After a lapse of 530 years, a man's body in the middle Ming Dynasty was unearthed in a grouted tomb in Taixing, and there were even many nails. Although the dry skin is brown and black, it is still slightly elastic. Although the beard on the lips and chin has become grayish yellow and curly, it has not fallen off.
A few days ago, when the body discovered was taken out of the coffin, its integrity amazed archaeologists. Why didn't this Ming dynasty corpse find decay for 500 years? Experts believe that the closure of grouting tombs and the unique local burial customs are important reasons. At present, archaeologists have sampled the liquid in the coffin, hoping to solve the mystery of the found body through scientific tests.
Sister-in-law Zhang has only a pile of bones left. Since 65438+February last year, Nanbo, Taizhou Museum and Taixing Museum have excavated 17 Ming Tombs in a real estate site in huangqiao town, all of which belong to local famous families, and the best preserved ones are Zhang and He Song. These two tombs were transported to the Maoshan Archaeological Laboratory of Nanjing Museum before the Spring Festival this year. It is reported that this is the first laboratory archaeology in Jiangsu Province.
Cheng Peng, who participated in the excavation of Taixing Museum, told the reporter that according to the epitaph and genealogy, the owners of the two tombs were uncles and sisters-in-law. Zhang died in 1509 at the age of 75; He Song died on 1484 at the age of 56.
Zhang's tomb was first opened. The reporter saw that there was a coffin outside Zhang's tomb, covered with a mortar, a brick house outside the mortar and a brick house outside the mortar. The five-layer protection is so strong that it even needs a cutting machine when it is opened. Although the tomb is intact and solid, Zhang's five-layer clothes are also intact, leaving only a pile of bones.
He Song's body has complete skin. He Song's tomb has only three floors: coffin cover, coffin cover and grouting layer, which has been scratched by construction machinery.
In view of the fact that there are only bones left in Zhang's tomb, archaeologists have given up hope for He Song's tomb, which was buried earlier and preserved poorly. Unexpectedly, it was a big surprise when the coffin was opened.
The reporter saw at the scene that the height of the tomb owner was close to 1.80 meters. He was lying flat in the coffin, wearing a hat, and his face shrank a little, showing a dark brown like a mummy. Although the fat muscles have disappeared, the skin is intact and the eyebrows and beards are all there. Robes, jackets and trousers made of cotton cloth have good toughness.
Archaeologists took off the clothes of the tomb owner He Song, and found that his whole body was as well preserved as his face, even better than expected: not only his toenails were numerous, but also his chest and abdomen, which contained internal organs and were most prone to decay, and only the fat deposited in his abdomen formed white wax.
Archaeologists judged from the fact that the hair on the sideburns of the corpse was still there, but the forehead wrapped by the hat was very bald. He Song was probably bald before his death. Judging from the 26 teeth that He Song carried with him, in view of the local custom of collecting and burying his lost teeth, it can be judged that although He Song was only 56 years old when he died, his teeth had basically fallen off and he was seriously senile.
There is a mystery that the body found by C does not rot: it is amazing that the body is ventilated for more than 500 years before burial. In Jiangsu, Taizhou is the area with the largest number of unearthed ancient bodies, and all of them are concentrated in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Wang Weigang, director of the Archaeological Department of Taizhou Museum, told reporters that Xu Fan and his wife in the 1980s, Liu Jian in 2002, an unknown female corpse in 20 1 1, and this time, He Song, have unearthed five ancient bodies in Taizhou, which have some common features.
First of all, the grouting tomb is quite sealed, so that the body is in a closed state to prevent microorganisms and bacteria from invading and corroding the body;
Secondly, it is shallow buried and high in location, which is basically unaffected by groundwater level. Although the surface water gradually penetrates into the grouting to form coffin liquid, the process is slow and the amount is not large. The filtration of lime in the grouting makes the water weakly alkaline, which is beneficial to the preservation of the corpse.
Thirdly, the coffins of the first four mummified corpses are all cypress, which is not only tough in wood, but also contains a variety of Chinese herbal ingredients. The spices placed in the coffins further enhance the insecticidal, antibacterial and antiseptic effects.
In Wang Weigang's view, the most important reason why the bodies found in the local area will not rot is the unique burial custom in the local area. In Taizhou in the Ming Dynasty, the deceased had to stay in a cool and ventilated ancestral hall for several months to several years, with thick quilts, toilet paper and rushes under their bodies, which had strong water and oil absorption functions, so that the bodies were mummified before burial.
Why did Zhang leave only bones, but He Song lived forever? Cheng Peng said, "Zhang Lunar calendar died on March 6, at the turn of spring and summer, which was warm and humid, while He Song Lunar calendar died on October 15, which has entered the winter and is cold and dry, which is more conducive to the preservation of the body."
D laboratory archaeology is better than field environment. Archaeologists told reporters that at present, the identification and protection of scientific and technological archaeology has just begun.
According to Lin Liugen, director of Nanbo Archaeological Institute, the most difficult things to preserve in archaeology are organic cultural relics such as paper, textiles, bamboo and wood utensils and corpses. "In the wild environment, light and wind will cause irreversible damage to cultural relics: textiles may turn black and brittle quickly, and paper may even disappear within a few minutes. Archaeology in the laboratory is different, and the temperature and humidity can be adjusted at any time as needed. "
Wan Li, director of Nanbo Insurance Institute, said that Zhang's coffin was covered with a layer of fabric written in ink. This cultural relic, which records the life story of the tomb owner, is called "Mingjing". Now this inscription is difficult to read, so we use infrared photography and Raman spectrum scanning technology to make the handwriting that is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye clear.
Now, because the outer coffin of He Song's tomb is camphor wood, it has the function of preventing insects and preventing corrosion, but the material of the coffin is not clear, technicians will extract wood slices and compare them with the wood sample library to determine the tree species. "Maybe this kind of wood also hides the secret of anticorrosion." Marriott said.
What makes archaeologists pay more attention is that there are coffin liquid in both Zhang's tomb and He Song's tomb, the former is yellow and the latter is black. In the eyes of archaeologists, the difference between the two coffin fluids may be the ultimate mystery of the corpse's non-decay. "We will analyze and compare it by means of chemistry, spectroscopy and medicine, and maybe we can crack a secret that has been buried for 500 years."
News link He Song was posthumously awarded the title of "Pushing Officials" in Nanjing. Since 65438+February last year, Nanbo, Taizhou Museum and Taixing Museum have excavated 17 Ming tombs more than 500 years ago in the real estate site of huangqiao town Tsinghua Campus. Cheng Peng, a staff member of Taixing Museum, introduced that of the 7 blocks 1, 3 are grouting tombs,1is a wooden coffin, and the rest 13 are brick tombs. Except for two well-preserved grouted tombs, the others were opened on the spot.
Ma Yongqiang, head of the Institute of Archaeology of Nanjing Museum, said that in general, ancient tombs were opened directly on site, but two of them puzzled archaeologists-they were particularly closed: the slightly larger ancient tombs were divided into four layers, the outermost layer was brick, followed by grouting layer and then wooden coffin. A slightly smaller tomb is a three-story grouted tomb, with an innermost coffin, a middle coffin and an outermost layer grouted. "The so-called grouting tomb refers to the grouting layer in the middle. It is made of glutinous rice juice, egg white and lime. These special materials made by ancient methods make the coffin tightly sealed. After more than 500 years, their hardness is comparable to that of cement. "
Ma Yongqiang said they found an epitaph at the scene. The tomb of the Great Grouting Tomb, the epitaph reads: "What is the tomb of Zhang in the Ming Dynasty?" According to the article, the owner of the tomb is Taixing, and his father is Commander Yangzhou Wei. Zhang was born in Jiayin year of Xuande (1434) and died in (1509) at the age of 75. Her husband, He Luan, once served as the secretariat of Shanxi Road in Xuzhou, Sichuan.
The tomb with a slightly smaller grouting is called He Song. He Song was born in Xuande Fifth Shen Nian (1428) and died in Chenghua Chen Jianian (1484) at the age of 56. Because of his son's resentment against He Song, he was posthumously named the official of Yingtianfu. In the Tang Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, tuiguan was equivalent to the president of the local intermediate people's court. In the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, he also had the function of audit director.