Chapter 0893 – Human Martyrdom

To be honest, in this eerie coffin in the eerie chamber, see the dead body skeleton, and in the outside of the dead body skeleton is completely different, although Zhuang Rui is an atheist, this will be in the heart can not help but a little bit creepy.

It is estimated that Zhuang Rui is the only one in the field to participate for the first time in the field of archaeological excavation, in addition to him, the bystanders on the bones are as if nothing, Prof. Meng is wearing gloves, has begun to check up the bones of the teeth to.

Look at Professor Meng directly out of the magnifying glass, fast face in the dead skull, Zhuang Rui hair are almost fried up, Zhuang Rui asked himself, I’m afraid I can not do so dedicated.

Archaeologists have to be involved in a wide range of learning, not only history and chemistry and other specialties, for the medical anatomy should also be a little rough, at least after seeing the dead, to know whether it is a normal death or unnatural death.

“Looking at the wear and tear of this woman’s teeth, she shouldn’t be very old, no more than thirty at most, could it be a martyrdom?”

Prof. Meng’s face was a bit grave after examining this corpse, everyone present knew that burying a living person with a living person was a common custom in ancient funerals, some of the deceased’s wives, concubines, and servants were buried along with them, which was called human martyrdom.

Martyrdom of the living, can be said to be a cruel and barbaric system in ancient China, after the Qin and Han dynasties have been restrained, often replaced by wooden figurines, ceramic figurines, after the Qin and Han dynasties, very few people were martyred.

However, to the Ming Dynasty, the wind of human martyrdom resurgence, Ming Taizu first precedent, Ming Yingzong ended the martyrdom system, after the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji, Shunzhi when the existence of martyrdom, Kang Xie only when the end of the feudal era of martyrdom system.

“Teacher, could it be the ones who died later and reburied in?”

Dr. Ren had a bit of a different opinion, before the Qin and Han Dynasties, human martyrdom would not be so thickly buried, most of them were a burial pit, burying the person alive in it, or driving the martyred person into the burial chamber, closing the door of the tomb, and letting them die in it.

Only in the Ming and Qing dynasties were those concubines allowed to kill themselves before being matched with coffins and buried in the burial chambers on either side of the emperor, except that it was clear that this would never be a Ming or Qing burial.

What Dr. Ren said about reburial after death in the back is also a common practice in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially the Qing Dynasty, that is, after the emperor built a tomb, if the empress died early, she would be placed in it first, and then when the emperor died, the door of the tomb would be opened for reburial.

It is precisely for this reason, the location of the Qing Dynasty emperor’s tomb is the most clear, widely known to the world, otherwise Sun Dianying is not so easy to Cixi and Qianlong’s tomb robbed empty.

Professor Meng shook his head and said, “Impossible, this cliff tomb is hard to open after sealing the tomb, it should be a martyrdom burial, but to have such a sarcophagus, I think the woman’s identity is also very high.”

The tombs of ancient emperors, especially those of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Yuan Dynasty, were extremely secretive, generally known only to the royal family, and the records were fragmented, with only general directions, and once the tomb was closed, it would definitely not be opened again.

After Prof. Meng finished speaking, he carefully searched inside the coffin again, he was trying to find some objects that could illustrate the owner’s identity, but unfortunately, apart from the burial objects, there was no text in existence.

“Alright, take out all the jade plugs within the nine orifices, these objects are the favorite of grave robbers.”

With the unearthing of this woman’s bones, Professor Meng’s interest in this ancient tomb became even greater, he was now certain that there was still the main chamber inside, and even many more burial chambers like this one, after all, with the status of the tomb’s owner, it was impossible for him to have only one wife.

Colloquially speaking: “nine orifices” refers to the human body’s two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, anterior vaginal urethra and posterior vaginal anus in terms of the corpse’s head of jade plugs, basically have fallen in the coffin, quickly picked up.

As for the jade plug at the posterior pubic anus, it was only after the two staff members had collected the bones into a bag that the jade plug was taken out.

Zhuang Rui took a mouth to look down, is a jade cicada, jade cicada is also called “king contain” thought the emperor died in the mouth contained.

This is the jade cicada cicada head eye large, body wings narrow into slender inverted trapezoid, knife work is exquisite, the jade cicada upside down, looks vaguely is a eight, typical of the Han eight knife carving.

Jade cicada head and no holes, purely to do burial jade used, jade is the top grade white jade, but above the blood seepage, the whole jade cicada surface body are slightly red, seep color has been deep into the jade, hold in the hand blood light flow, at a glance is not ordinary goods.

“How, Zhuang Rui, see the heart to go that can not pull out la, haha ……”

Dr. Ren cleaned up the things inside the coffin, see Zhuang Rui lovingly play with the jade cicada, can not help but make fun of, he knows Zhuang Rui is from the development of antiques to archaeology, see these things, that and the teacher to see the literature in the tomb in general, and can not wait to hold back at home to slowly study.

“Oh, Brother Ren, it’s still true, just such a trinket, do you know how much money?”

Zhuang Rui smiled, this jade cicada whether carving or jade qin color, are he has seen in the jade contains the best one, if then can test out the identity of the owner of this tomb, I’m afraid that just this one object, will be able to shoot out of the sky.

“One hundred thousand? Almost?”

Dr. Ren was also a bit curious after hearing Zhuang Rui’s words, his usual attention was put on academics, although he would also appraise the authenticity of some cultural relics, but for the price of antiques in the market, he didn’t know much about it. So is this 100,000, is also Dr. Ren shouted to high, in his mind, this jade and non-cultured white jade, jade is also blood seeped, it is estimated that the price can not be sold.

“One hundred thousand dollars? Dr. Ren, 100,000 dollars can’t even buy this jade cicada’s knife work.”

Zhuang Rui sniffed and laughed, with his thumb on the jade cicada rubbed a bit, then said: “This percolation color is natural blood percolation, white jade red, and is the famous Han eight knife carving, so a jade cicada if on the auction house, the starting price is to be in more than two million.”

“Two …… two million? This …… such a little gadget, can …… be worth so much money?”

Ren Chunqiang almost thought that he heard wrong, he followed Professor Meng also field excavated a lot of ancient tombs, almost as long as the bones of the corpse is complete, there can be jade containing unearthed, to the present at least dozens of, just he did not expect, so inconspicuous things, the price will be so high.

“Oh, Brother Ren, two million is just the starting price, the final auction to five or six million is also very normal. But the general jade contains are not that valuable, most of them can be bought for more than 100,000, it’s just that this one has a very beautiful qin color, and the knife work is very good, and the quality of the jade is good, that’s why it’s a little bit more expensive.”

Funeral jade is also divided into quality, in the era before the Qin and Han Dynasties funeral jade, in fact, the price is very low, because those funeral jade is not pure jade, almost all half stone and half jade, more than half of it is stone, naturally not worth any money. Therefore, the price of burial jade in the market is also very unstable, good quality of burial jade price is scary high, poor quality of cabbage price maybe no one wants. But this jade cicada in Zhuang Rui’s hand is definitely the best among the burial jades, if he were to see such a beautiful jade cicada in the auction house, he would definitely take it down regardless of the cost.

Listening to Zhuang Rui’s words, Dr. Ren has been dumbfounded, he now really understands why those grave robbers dare to take the risk of digging an ancient tomb, which is simply no cost ah! As long as a little effort, the return is incomparably rich.

Then look at the jade cicada in Zhuang Rui’s hand, Dr. Ren’s eyes have become a little different, he earns more than 100,000 to 200,000 a year, but this a small object, can almost let him a lifetime of food and clothing without worry.

“Alas, wealth moves people’s hearts, Xiao Ren, Xiao Liu, remember, these things are carriers belonging to the country’s historical legacy, they are references witnessing history, never get greedy!”

Prof. Meng listened to the conversation between Zhuang Rui and Ren Chunqiang, and suddenly interjected a sentence, which made Ren Chunqiang and the several staff members present clear their minds and nod their heads.

Prof. Meng’s words were by no means unintentional, in the country’s many museums, there was no lack of black sheep who sold the museum’s precious collection of cultural relics to cultural relics smugglers, and such things hadn’t happened once or twice, there had been multiple cases.

The harm of these people, more than those grave robbers can not be forgiven, belonging to know the law, but also let some national treasures lost in foreign countries, basically is very difficult to recover.

To say that the mentality, these people may still belong to Zhuang Rui’s mentality is the best, he simply like, like these objects carrying history, as for the money, for him the significance is not very big.

“Alright, now it’s already noon, let’s seize the time to find the tomb door leading to the other chambers, then go out to eat and rest for a while, and continue working in the afternoon.”

After waiting for Zhuang Rui to return the jade cicada, Prof. Meng began to assign the work, including Zhuang Rui, everyone took a small wooden hammer and struck on the surrounding walls.

“Here, teacher, I hear the sound a bit empty.”

After three or four minutes, Zhuang Rui’s voice rang out, in fact, as soon as he entered this chamber, he saw where the tomb door was, now it was just for show.

This tomb door was made of two large boulders, which were also carved with patterns, and the surrounding stone walls were so blended together that if he didn’t hear a hollow echo behind it, it would still be relatively hard to find.

The tomb door was difficult to open from the outside, but it was easy to open it from the inside out, it was a living door, there were three grooves in the ground, the innermost one held a long strip of dragon sealing stone, after Zhuang Rui lifted the stone strip out, the tomb door could be pulled open directly.

“Alright, all go out! The back is still a tunnel, come back in after you’ve eaten, everyone should be careful, if no one has walked through this tunnel, it’s highly likely that there’s a mechanism present.”

After opening the door to the tomb, a smell of decaying earth came out, choking the crowd as they backed away.