In the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, archaeologists have unearthed a lifelike, well-preserved female corpse. This female corpse, known as the "Oriental Sleeping Beauty", amazed the world. Why can she sleep underground for a thousand years without rotting? What kind of scientific secrets are hidden behind this?
The Mawangdui Han Tomb is the tomb of Li Cang, the prime minister of Changsha State and his family in the early Western Han Dynasty. In this magnificent and complex tomb, more than 3,000 pieces of precious cultural relics such as silk fabrics, silk books, silk paintings, and Chinese herbal medicines have been unearthed.
And the most shocking thing is the well-preserved female corpse. She is about fifty years old and 154 meters, weight 343 kg. After opening the coffin, it was found that her connective tissue, muscle tissue and cartilage and other subtle structures were very well preserved, and her whole body was soft and elastic, fine and smooth, and even some joints could be rotated.
As for the reason why the female corpse does not decompose, the scientific community has given reasonable guesses. First of all, bees and coffins buried deep in the ground provide a confined environment for female corpses to be completely isolated from the outside world, which is the most important condition to prevent corruption.
Secondly, the water inside the coffin contains a small amount of antiseptic substances such as mercury sulfide, which have a bactericidal effect. In addition, the seven orifices of the female corpse were poured with wine, which also played a bactericidal role. Finally, the spices inside the coffin also help to delay decay.
The mystery of the incorruptibility of the female corpse of Mawangdui has attracted wide attention in the archaeological community, the chemical community and the medical community. This discovery greatly contributed to the development of medical anatomy and chemistry.
At the same time, other cultural relics unearthed in Mawangdui also have high historiographical value and collection value, which provides valuable information for us to understand the social style of the Western Han Dynasty. Chronicles of Ancient Rhyme.