Master Archaeologist

Chapter 238 Peanuts and Distillers (Important!)

"Hey, what is this?"

In the kitchen cabinet.

Zhuang Yunpeng and Lin Ya squatted in front of an oval-shaped bronze utensil that looked a bit like an old-fashioned liquefied gas tank, and while cleaning the mud attached to the utensil, they looked at it strangely.

This bronze ware is as round as a barrel, with diamond-shaped hollows in the center and two feet.

But this shape is not like any common bronze ritual vessel or wine vessel.

At least, in the archaeology of the Qin and Han Dynasties and even the pre-Qin period, it seems that no such artifacts have been seen!
Their doubts caught the attention of other archaeologists.

Chen Han, Kong Jianwen and others cast their gazes over.

"what"

Kong Jianwen frowned.

He didn't recognize what it was either.

"Is it a stove?" Chen Han said uncertainly.

He saw that there were two copper rings on both sides of the body, which were obviously used for people to "lift", which had the characteristics of a furnace.

"Not like." Kong Jianwen shook his head.

This bronze vessel aroused his great curiosity.

Putting down a copper cauldron that he was cleaning, Kong Jianwen walked towards Zhuang Yunpeng.

I saw that next to the oval bronze vessel they cleaned, there was a cauldron on the left and one on the right, a utensil that looked a bit like a pot.

All three objects are made of bronze.

Moreover, from the analysis of the structure of the utensils, the three utensils seem to be a composite utensil, which is used in combination.

This made Kong Jianwen even more curious.

Kettle, cylinder, pot?
What kind of object can these three things form?

His murmurs evoked Professor Li's inspiration.

"Fuck!"

Professor Li, who never swears, made an exception and swears.

But everyone has no time to care about these details.

Because Professor Li immediately said: "This can't be a still for brewing baijiu!"

"Fuck!"

"real or fake?!"

"Distiller?!"

All kinds of exclamations kept ringing in the kitchen utensils.

Some of the archaeological staff who were busy cleaning up other cultural relics raised their heads one by one.

It felt like when all the gophers got their heads out together when they were whacking the gophers.

The records about distilled sprinkles and distillers first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty document "Yin Shan Zheng Yao".

The book "Compendium of Materia Medica" by Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, also pointed out: "Shochu is not an ancient method, and it was created in the Yuan Dynasty. The method uses strong wine and lees, steams it on the steam, and uses a vessel to take dew. All sour The wine is all steamed and burnt."

The difference between the Yuan Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty is not a year, a decade, a decade, or a hundred years!
There is a gap of 300 years between these two dynasties!
If the distiller was used to make wine in the Han Dynasty, the history of science and technology would be rewritten. This is undoubtedly a major discovery!
But, at that time in the Western Han Dynasty, was it possible for distilled alcohol to appear? !

If distilled wine appeared at that time, why there is no rumor of baijiu in later generations, and rice wine has been drunk for thousands of years?
Just when everyone is uncertain and doubtful.

Lin Ya, who was still trying to clean the oval bronze vessel, suddenly exclaimed, "There are a lot of things in this bronze vessel!"

"It seems that there are chestnuts, water chestnuts, water chestnuts, peanuts and other fruits!"

"It seems that there are some carbonized grains that are not easy to distinguish!"

Everything else is fine.

But when the word "peanut" appeared from Lin Ya's mouth, everyone was shocked again.

"There are peanuts?!"

"This is really a treasure tomb!"

Chen Han rushed forward in disbelief, and looked into the bronze vessel with his probe.

Sure enough, there were a few objects that looked like peanuts, but had been somewhat carbonized, lying among the utensils.

These are unshelled peanuts in the shape of "8".

"There are really peanuts!"

Peanut, before the 90s, was generally believed to be a plant that originated in South America, and was later introduced to China through Spanish trade during the Ming Dynasty.

Regarding the origin of peanuts, it is currently recognized in the world that peanuts originate in the tropical regions of South America.

but!

In the field of Chinese archaeology, they have been trying to prove that Huaxia's peanuts were first cultivated locally.

It was only later that a more suitable variety was introduced from South America, and the native peanut varieties in China were eliminated.

A large number of archaeological materials and cultural relics can provide proof for it!
In 1958, two carbonized peanut seeds were discovered for the first time in the Qianshanyang primitive society site in Wuxing, Zhejiang.

According to the determination of carbon 14, it is 4700±100 years ago, which proves that peanuts existed in our country in the Neolithic period!

And the oldest peanut relic discovered in South America so far is more than 1000 years later than our country!

This can prove that Huaxia is probably the first country to cultivate peanuts!

Later, in 1990, archaeologists found traces of peanuts again in more than 20 burial pits that had been excavated and tried to excavate on the east side of Hanyang Mausoleum!
Among them, the No. 15 burial pit on the east side of the imperial mausoleum, a large number of pottery figurines such as cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs, and grains such as rice, wheat, and millet were found in the pit!

And, more than 20 peanut-like things were found in it!
Because they were mixed with charcoal of other grains, archaeologists separated them after careful identification.

Although buried in the ground for more than 2100 years, they still retain a clear shape.

In order to further explore the "identity" of these more than 20 objects, archaeologists handed them over to the Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Center.

In the following years, experts from domestic archaeology, geology, plants and other aspects conducted careful research and identification on them, and finally in 2009, it was confirmed that they were peanuts!

So far, the news has caused a sensation all over the world.

It proves that peanuts are not the only birthplace in South America!

At least in 200 BC in China, peanuts were planted in the Western Han Dynasty, and they were preserved as grain and grain reserves!
Moreover, this kind of peanut is very different from modern peanuts, or the peanuts from South America to the world.

This difference is similar to the difference between bananas and plantains.

Although they are all yellow bananas, they differ in size, shape, and even yield.

I just don't know why, after the Han Dynasty, this kind of peanuts native to China did not continue to be planted, but disappeared.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty and the arrival of peanuts from South America that this crop reappeared on the Chinese table.

This also makes the discovery of peanuts in Han Yangling an isolated case.

As we all know, there are no isolated cases.

A single example does not prove that during the Western Han Dynasty in China, the Western Han people had consciously planted and cultivated peanuts as a crop.

Only when peanuts from the Western Han Dynasty have been discovered in many places and many times can it be proved that the Western Han people were indeed planting this crop.

However, if peanuts are found again in Haihunhou's tomb this time, the theory of isolation will be broken!

Regarding the origin of peanuts and the domestication history of peanuts in China, the guesswork of scholars will become a firm fact!
(End of this chapter)