Master Archaeologist

Chapter 197 Eight people died?

The discovery of five human sacrifices cast a cloud of gloom on the minds of researchers at the Guangzhou Institute of Archeology.

In Guangzhou, no tombs with human sacrifices have ever been found.

In the Lingnan area, many Neolithic sites have indeed been discovered.

However, Neolithic prehistoric humans in Guangdong did not develop classes, systems, or culture.

Most of the Neolithic sites discovered locally are stone tools, pottery, and a small amount of jade.

It should be some Neolithic humans based on tribes.

In the Neolithic period, sacrificial burials were not very popular, at least not with human beings.

People were productive forces at that time.

Even if there is a hostile attack between the two tribes, people from other tribes obtained are usually used as slaves and are reluctant to be buried.

After the end of the Neolithic Age, the Baiyue tribe in the south of Lingnan brought advanced bronze culture to the local Baiyue after some Yue tribes from Wu, Yue and other places went south.

At this time, these Baiyue people did not have the custom of burial.

Therefore, some Baiyue tombs discovered sporadically in Guangzhou also rarely see sacrificial pits.

As for the tombs of the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties, let alone the Chinese people had long since abandoned the backward sacrificial burial system.

Well, apart from Zhu Yuanzhang briefly re-picking it up for so many decades, but only three generations, when Zhu Qizhen, the god of war in the Ming Dynasty, also abolished the burial again.

The people have never recovered.

This tomb of the Nanyue King is already the only tomb with human martyrs discovered and participated in by the Guangzhou Archaeological Institute.

Seeing so many maids buried with them unexpectedly made these researchers from the Guangzhou Institute of Archeology feel inexplicable emotions.

However, the work that needs to be done must continue to be done.

The bones of the five martyred maids in the southern half have been cleaned up, and their few funeral objects have also been collected one by one.

The cleaning work in the northern half began immediately.

On the ground in the northern half of the west chamber, there is also a pile of skeletons.

However, these bones are obviously not human bones, but a large number of animal remains such as cattle and pigs.

Although these animal remains are relatively messy, which may be related to the drift caused by the intrusion of groundwater into the tomb, they can be roughly divided into three areas.

Area A, near the doorway, is located to the south, and most of them are vertebrae and some ribs of cattle.

Area B, on the northeast side, is basically the bones of pigs. The surface of the bones is dark black, which should be buried after roasting.

In addition, 4 iron nails were cleared around the bones in this area, all of which were glued to rotten wood. The tails of the nails were 1 cm long and were bitten into the wooden boards when they were unearthed. They should be nails used in wooden boxes.

From this, it is speculated that these pigs should have been buried in wooden boxes.

Area C is the northernmost point, mostly the ribs of young pigs, as well as some mandibles and limb bones.

In addition, a small amount of chicken and fish bones were unearthed on the ground near the doorway.

When the clean-up work first started, everyone didn't think there was anything strange. It was a normal thing for the ancients to use animals for burial.

It can be traced back to the Neolithic period.

After all, animals are equal to food. Sacrificial burial is a very simple idea. I hope that I can eat enough after death.

As for human beings, the world is full and full, and a full stomach is the most simple wish of all human beings.

Especially in the ancient times when most people couldn't eat enough.

However, as the clean-up work progressed, Director Fu gradually began to discover something was wrong.

A pile of pig bones unearthed near the east wall in Area C was found to be most of the bones of a headless pig after cleaning.

The rest of the bones of cattle and pigs were found to be mostly ribs, limb bones, and vertebrae after cleaning and identification, but the skull was also missing.

It seems that these cows and pigs were not whole cows or whole pigs when they were buried, but the heads and tails were removed.

This means that these pigs and cattle are not the funeral objects of the owner of the tomb, but the sacrificial animals used to enshrine and sacrifice to him.

Because the sacrificial animals, in Chinese culture, need to pinch their heads or tails, or sacrifice their heads alone.

Although the final use is the same, it is for the owner of the tomb to enjoy after death.

But the sacrificial objects are things that the owner of the tomb brought down to the ground after his death.

The sacrificial offerings are the descendants of the tomb owner, and the nature of the things sacrificed to the tomb owner has changed.

This is of great significance to the study of the tombs of the senior nobles of the Nanyue Kingdom.

In the Central Plains, dating back to the Neolithic Age, after senior nobles were buried, a sacrificial area would be specially prepared next to the tomb.

The sacrifices in the past were simple and crude, that is, some sacrifices were used to sacrifice animals, and even human sacrifices were used in the Shang Dynasty to inform the ancestors and sacrifice to the ancestors.

After the sacrifice is completed, these sacrifices will be buried in a specially opened sacrifice pit.

This point, from the Neolithic period to the Spring and Autumn Period, can basically be found in the tombs of high-ranking nobles, as evidenced by the sacrificial pits buried with them.

However, the sacrificial offerings from the Nanyue Kingdom were actually put directly into the west room and buried with the owner of the tomb.

This must have been the first priesthood before the owner of the tomb was buried in the chamber.

Because according to the order of placing the burial objects, the burial objects in the back storage room and the east and west side chambers should be placed first, then the tomb owner’s coffin and burial objects should be placed in the main tomb chamber, and finally the burial objects in the left and right ear chambers and money chamber should be placed. , and then seal the tomb.

These sacrifices were even put into the tomb before the tomb owner.

This unique sacrificial culture is worthy of in-depth study.

This may be related to the funeral culture of the local Baiyue tribe, which is of great significance in supplementing the unique funeral culture of the ancestors in the Lingnan area.

This is very important to the Guangzhou Institute of Archeology.

It can even be used as a long-term research topic in the future to continue to explore the funeral culture of the Nanyue Kingdom and even the Baiyue tribe.

After specifically writing down this incident, the Guangzhou Institute of Archeology continued to clean up.

At this moment, something happened that was unclear whether it was a surprise or a shock.

When cleaning the remains of several cattle in the middle of the room, the Guangzhou Institute of Archaeology found several human teeth among the cattle bones.

Judging by the degree of wear and tear, these human teeth probably came from a young man in his 20s.

At the same time, at the northernmost end of the room, under several lacquerware and two bronze mirrors, another human molar was found.

Also from a young man in his 20s.

That is to say, in the north of the west chamber, there are two more human sacrifices, which were placed together with these animal sacrifices.

Including these two, there should be a total of seven people who were killed in the West Ear Room.

And a total of eight bronze mirrors were unearthed.

If it is an extreme guess, it can be calculated that a bronze mirror can cover the face of a person who died.

Perhaps, the people who were originally buried here were not seven, but there might be an eighth.

However, the eighth person died, because of various reasons such as water ingress and corrosion, even the strongest and most preserved teeth in the skeleton were completely decayed.

Even after death, eight maids must be buried with her!
The luxury of the king of South Vietnam can be seen!
(End of this chapter)