair color, high nose and deep eyes.
Scholars pointed out that the heads restored by scientific and technological archaeology are strong and sturdy, obviously with the appearance characteristics of the northern grassland peoples, and the style of the main Buddha statue in the Longmen Grottoes is basically the same as that of the same period.
The greatest difficulty in reconstructing the faces of ancient Chinese emperors lies in obtaining complete skulls and high-quality genome data of ancient emperors. The Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Xianyang Institute of Archaeology successfully carried out rescue excavations of Xiaoling from 1994 to 1995, and found the bones of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and Empress Ashina.
Scientists used a special ancient DNA capture probe to extract about 1 million usable gene loci from the skull and limb bones unearthed by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, analyzed Emperor Wu's hair color, skin color, and pupil color and other characteristics, and found that Emperor Wu had black hair, yellow skin, and brown eyes, which matched the typical appearance of Northeast Asian and East Asian people. It can also be regarded as solving the more controversial mystery in the field of historiography.
Some historical materials show that the Xianbei people have the characteristics of the Hu people in the Western Regions, such as lush beard, yellowish hair, high nose and deep eyes, and there are also historical records that there is no difference in appearance between the Xianbei people and the Northeast Asian people. Now it seems that the facial characteristics of Emperor Wu are more in line with the second point of view.
More importantly, DNA analysis shows that 65% of the ancestral components of Yuwenyong, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, came from ancient Northeast Asians, and nearly one-third of the ancestral components came from groups related to farmers in the ancient Yellow River Basin, and the genetic inheritance belonged to "a mixture between the Xianbei population and the northern Han people". In other words, Yu Wenyong is a mixed race of Hu and Han.
The genealogy of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty records that his grandmother, Wang, may have been from the Han of the North. Therefore, about one-third of Yuwenyong's ancient Yellow River basin lineage is most likely the result of long-term intermarriage between Xianbei and Han Chinese.
While observing the femur of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Fudan Science and Technology archaeological team found an obviously suspicious "black patch".
A dark spot is abnormal, leading to a new scientific research topic. They analyzed 33 trace elements in the femur samples of Emperor Wu's remains and found that the levels of arsenic (As) in the body were significantly higher than the average of ancient commoners and nobles during the same period.
Historical records record that Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty "suffered from leprosy sores and died of a malignant disease". The cause of Emperor Wu's death is mysterious, and there are two main popular theories - death from a strong disease or poisoning.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods where Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty lived, the aristocratic class generally took pills in pursuit of immortality. Most of the so-called elixirs contain sulfur arsenide ore - realgar and iron-containing sulfur arsenide - limestone.
The archaeological team of Fudan Science and Technology believes that the arsenic (As) in the bones of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is significantly high, which is likely due to the daily consumption of pills with realgar and stone as the main ingredients. The black patches on Emperor Wudi's bones should be traces of bone marrow necrosis caused by local skin lesions after arsenic poisoning. In fact, the arsenic content in the bones of Emperor Wu was 12.6 times that of Empress Ashina!
Experts believe that biochemical and DNA testing of the remains of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty can determine that the cause of death is "chronic arsenic poisoning", which provides new evidence for the study of medieval history.