Master Archaeologist

Chapter 260 "The Seal of the Great Liu"

"And copper, and lacquered wood, and gems, and gilt!"

"This is a very rare composite device, which combines multiple crafts in one!"

"Rare, rare!"

"This type of utensil is extremely rare in previous archaeological investigations. It is probably even rarer in the tomb of Marquis Haihun. Maybe it is the only one!"

"Orphan!"

In the cultural preservation room of the archaeological base, various surprises came and went.

The exquisite design of this bronze ware is amazing!
The Western Han Dynasty can be said to be the last peak and glory of bronze wares.

At this time when ironware was about to replace bronzeware in an all-round way, the craftsmanship and skills of bronzeware had just reached its peak period.

Compared with the bronze wares of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period and even the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the bronze wares of the Western Han Dynasty undoubtedly represent the peak of Chinese bronze civilization.

Compared with the heavy feeling of the bronze wares of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the bronze wares of the Western Han Dynasty pursue exquisiteness.

Just like this openable faucet, it will definitely not appear in Shang and Zhou archaeology.

This is actually a kind of technological progress, even technological progress!
And this bronze ware, inlaid with gemstones, jade pieces and lacquerware, is simply a rare treasure!
At the excavation site of the large tomb next door, Chen Han, who was still busy cleaning up, had no idea that the cultural relics he had randomly extracted as a whole were actually such a rare treasure!

At this time, he was still cleaning up other cultural relics in the inner coffin chamber.

The bronze dyeing stove and copper ear cup are still exquisite and beautiful.

The lacquered fungus cup is bright and bright, and it can even reflect light.

The jade ear cup is made of fine jade and exquisite workmanship, and the warm texture remains unchanged after 2000 years.

In the inner and outer coffins, most of the unearthed cultural relics are things commonly used by the owner of the tomb during his lifetime.

For example, ear cups have been unearthed in three textures: copper, lacquered wood, and jade.

Although it is said that there are three types of texture, but in terms of use, there are only two usages of this ear cup.

One is used to hold food, and the other is used to hold wine.

Jade ear cups are generally used as wine vessels. The texture of jade is very suitable for wine, because the texture is more moist.

However, the name "ear cup" is just a modern name, or an archaeological name.

When these utensils were used in the past, it was not the name.

When the ear cup is used to hold wine, it is called "Yu Glass".

The original meaning of the word "cup" refers to wine utensils with oval, shallow belly, flat bottom, and half-moon-shaped ears on both sides.

The poem "Seven Enlightenments" by Cao Zhi of the Three Kingdoms says: "Storage with emerald cups, drink with carved cups, floating ants are boiling, and the fragrance is intense."

Li Bai's poem "Farewell to Cao Nan's officials in the south of the Yangtze River" said: "Sorrow is farewell for thousands of miles, and I will return to this cup."

The wine cup here refers to the wine cup.

Wine cups became popular in the Warring States Period and were widely used by Chinese people until the Tang Dynasty.

High-ranking nobles use jade to make cups, and common people or minor nobles use lacquered wood to make cups.

Ear cups made of jade and lacquered wood are both cups for drinking.

But bronze is different.

Bronze ear cups, in the Western Han Dynasty, were more likely to be used as utensils for holding food rather than wine utensils for drinking.

It can only be said that the enjoyment of the nobles has come.

In the past, the earliest bronze ear cups were the "cup", but with the advancement of "technology", after the lacquered fungus cups, the cold bronze ear cups are not so easy to drink.

Not to mention that the wines brewed in ancient times are all low-alcohol wines, and most of them are drunk after heating.

That is the so-called "warm wine".

The bronze cup is even more unsuitable, the heat dissipates too quickly.

So this kind of bronze ear cup was gradually used as tableware and used to put food.

As we all know, people in the Western Han Dynasty had a meal-sharing system.

Under the meal sharing system, one person does not need too much tableware to hold it.

Just like the current Japanese food, they all use small bowls.

The size of the bronze ear cup is just enough to be used as a tableware.

However, the unearthed daily utensils are not the most important cultural relics in the inner chamber.

In fact, not even the dragon head Yi.

The truly heavyweight cultural relic is a jade seal that Zhuang Yunpeng found on a lacquer plate in the upper left corner of the inner storage room!
This jade seal was placed in a lacquered wooden tray very inconspicuously. There was no lacquer box for the jade seal, so it was placed in the lacquered tray carelessly.

And this lacquered wooden tray is also very casually lying in a corner of the inner coffin.

However, its unique material is difficult to escape the sight of archaeologists.

Zhuang Yunpeng saw the jade seal at a glance, and immediately picked it up.

The size of this jade seal conforms to the standard of the Western Han Dynasty seal, that is, the "square-inch seal", which is not much bigger than a thumb.

The jade seal itself is a square tortoise button, which is also a relatively common style.

But it is made of good white jade!
Even after 2000 years, the jade quality is still very delicate and smooth, and exudes a warm touch!
After getting it, Zhuang Yunpeng couldn't wait to turn over the jade seal, wanting to see what words were printed on the jade seal.

玉！
According to the system of the Western Han Dynasty, only the emperor, queen, and queen mother can use jade seals, and the jade seals made by the emperor are called jade seals!
But having said that, in fact, princes and kings can also use jade to make jade seals, and the central government basically doesn't care.

However, on the seal surface, the jade seals of princes and kings can only be called "XX's seal" and "XX king's seal", and they must not be called "Xi".

If you dare to engrave the "Xi", you will lose your life!

Opening the seal, Zhuang Yunpeng frowned and carefully identified it, then murmured uncertainly: "Da Liu. What seal?"

Of the four characters printed on the face, he only recognized three of them, Da, Liu and Yin.

The character "big" is easy to recognize. In Xiaozhuan, it looks like a "giant".

And "Liu" is a small seal script that is basically to be learned.

Anyone who studies archaeology in Qin and Han Dynasties must learn how the character "Liu" is written in Xiaozhuan, so Zhuang Yunpeng is also hard to come by.

Needless to say, the last word "print" is a character that all seals have, so you have to know it.

There was only the third word, which he could not recognize.

It's okay if you don't recognize it, there is off-site help!

Holding the seal, Zhuang Yunpeng raised his head and shouted, "Teacher! Brother Chen!"

"I found a jade seal with four characters printed on it, and I only recognized the big Liu seal!"

"Come and take a look, is this a congratulatory word, or a big Liu Heyin?"

As soon as Zhuang Yunpeng said this, the small inner and outer chambers immediately became restless.

Chen Han, Kong Jianwen and Professor Li rushed towards Zhuang Yunpeng.

The young and fast-moving Chen Han ran up to Zhuang Yunpeng first, grabbed the jade seal from his hand, lifted the seal and looked at it.

"Big Liu. Seal!"

"This is not a greeting!"

Chen Han's face changed from surprise to disappointment, which was a big change in attitude.

I thought it was a seal that could directly prove the identity of the owner of the tomb.

It turned out to be just a "Big Liu Seal". Apart from proving that the owner of the tomb was indeed surnamed Liu and was a descendant of the Liu family, it did not prove that the owner of the tomb was Liu He, Marquis of Haihun!

pity!

(End of this chapter)