Master Archaeologist

Chapter 190 Madam also buried?
The east side room is used as the hiding place of the funeral lady.

The number and types of funeral objects are very rich.

Including copper, iron, pottery, jade, gold and silver, glass, lacquered wood, ivory and other utensils.

Among them, because the tomb was soaked in water many times, the lacquered wood and ivory wares were seriously damaged.

Some of the pottery was broken, and some of the bronzes were badly corroded.

However, most of the other funerary objects are still in very good condition.

After two days of cleaning, a large pile of bronze household utensils, namely pots and pans, tubes, pots, cups and other utensils, were cleared out in large quantities and sorted out.

As the easiest to clean and also the largest utensils were cleaned out one by one, the situation in the east room immediately became much clearer.

However, it also brought more troubles to Professor Li, Chen Han and others.

In this east room, it seems that more than one lady was buried with her!
At first, everyone actually thought that only one wife was buried in the east chamber.

Because this side chamber is rectangular, its width is only a little over 1.6 meters, which is about the same as the main tomb chamber.

Subconsciously, everyone thought that the east chamber was only big enough for one coffin.

However, the situation changed immediately after two consecutive lady seals were unearthed.

Yes, the east room is indeed not wide, but it is long enough!
The six-meter-long side room is completely enough to place multiple coffins vertically!
Chen Han was squatting in the south of the east room, holding a square seal in his hand and looking at it.

This seal is a gold-plated bronze seal, the button on which is a tortoise button, the nipple slightly protrudes from the seal pad, the turtle's back is plain and unmarked, it has four legs, the tail hangs to the left, and the belly is hollow.

Such a hollow design is suitable for tying a ribbon, that is, passing a ribbon through it, and then hanging it around the waist for easy carrying.

The ancients have always had the habit of hanging seals around their waists.

After all, this thing was used too frequently in ancient times. No matter what you do, you basically have to stamp it with a seal to prove your identity.

On the printed surface, four small seal scripts were engraved: "Madam Zuo's seal."

"Mrs. Zuo", which means that this lady should be the second lady.

Above her, there should be a "right lady".

Whether the ancients respected the left or the right is indeed a perplexing question for ordinary people.

But in fact, the answer to this question is right whether it is left or right.

Because in ancient China, whether the left is respected or the right is respected depends on the specific era.

In different periods and eras, there are different regulations.

In the Zhou, Qin, and Western Han dynasties, people at that time respected the right.

At that time, the emperor's nobles were called "You Qi", and the aristocratic families were called "You Family" or "You Surname".

Wealthy families must live on the right side of the urban area, while ordinary people live on the left side of the urban area.

This is supported by historical data.

"Historical Records Chen She's Family" said: "In July of the first year of the Second Emperor, 900 people from Yuyang were dispatched to Zuoshi and stationed in Daze Township."

The "Lu Zuo" here refers to the civilians living on the left side of the city.

Why didn't the right people go to guard the border?

Because Lu You lives in a noble and wealthy family, can they go to guard the border?

Similarly, "Historical Records: Biography of Lian Po Lin Xiangru" records: Lin Xiangru returned to Zhao with complete jade, made meritorious service at the Mianchi meeting, worshiped as Shangqing, and was on the right of Lian Po.

After Lian Po heard about it, he was very annoyed, and he was unwilling to submit to Lin Xiangru.

Lin Xiangru stood on Lian Po's right hand in the court hall, and Lian Po thought he was under Lin Xiangru.

This historical record, regardless of whether the story is true or not.

At least it is certain that when Tai Shigong wrote "Historical Records", people in the Western Han Dynasty still generally believed that the right was superior to the left, otherwise he could not have recorded such a story!
Therefore, in the Western Han Dynasty, it was correct to respect the right.

Well, since a "Zuo Madam Seal" was unearthed in the west chamber, it at least shows that there is a Right Madam with a higher status than her in Zhao Hu's harem.

Because if there is no Mrs. Right, there will be no Mrs. Zuo.

The queen can be vacant, but the concubine below is unlikely to skip the left and seal the right first.

This is like a competition, without No.1, how can there be No.2?

Either there are vacancies for the left and right wives, or there are both.

It is impossible for there to be only Mrs. Left and no Mrs. Right.

However, on another lady's seal found in the room on the east side, it is not engraved with "Madam You's seal", but "Madam Tai's seal".

This seal was discovered by Lin Ya. It is from the southeast of the room, and its shape is the same as the "Madame Zuo's seal".

The same gilt copper seal, the same square tortoise button, even the size is basically the same.

It can be seen that they should be manufactured in the same batch, but different characters were engraved during the engraving.

This surprised Chen Han.

Mrs. Tai's seal was unearthed, indicating that the owner of the seal should also be buried in the east room.

In other words, at least two wives were buried in the west room.

If the "Your Madam Seal" is found again, the three wives will be buried with them!

It was confirmed before that the tomb passage outside the tomb was sealed and filled once, and it has not been dug up since then.

In other words, all the funerary objects in this tomb, the owner of the tomb, and the martyrs were all buried at one time.

Including, these wives who were buried with them.

These wives could not have died of illness at the same time when Nanyue King Zhao Hu passed away by coincidence, right?
Obviously, they were also martyred alive!

This is a bit scary.

Zhao Hu, in the history books, gives people the impression that he is just a monarch who is more flexible, weak and not strong.

Didn't expect to be so cruel to my own people?

It is cruel enough to use some servants and servants to be buried.

He even buried his concubine and wife together?

The last person who did this was Qin Er Shi Hu Hai!
After Qin Shihuang's death, he escorted all Qin Shihuang's concubines into Qin Shihuang's mausoleum for burial.

Later, when part of the burial pits of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum were unearthed, there were burial pits for concubines.

It is also unknown whether the person who ordered the burial of the wife in the harem was ordered by Zhao Hu himself during his lifetime, or by Zhao Yingqi, who succeeded him after his death.

It is estimated that there is no answer to this question, after all, there is no record in historical materials.

But compared to the brutal Qin II.

The wives of Zhao Hu were treated much better when they were buried.

All kinds of silk and satin, jade, bronze, pottery and gold were buried with him.

And there are also coffins prepared.

Chen Han found the traces of the lacquer coffin next to the location where the "Madame Zuo's seal" was found.

According to the observation of the unearthed situation, the inside of the lacquered coffin was painted with red paint, and the outside was painted with black paint, and there may be colored paintings on the black paint.

Although the size of the coffin is unknown.

But Mrs. Zuo's bones still remain.

However, due to repeated water intrusions in the room, the skeleton was also severely damaged.

Only a few vertebrae, ribs, ankle bones and teeth remain.There are bronze mirrors and hooks on the spine.

Because the gilded bronze seal of Mrs. Zuo was next to this skeleton, Chen Han deduced from this that this skeleton should be Mrs. Zuo's remains.

As for Mrs. Tai, Lin Ya didn't find any traces of human bones around her, so she might have been completely decayed.

(End of this chapter)