Mawangdui-Mao Jiajia

Hello LZ, what was wrong just now is this:

Mawangdui Han Tomb: Located in Dongtundu, the eastern suburbs, about four kilometers away from the city center. This tomb is the family cemetery of Li Cang, the Prime Minister of Changsha in the early Western Han Dynasty. From 1972 to early 1974, three of the tombs were excavated and designated as No. 1, 2 and 3. Tomb No. 1 is the tomb of Bihou Li Cang and his wife, Tomb No. 2 is the tomb of Bihou Li Cang and his son, Tomb No. 1 and No. 3 are well preserved. The tomb structure is very rigorous and the scale is grand. More than 3,000 precious cultural relics were unearthed from the three tombs. The most sensational one at home and abroad is the female corpse of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed from tomb No. 1. It lasted for more than 2,100 years. Its appearance is complete, the whole body is moist, the hair is still there, and the fingerprints of the fingers and toes are It is clear, the soft tissue is still elastic, and the hand and foot joints can still move. It is a miracle in the world of antisepsis. The No. 1 coffin is composed of 70 fir boards, weighs about 1,500 kilograms, has a solid structure, is flat and square. There are four layers of coffins in the coffin, and the four sides are filled with funerary objects. One piece of plain sand Zen clothing is as light as smoke and has thin Confucian cicada wings. The length of the garment is 1.28 meters, the sleeve length is 1.9 meters, and the weight is only 49 grams. The "Topographic Map of Southern Changsha" unearthed from Tomb No. 2 is the earliest large-scale map in existence. 28 kinds of silk books with more than 120,000 words were unearthed from Tomb No. 3. These silk books have extremely high research value on ancient books. There is also a painted silk painting covering the inner coffin, which is an unprecedented masterpiece of ancient silk painting. Now, Tombs No. 1 and 2 have been closed, but Tomb No. 3 still maintains its original appearance, with a roof built for people to visit. All cultural relics unearthed from Mawangdui are displayed in the Hunan Provincial Museum.

In 1972, the archaeological discovery of Mawangdui shocked the world. When experts unearthed the remains of Xin Zhui in the Western Han Dynasty, their bodies were intact, their whole body was moist, their skin was still elastic, their joints could still move, and their bone quality was better than today A normal sixty year old would be fine. Why has this female corpse in Mawangdui not decayed for two thousand years? When the female body in Mawangdui was unearthed, the coffin was filled with a red coffin fluid. Scientists believe that this liquid is the "divine liquid" that has kept Xin Zhui incorruptible for more than 2,000 years.

Professor Luo Xuegang, director of the Mawangdui Han Tomb Cultural Relics Conservation Center and doctoral supervisor at Central South University, said that after testing, it can be confirmed that the red coffin liquid has complex ingredients. The reason why it is red is because it is mixed with cinnabar. The chemical components are harmful to the human body, including arsenic and mercury. Many components of traditional Chinese medicine were also detected in the coffin liquid. When these things are mixed together, they turn dark red. It is certain that this red liquid has a bactericidal effect and can ensure that the body does not decay.

The main component of the red coffin liquid includes organic mercury, also known as mercury. Experts speculate that Xin Zhui may have had the habit of taking elixirs during his lifetime. In ancient China, alchemy was one of the main ways for people to pursue immortality. The elixirs themselves contained mercury and other toxic and harmful substances to the human body. People were not aware of it at the time, but mercury has a killing effect on bacteria. . Therefore, although Xin Zhui took excessive pills during her lifetime and failed to live a long life, due to some strange circumstances after her death, the toxicity of the pills allowed her bones to be preserved for a long time.

Luo Xuegang said that some ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine were also found in the red coffin liquid. According to reports, a large number of Chinese herbal medicines were found among the funerary objects, which to a certain extent supports the idea that the ancients were able to prepare antiseptic potions. "The combination of these chemical substances is the basic reason for the preservation of ancient corpses." Luo Xuegang said.

Why didn’t people with higher status than Xin Zhui preserve the bones, but Xin Zhui could? This at least shows that the formula of this antiseptic potion was formed by accidental factors. Luo Xuegang believes that Xin Zhui’s 2000 incorruption was “full of chance.” In addition to taking appropriate antiseptic measures, the environment at that time must have been very dry, conducive to preservation, and the coffin was well sealed and isolated from the outside air to avoid bacterial erosion of the corpse. Furthermore, the Mawangdui Tomb has never been stolen. . Geological conditions and human factors miraculously preserved Xin Zhui's body.

A few days ago, Xin Zhui, the wife of the prime minister of ancient Changsha, who had been "sleeping" in Mawangdui, Changsha for nearly 2,200 years, was miraculously "resurrected".

The staff of the Hunan Provincial Museum learned through the media that Zhao Chengwen, a professor of the Department of Forensic Medicine of the China Criminal Police College, successfully restored the appearance of Wu, the fourth wife of Mingjing King Zhu Mianpei, the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, and immediately After getting in touch with Professor Zhao, he proposed to reconstruct the appearance of a female corpse from the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, and Zhao Chengwen readily agreed. Later, Zhao Chengwen made a special trip to Changsha and collected the basic materials needed for restoration within two days. Therefore, the Hunan Provincial Museum officially commissioned Professor Zhao in writing to restore the appearance of Xin Zhui, who died nearly 2,200 years ago.

The "secret weapon" helped a lot

The key to Zhao Chengwen's ability to restore the thousand-year-old remains in a short period of time was a device called the "Police Star CCK-3 Portrait Simulator" System" help. This "secret weapon" has condensed Professor Zhao Chengwen's efforts for most of his life.

Zhao Chengwen is the founder of criminal physiognomy in my country. He has been engaged in traceology research since 1973, and can quickly create simulated portraits of criminal suspects based on the oral statements of insiders. "Police Star CCK-3 Portrait Simulation System" is actually the product of Professor Zhao's practical experience and computer technology. It is reported that this system can combine 9 billion times 100 million portraits without duplication through technical processing of tens of thousands of photos.

“Research has shown that a person’s facial appearance depends crucially on the shape of the skull. That is to say, as long as the skull exists, even if it is disfigured, its original appearance can be restored according to certain steps.” Zhao Chengwen explained.

Zhao Chengwen drew the faces of Xin Zhui in three age groups: 18, 30 and 50 years old. He also drew a side profile of 50-year-old Xin Zhui. The restoration is mainly based on X-rays of Xin Zhui's skull, facial photos taken when it was unearthed, as well as silk paintings from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha City and related historical documents.

"In my eyes, as long as the skull remains intact, there is basically no difference between the female corpses of more than 2,000 years ago and the corpses encountered in daily investigation of crimes." Professor Zhao said calmly.

The 30-year-old Xin Zhui was first "resurrected"

The 30-year-old Xin Zhui was first "resurrected" in the hands of Zhao Chengwen. "According to anthropological knowledge, a person's bones are basically formed at the age of 30. Choosing this age to restore first can ensure the effectiveness of the skull's transmission of information as much as possible," Zhao Chengwen explained.

Zhao Chengwen found in the X-ray analysis of Xin Zhui’s skull that the decomposition of the corpse caused Xin Zhui’s mouth to open, his tongue to protrude, his lower forehead to dislocate, and his head to deform after his death: “According to past rules, "This deformation will cause the facial features to become shorter. For example, a long face will become a round face, and a Chinese-shaped face will become a Tian-shaped face," Zhao Chengwen said. In addition, the shooting angle of the X-ray film is not vertical and forms an elevation angle, which makes recovery difficult.

According to this situation, Zhao Chengwen first scanned the X-ray film into the computer, and then reset the dislocated lower forehead in the computer based on the anatomical structure theory. Subsequently, Zhao Chengwen drew the inner eye line, outer eye line, nose line, nose bottom line, hairline, brow line, and cleft line on Xin Zhui's skull based on the "Three Courts and Five Eyes" theory in art. , lower forehead line, center line.

According to reports, the "three courts" determine the length of the face, and the "five eyes" determine the width. The hairline is a mark between a person's forehead and hair. The brow line determines the position of the eyebrows. The base line of the nose refers to the position of the lower part of the nose. The lower forehead line indicates the position of the bottom line of the head. "Based on these nine lines, the position, length, width, and size of the facial features can basically be determined." Zhao Chengwen explained.

Xin Zhui’s eyes were first determined to be almond-shaped eyes. Zhao Chengwen believes that the eyes are also the part with the smallest error in Xin Zhui's restored phase. He said: "Based on the shape of the eye holes in Xin Zhui's skull, it can be inferred that she had almond-shaped eyes. Combined with the photos taken when she was unearthed and the anatomical evidence from that year, we can be sure that Xin Zhui's eyelashes were very long during her lifetime." Compared with the eyes, It was relatively easy to determine the shape of Xin Zhui's nose. Judging from the unearthed photos, Xin Zhui's nose is well preserved, and it can be directly judged that it is a small pointed nose.

Why does the 30-year-old Xin Zhui have thin lips and fox-tailed eyebrows? Zhao Chengwen explained: "Based on the photos of the corpse: Xin Zhui's lips were found to be thin. According to the oral cleft line, it can be judged that his shape is a typical thin lip. The foxtail eyebrows are mainly based on the shape of the eyebrow arch on X-ray, and The traces of eyebrows on Xin Zhui’s body and the shape of his eyes were finally confirmed to be fat and floppy.

The error is within 10%

“There must be certain errors in the portraits of ancient people more than 2,000 years ago, but according to statistical data, the error should be controlled within 10%.” Zhao Chengwen explain.

The error is first due to flaws in the X-ray film. In the past restoration process of unnamed corpses, Zhao Chengwen used the skull as the basis, but this time only X-rays of the skull were used, which will inevitably bring about a certain degree of regret.

When Zhao Chengwen created the 50-year-old and 18-year-old faces of Xin Zhui on the basis of his 30-year-old face, he mainly relied on statistical reasoning, supplemented by a certain degree of guesswork.

According to historical records, Xin Zhui got married at the age of 15. Therefore, based on his 18-year-old face, Zhao Chengwen consciously made his eyes bigger, more watery, and smoother, his face slightly rounder, his eyebrows changed from fox-tail eyebrows to willow-leaf eyebrows, and his mouth was based on his 30-year-old face. Smaller, the ears basically don't change much, they are a little thinner, and the cheeks are a little pink. The head is slightly larger. At the same time, a certain depression is left in the chest cavity, making it look slightly plump. "Since there are no photos of Xin Zhui when he was young, we can only make inferences based on anthropological knowledge during the specific production." Zhao Chengwen said.

When drawing Xin Zhui’s face at 50 years old, according to anthropological rules, the corners of his eyes dropped, wrinkles appeared on his forehead, his nose sank, his nose wings widened, his cheeks widened, his fat increased, and his muscles became flabby. . The ears are droopy and the neck is thickened. It is inferred from this that his oval face turned into a rectangular face when he was 30 years old.

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Xin Zhui can "live" for another 500 years

The protection of the female corpse was provided by the Human Anatomy Teaching and Research Department of Hunan Medical University from the beginning support. When the female body was unearthed, it was Zeng Jiaming and Liu Lihou from this teaching and research office who injected a fixative mixed with formalin, alcohol and glycerin into the body, and then soaked it in formalin. Later, the immersion liquid in the crystal coffin was jointly prepared by Associate Professor Zeng Jiaming and several major medical experts across the country, and was called "Formula No. 1".

The preservation of the female corpse in Mawangdui shows that the ancestors were well versed in antisepsis. They took advantage of the conditions at the time to create a sealed oxygen-free and sterile environment in the coffin. In addition to wrapping the body in silk to isolate it from the environment inside the coffin, the six sides outside the coffin were surrounded by more than 5,000 kilograms of charcoal, followed by a layer of white plaster mud, and a thick pile of soil.

From today's perspective of protection, if no accident occurs, she can also be immortal as long as the environment in the crystal coffin remains unchanged.

There is definitely no problem in preserving it for 200 years, and we can expect it to last for 500 years or more.

The person in charge of the Hunan Provincial Museum said that the museum spent more than 2 million US dollars to build the new museum and specially imported the best air conditioners from the United States.

Xin Zhui died from eating melon

Professor Peng Longxiang of Xiangya Medical College of Central South University, who was nearly 70 years old, was the chief surgeon for the autopsy of the female corpse in Mawangdui. According to him, at 8 a.m. on December 14, 1972, in an exhibition hall on the southeast side of the second floor of the Hunan Provincial Museum (now the History Museum), the autopsy began. He entered the knife from the upper edge of the sternum of the corpse, along the midline to the lower abdomen. He felt that the ancient corpse was harder than ordinary fresh corpses. After the chest cavity was opened, the organs had complete shapes.

Based on the dissection and pathological analysis of tissue sections, Professor Peng basically understood the cause of death of this noble lady at that time - after people eat, their gastrointestinal tract usually empties within 4 hours, and her stomach , there is still a lot of undigested food left. Pathological analysis showed that the wife suffered from eight or nine diseases including coronary heart disease, gallstones, and tuberculosis during her lifetime, and was also infected with schistosomiasis, pinworms, and whipworms. Moreover, there were 138 half-melon seeds remaining in her stomach. Professor Peng therefore believed that she died suddenly due to biliary colic, radiation-induced coronary artery spasm, and even a heart rate disorder after eating melons during the summer when melons were ripe more than 2,000 years ago.

Xin Zhui discovered it during construction

"There are Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the north and Mawangdui in the south." Mawangdui is an inconspicuous hill on the north side of Changliu Highway in the eastern suburbs of Changsha City. It is named after historical records indicate that it was the cemetery of the Ma Yin family of the King of Chu during the Five Dynasties. It is also called Mawangdui because it resembles a saddle. After research, it was found that the Tomb of King Ma was actually the cemetery of the Che Dahou family during the Western Han Dynasty.

In 1972, a serious landslide occurred during the construction of a military hospital in Hunan Province. White plaster mud was found and choking gas emerged from a small hole. When someone strikes a match to light a cigarette, there is an explosion and a blue flame in the hole. An experienced old soldier concluded that there must be a "treasure" here. The situation was quickly reported to relevant departments. Three days later, after reporting to the State Council, the Hunan Provincial Museum conducted a detailed survey with experts and began excavation.

When the tomb was opened, what appeared in front of people was a female corpse that had been sleeping for more than 2,000 years but looked very "fresh": the appearance was intact, the whole body was soft and elastic, and the antiseptic was injected into her body. Her blood vessels can still swell while taking the medicine. Except for body surface deformations such as protruding eyeballs and protruding tongue, other features are exactly like those of a recently deceased person. This is the first wet corpse with a long history discovered in the world, and it shocked the world after being unearthed. Similar ancient corpses discovered since then have been classified by the archaeological community as "Mawangdui corpse type".

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