Ancient corpses do not rot, why burn
On September 22, 2005, a puff of smoke appeared on the construction site in the S05 mountain area in Nanchong City, Sichuan, sparking discussion among local villagers. It turned out that someone burned a well-preserved ancient corpse there.
This ancient corpse was not only well preserved, but also did not decompose, which made the villagers very curious. In museums in China, there are many similar ancient corpses, such as Mawangdui Xinchai, Xinjiang Loulan Beauty and Lop Nur Xiaohe Princess.
These incorruptible ancient corpses have been properly preserved and have become a precious archaeological resource. Why, then, did the experts burn this ancient corpse, which is also of great archaeological value?
1. The discovery of ancient corpsesOn the afternoon of September 20, 2005, several workers found a dug cave on the construction site in the S05 mountain area of Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, when they were about to call it a day.
At first, they thought it was a cave of a series of animals, but they gradually approached the cave with curiosity, hoping to spot some animal tracks. Suddenly, one of the workers let out an exclamation and his body trembled violently.
It turned out to be a tomb, and there were two sarcophagi in the tomb, and the lids of the coffins were forcibly opened. In one of the sarcophagus, there was a corpse covered with cloth ** and pasted with a talisman, while the body of the other sarcophagus was missing.
Seeing this scene, several workers turned pale with fright, and in order to ensure safety, they quickly took out their mobile phones and dialed 110 to call the police. However, no matter how many times they tried, they couldn't get through**, and there was a constant weird sound on their phones, which made them feel creepy, and even the hand that dialed ** was shaking.
They threw down their work tools in a panic and ran to the local public security station as fast as they could, telling the police about the horrific scene they had seen.
After receiving the alarm, Captain Liao of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Public Security Bureau quickly led the team members to the scene. When they arrived at the scene, it was already evening, and although it was already dark, they began to survey the scene in the afterglow of the sun.
However, although the burial goods in the chamber were not lost and there were no signs of excavation elsewhere in the chamber, they determined that this was not a robbery. However, to everyone's confusion, the lids of both sarcophagi were pried open, and instead of taking the burial goods inside, the tomb robbers took only one body and exposed the other to the sun.
This can't help but make people wonder, is it possible that the tomb robbers have a grudge against the owner of the tomb, and want to dig up his body and expose it to the wilderness? After identification, the body exposed to the sun showed no signs of decomposition, which led Captain Liao to speculate that it might be an ancient tomb.
In order to protect the scene, the criminal police team set up a cordon and took certain protective measures. However, for the study of antiquities, they must be handed over to the Cultural Relics Bureau for processing.
So, Captain Liao urgently picked up his mobile phone to report the matter to the relevant departments, and then the relevant departments reported to the Cultural Relics Bureau. However, he called the ** number several times in a row, but no one answered, and strange sounds kept coming from the mobile phone.
He began to wonder if there was a problem with the cell phone signal.
When Officer Liao checked his phone, the signal was not abnormal, and the villagers were relieved by the full signal. However, the nearby villagers reported some strange things, and their mobile phones and the ** at home occasionally made weird noises in the middle of the night, which made them feel uneasy.
A villager named Liu Futian also recorded the strange voice and handed it over to Officer Liao. After forensic analysis, this strange sound is similar to the asthma or muffled vomiting sound produced by humans when breathing and when the chest and lung pressure is insufficient.
So, the next morning, Captain Liao came to the scene again with archaeological experts and medical experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau. After research and analysis by archaeological experts, they found that this incorruptible ancient corpse was a man in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, about 1.55 meters tall.
He wore a black hat on his head, a yellow talisman on his forehead, a pair of black cloth shoes on his feet, and his body was wrapped in thick strips of cloth from his ankles to his neck, and was also stained with glutinous rice.
What's even more amazing is that the face of the ancient corpse also has a thin layer of **, with a little elasticity, and the facial features are very well preserved.
When the archaeologists uncovered the turbans of the ancient corpses, they were shocked by the jet-black, ten-centimeter-long hair in front of them. Although this ancient corpse has been hundreds of years old, it is still well preserved and has not turned into a pile of dry bones.
However, the fact that the experts demanded that the corpses be burned immediately after the examination caused widespread controversy and dissatisfaction, and some even considered it to be a kind of destruction of the ancient relics.
As the incident fermented, people questioned the burning of incorruptible ancient corpses. Suspicion 1: The tomb has been excavated for five days, and both sarcophagi have been pried open, with the body in the left one missing and the other exposed to the sun.
But what is puzzling is why the tomb robbers did not steal the artifacts in the tomb, but stole one of the corpses.
Suspicion 2: After the ancient corpse was excavated, the nearby communication and radio equipment was abnormal, and even made strange sounds, making people wonder if there was really a supernatural force.
Question 3: Why was the sarcophagus used instead of the wooden coffin for burial? In Nanchong, Sichuan, wood resources are abundant, but why a sarcophagus is used for burial is unheard of. After understanding, the local history stretches for thousands of years, and everyone is accustomed to using wooden coffins for burial, and the discovery of sarcophagi this time is really rare.
Suspicion 4: The sarcophagus does not have any embalming measures, but the corpse can remain incorruptible for hundreds of years. The reason why many ancient corpses remain so incorruptible for so long is that embalming materials have been placed on the tombs or the corpses themselves.
For example, the process of mummification: in order to prevent the corpse from decomposing, people will remove all the internal organs of the corpse, and then fill the abdominal cavity and chest cavity with some medicinal spices.
Finally, the body is tightly wrapped from head to toe with a cloth, soaked in medicine, so that it is completely isolated from the air. Could it be that sarcophagi are cheaper than wooden coffins, and are there other reasons for this?
The incorruptible ancient corpse found in Nanchong had well-preserved internal organs, and there were no sharp weapon scratches on the body. Amazingly, no embalming was done before the body was buried.
Ancient corpses are wrapped in strips of cloth but their heads are exposed, in contrast to mummies that are fully wrapped, which is often difficult to embalm. In addition, the corpse** method was obviously not for embalming, but more like deliberately binding it so that it could not move.
So, is it the geographical location and climatic conditions of Nanchong that contribute to the preservation of corpses?
The climate type of Nanchong City belongs to the first humid monsoon climate, which is very conducive to the breeding of bacteria and is not conducive to the preservation of corpses. Suspicion 5: More than a dozen parties who participated in the excavation operation at that time mysteriously disappeared in just a few days, and their whereabouts are still unknown.
The authenticity of this matter is only clear to the parties. But after the news spread, people were panicked for a while, and many people didn't even dare to go out at night for fear of encountering unclean things.
However, it is no wonder, because the incorruptible ancient corpse is covered with strips of cloth**, stained with glutinous rice, and has a Taoist charm on its head, which is inevitably reminiscent of the "zombie" in film and television dramas.
And there are two sarcophagi in the ancient tomb, but the body in the other sarcophagus is missing, and people have speculated whether the corpse has been "transformed" and turned into a "zombie" to escape.
And, why did the experts of the Cultural Relics Bureau burn this incorruptible corpse? Is it because it is worried that it will cause harm to human beings due to its "corpse transformation"? However, since ancient times, many people have believed in the idea of "ghosts and ghosts", especially in ancient times, when science was not well developed.
For example, if someone has an abnormal phenomenon in the body, people often call it "evil spirit", and invite Taoist priests and monks to practice it at home, using glutinous rice, Taoist charms, black dog blood and other things to "ward off evil spirits".
The owner of the tomb had some anomalies before his death, and his family was worried that it might be possessed by a "ghost", so they adopted a special burial method to suppress the so-called "evil spirit".
However, there are still doubts about the whereabouts of the other body. Perhaps it was not buried here, as there was a custom of husband and wife burial together in many places in ancient times. The owner of the tomb may have died first, and his wife was not buried with him due to later events.
We should trust science and should not suspect that the body in another sarcophagus has undergone a "corpse transformation" just because there is no body in it. So why did the experts burn the bodies?
Perhaps because this incorruptible ancient corpse was buried in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the age is not very long, and it is not a high-ranking official, so it lacks research value. In addition, leaving this ancient corpse behind may cause diseases and other hazards, and because its incorruptible body has caused panic in the local area, experts decided to burn it in order to appease the public.
In general, this matter is not special. In the process of archaeology, many experts have caused diseases and even epidemics due to improper handling of dried corpses, resulting in many deaths, so it is the right choice to burn the corpses immediately.