Master Archaeologist

Chapter 10 A skeleton of a young woman aged 23-26

Hurriedly returning to the Tanfang of the F4 house, Chen Han saw a small gray-white leg bone exposed at the north corner of the Tanfang.

There are not many bones exposed outside the soil layer, only about 3-4cm, but Chen Han can tell at a glance that this is a human bone.

And based on the exposed shape and thickness, he can also deduce that it should be a calf bone or hand bone.

Because apart from the limbs, the bones in other parts can never reach this thickness!
Chen Han quickly took out the brush and bamboo sticks from the toolbox.

Squatting in front of the skeleton that has not yet been exposed, his expression is serious like a film maker under the bridge, carefully cleaning up the mud covering the skeleton.

It is not an easy job to clean up this skeleton.

Archaeological excavation is a matter that requires extreme patience and meticulousness. It is very exhausting to clean up the mud covered in the bones without destroying the state and posture of the bones.

But Chen Han didn't feel irritable and troublesome at all, and enjoyed it very much.

Little by little, the skeleton, with only half of the leg bone protruding from the soil layer, began to gradually reveal its appearance before it was buried.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, when Zhang Jianbo, Su Sa, and Zhuang Yunpeng finished their lunch, took a nap, rested for a while, and returned to work with enough energy, Chen Han had already cleaned out most of the bones!

"Damn it, you cleaned this up in three hours?" Zhuang Yunpeng stared at the skeleton with the lower half of the skeleton exposed, it was shocking.

Generally speaking, for such a skeleton completely buried in the soil, one-third of it can be cleared out in half a day, which is considered a fast progress.

There is no one like Chen Han who can clean up most of them in three hours!
Su Sa quickly walked to Chen Han and squatted down, staring at the skeleton in front of him.

"The pelvis has been cleaned out."

She observed carefully for a while, and reached out to greet Zhuang Yunpeng and Zhang Jianbo.

"Come and see."

"The pelvic wall of this skeleton is thin and smooth, the side walls are straight and shallow, the entrance is wide, and the exit is oval."

"And the subpubic angle is obviously greater than 90 degrees!"

"This is obviously a female skeleton!"

Zhuang Yunpeng and Zhang Jianbo squatted over hearing the sound, and together with Su Sa, looked up and down the lower body of the skeleton.

Every archaeologist has learned how to judge age, gender and height from bones.

They were taught by the same master as the forensic doctor.

And this skill should be more handy for archaeologists than forensics.

After all, when forensic doctors usually do autopsies, they are not likely to encounter corpses that have become boneless, and it is not easy to encounter them once in a few years.

And archaeologists basically have to dig up a dozen skeletons a year, and even this is still relatively small.

So although Zhuang Yunpeng and the others are still young, they are experienced in judging by the bones.

Through the different differences between male and female pelvic bones, they can easily judge that this is a female skeleton.

"Well, this skeleton is indeed a woman." Chen Han, who lowered his head and was carefully clearing the soil layer, said without looking back: "It's not just a woman, but it's also a very young woman."

"Judging from the age change of the pubic symphysis, the death age of this female skeleton should be between 23 and 26 years old. Even 4000 years ago, this would be regarded as an untimely death."

"Oh?" Zhang Jianbo looked at the pubic symphysis of the skeleton upon hearing the sound.

The age identification of juvenile bones is mainly based on the time when the ossification center of the limbs appears and the degree of epiphyseal healing.

For bones over 20 years old, the age change of the pubic symphysis is the most valuable.

Secondly, in the case of incomplete preservation of the skeleton, you can also look for the remains of the teeth, and use the age of the teeth to infer the age of the deceased.

The upper body of this skeleton has not been cleaned out, and the teeth are temporarily forgotten.

But the pubic symphysis surface has been cleaned up.

After observing carefully around the pelvis, the three of them nodded in agreement with Chen Han's deduction.

This is indeed the skeleton of a 23-26-year-old adult female.

Zhuang Yunpeng stroked his chin twice, and said with some emotion: "It is not easy for the ancestors in ancient times to live a long life."

"A young girl in her twenties is still considered a child for now."

Chen Han, who was completely unmoved when Su Sa was startled by the side, stopped his movements when he heard Zhuang Yunpeng's emotion, turned his head to look at him, and said very seriously:
"Brother, I am 23 years old."

"Ahem." Zhuang Yunpeng waved his hands again and again: "I didn't mean your child, the young man's ability to associate is not so strong."

Su Sa couldn't help shaking her head with a smile: "Okay, let's start working too, and we can chat after work is over."

Seeing that Chen Han had almost cleared out half of the skeleton in only three hours, Su Sa still felt a sense of urgency.

How come, as a senior sister, I can't lose to the junior junior who just started!
Picking up the square-headed shovel, Su Sa chose a corner and immediately threw herself into the struggle.

Zhuang Yunpeng and Zhang Jianbo looked at each other, shook their heads, and picked a place to dig again.

Although it was said that the two of them discovered this skeleton first, Chen Han had already cleaned up most of it, so they were embarrassed to rob it again with their junior brother.

The left and right are just a skeleton, so it doesn't matter how valuable it is, and the two of them soon stopped caring about it.

In the F4 detective square, after a brief bustling, it soon became quiet again, only the "rustling" sound produced by the shovels and brushes constantly waving.

After a long while, when the sun had already set on the mountainside, a sound of surprise broke the tranquility in Tanfang again.

"Huh, that's strange!" Chen Han held a brush in his hand, and looked at the white skull that had just exposed a corner in front of him with some doubts.

Chen Han's suspicious voice came clearly to Zhuang Yunpeng's ears.

The three of them gathered around Chen Han again, wanting to see what difficulties the junior brother encountered.

I saw that a curved skull appeared in front of Chen Han.

It stands to reason that when cleaning up the bones, it is quite normal for skulls to appear.

As long as everyone has a head, it would be strange not to find a skull!

However, soon Zhuang Yunpeng and the others understood why Chen Han was surprised.

A skull is indeed a skull, but this one appears in a bit of a wrong position and in a bit of a wrong shape.

This skull appeared on the chest of the female corpse, obviously this is not where it should be.

"Is this a severed skeleton?" Zhang Jianbo guessed with some uncertainty.

"No!" Zhuang Yunpeng shook his head, pointed at the skull, and gestured a few times with his hand: "The size and shape of this skull are obviously not in line with this skeleton."

"The skull of an adult should not be so small!"

"Even if this skeleton is a woman, the proportion of this skull is a bit too small!"

Su Sa nodded if she realized something.

The truth is already there.

"Are these two superimposed skeletons?!"

"Under this adult woman, there is still a child's skeleton?!"

(End of this chapter)