Master Archaeologist

Chapter 271 Where Does Gold Come From?

Haihunhou's main coffin, that is, the inner and outer coffins plus the inner and outer coffins, how much does it weigh?

According to the estimates of the archaeological team, it may weigh at least four or five tons.

So, how did such a heavy coffin be transported into this large tomb buried more than ten meters deep in the BC era without cranes?
The answer is simple.

What kind of technology did the ancient Egyptians use to build pyramids with huge stones weighing several tons by manpower?
Logs are piled under the boulders to act as "rollers".

And the coffin of Marquis Haihun was also transported by "wooden wheels".

Chen Han squatted next to the coffin bed, holding two bamboo sticks, and was carefully looking at a semicircular component protruding from the corner of the coffin bed in front of him.

"At the four corners of the coffin, there are these wheels."

"The wheel body of this wheel is still very well preserved, very clear!"

Kong Jianwen, who was standing next to Chen Han, pointed to the semicircular thing and said.

This semicircular component is actually half of the wheel exposed outside, and the other half of the wheel is inside the coffin bed.

According to the size of the half wheel, it can be judged.

This wheel should be cut from wood that is more than 30 years old.

The diameter of a wheel should be forty or fifty centimeters.

Kong Jianwen said affirmatively: "These four wheels, as part of the coffin bed, carry the inner and outer coffins on the coffin bed, and push the entire outer coffin and inner coffin together from the tomb passage to the main tomb chamber."

On the top of the museum board, there was actually a layer of outer coffin boards, each of which is more than seven meters long and more than 1.5 meters wide, all of which are made of giant trees over a hundred years old.

The inner and outer coffins plus the inner and outer coffin boards, a coffin bed of such weight, even with the assistance of wheels, it is not easy to transport it in from the tomb passage.

If the owner of this tomb is indeed Liu He.

Before his death, Liu He was a loser in a political struggle, and his life was undoubtedly very bleak.

But after death, he was still very beautiful.

At least it was a glorious funeral.

"Okay, be careful, your hands are down!"

"Be careful, get ready, one, two, three! Let's go!"

"Okay, get up!"

"Too heavy, be careful, be careful."

"Don't worry, put it in the middle, it's heavy, be careful, it's so heavy!"

In the main coffin room, although the shouts were very noisy, the movements of all the archaeologists were very calm.

Chen Han dragged a tray, and watched Kong Jianwen and other three or four leaders put a stack of gold plates that had just been extracted from the coffin into the tray in his hand.

As soon as it entered the plate, a heavy weight fell on Chen Han's arms, and his hands sank uncontrollably.

Fortunately, Zhuang Yunpeng had quick eyesight and quick hands, so he reached out to help support the tray together.

"Good guy, these gold plates are quite a lot!"

In fact, the area of ​​the gold plates placed in the tray is not large, that is, more than a dozen thin gold plates with a length of less than [-] centimeters and a width of less than [-] centimeters are stacked together.

But gold is dense, so these gold plates are very heavy.

It is estimated that there must be a ten or twenty kilograms!

These gold plates were discovered on the first day of opening the coffin.

But because there were some other cultural relics stacked on top of it, it was not officially extracted until the seventh day after the opening of the coffin, that is, today.

And these gold plates are also the last batch of pure gold objects in the coffin.

Before that, horseshoe gold, Linzhi gold, and gold cakes had all been extracted.

Including these gold plates, it is estimated that a total of more than 120 kilograms of pure gold objects were extracted.

For this amount, Chen Han has long been numb.

In fact, what he cares more about is why Haihunhou has so much gold?

Theoretically speaking, even a lord, or even a vassal king, would not be able to save so much gold, right?

Don't think that 120 kilograms seems to be a small amount, but in the era when it was very difficult to collect gold in BC, more than 100 kilograms of gold may be the gold output of the entire Western Han Dynasty for a year.

In modern times, what kind of person can keep all the gold that China produces in a year in their hands?
As for why Haihunhou has so much gold, the archaeological team has actually held meetings and discussed many times, almost giving out a few guesses.

First of all, horseshoe gold and linzhi gold are easy to explain.

This thing was rewarded by the emperor.

It has been recorded in history books, and there is nothing to doubt.

But where these gold cakes, and the gold plate found for the first time in a Han tomb, came from, I am very puzzled.

After many discussions, the archaeological team temporarily reached a consensus.

These golds may be related to the gold system of the Western Han Dynasty.

The gold system is a system that restricts the expansion of local princes and princes and centralizes power.

To put it simply, every prince, king and lieutenant must pay a certain amount of gold to the central government every year as a sacrifice.

The princes, kings and lieutenants must offer gold sacrifices according to the population of the feudal country, and the salary will be four taels for every thousand people, and four taels for those with a surplus of more than five hundred people, which will be checked and accepted by the Shaofu.

The Central Committee of the Western Han Dynasty had strict regulations on the quantity and purity of the tribute gold.

Once the quantity is not enough, or the purity is not up to the standard, it is common to reduce the fief, or even directly take back the fief.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, once used the pretext of inspecting the lack of gold offerings to weaken and attack the power of princes, kings and princes.

In the fifth year of Yuanding, because none of the princes responded to the call to join the army and go to South Vietnam, in September, [-] princes were deprived of their titles by virtue of the illegality of gold and gold.

Prime Minister Zhao Zhou was also imprisoned for the crime of knowing but not committing crimes, and was forced to commit suicide.

In fact, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was not really dissatisfied with the lack of dedication of Liehou Jinjin.

He just used this reason to attack a group of lieutenants who ate and waited to die every day, and were unwilling to contribute to the country's southern expedition to South Vietnam.

After one hundred and six princes were dismissed in one breath, the remaining princes immediately took an active part in the South Vietnam Expedition.

Since then, it has become a favorite thing for many emperors in the Western Han Dynasty to use the gold system to seize the opportunity to suppress a group of rebels, or to eat and wait for death.

And for good reason.

Gold is something dedicated to the ancestors. For the Han family who ruled the country with filial piety and inherited part of the patriarchal system of Zong Zhou.

Disrespect to ancestors is the most serious crime.

Not to mention reducing the fiefdom, even imposing death directly is a very correct approach in terms of jurisprudence and public opinion.

And these gold cakes in Liu He's tomb, as well as gold plates that have never been found in Han tombs before.

It is very likely that it is used to pay the gold.

It's just that for some unknown reason, the gold was not delivered to the Central Committee of the Western Han Dynasty, but remained in Liu He's hands.

So much so that after his death, he brought all the gold into the tomb.

Besides, the only possibility left was that Liu He had discovered a gold mine somewhere, and after years of mining, he had saved so much gold.

But no matter what the reason was, the gold was not spent by Liu He in the end, but was brought into the grave instead.

From an economic point of view, money that is not spent is undoubtedly a piece of waste paper.

And the gold brought into the ground is also equivalent to some discarded stones.

For Haihunhou's family, this is undoubtedly a very tragic thing.

I saved so much money, but in the end it was all taken underground, and I didn't spend a dime.

But for archaeologists, this is a "surprise"!
(End of this chapter)