Master Archaeologist

Melon seeds.

This thing can be said to be a legendary object in the field of archaeology, especially in the field of archaeology in the Han Dynasty.

People in the Han Dynasty, especially those in the Western Han Dynasty, seem to like eating fragrant melon seeds very much.

Before the tomb of Marquis Haihun, fragrant melon seeds left in the body of the owner of the tomb were found in many Western Han tombs across the country.

There is even a speculation that Mrs. Xin Zhui's death was related to muskmelon.

Some medical scientists speculated that Mrs. Xin Zhui might have eaten too much cantaloupe because she was eating too quickly. As a result, the cantaloupe was cold, which caused Mrs. Xin Zhui’s acute abdominal cramps, and then indirectly caused coronary pneumonia. Heart disease, this is the sudden death.

Even because the death was so urgent, the melon seeds that I ate had not had time to digest.

The discovery of fragrant melon seeds in Haihunhou's stomach undoubtedly made Chen Han and Kong Jianwen have some guesses about the cause of Haihunhou's death.

Since the fragrant melon seeds he had eaten hadn't been digested, it was obvious that Haihunhou suddenly became ill after eating the fragrant melon seeds, and then died quickly.

Only in this way, his stomach will stop working, and the melon seeds will not be digested, so that they can be preserved for more than 2000 years.

Otherwise, if he had been bedridden and died for a long time, there would only be a stomach full of medicine or porridge in his stomach.

Although, as long as you die, there will be more or less undigested residues in your stomach.

But if it is a long-term illness, there may be porridge in the stomach, and there may be normal meals, but it is absolutely impossible to have fragrant melon seeds
Which patient, when lying on the bed, unable to speak well and out of breath, can still have the appetite and appetite to eat cantaloupe?
It must be when the energy is high and the body is fine, so that you can eat cantaloupe heartily!
The bones are all rotten, but the melon seeds are still there.

As for whether these melon seeds are fragrant melon seeds, Chen Han is just guessing.

Although Kong Jianwen also thought it was fragrant melon seeds after seeing it, after all, there are past unearthed examples for reference.

But science is rigorous.

In order to determine the variety of this kind of melon seeds, Kong Jianwen not only extracted a few seeds and sent them to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for testing, but also bought several varieties of fragrant melon seeds in the county next to the archaeological base.

Going to compare them one by one.

Cantaloupe, or melon, is a very general classification.

In modern China, there are many varieties of cantaloupe.

There are various varieties of Lanzhou Bailan melon, Jiangxi pear melon, encrypted cantaloupe and so on.

Although the origin of the melon plant is the melon species, the center of origin is in the Ethiopian highlands of Africa and its adjoining regions.

However, Huaxia muskmelon is rich in germplasm resources and has a long history of cultivation and domestication. According to research, it is at least 3000 years old, and it is also the secondary origin of muskmelon.

Archaeological excavations in recent decades have proved that as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties more than 2000 years ago, traces of thin-skinned melons have been found in Shaopingdian, a suburb of Chang'an, the imperial capital, and Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan.

According to "Tai Ping Guang Ji", the Yin nobleman of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty (58 AD) dreamed of eating melons. From time to time, Dunhuang offered a variety of melons called "dome".

This is similar to the pronunciation "Kehong" of Turkic modern melon, which shows that the thick-skinned melon in the XJ-Gansu area was already quite influential at that time.

Therefore, although watermelon was introduced to China for a very short time, only 200 years.

But in fact, Chinese people have a tradition of eating melons since ancient times.

Especially in the Han Dynasty, cantaloupe was a top-quality fruit that only high-ranking nobles could enjoy.

After all, at that time, it was not easy to cultivate melons, not to mention occupying farmland, and at that time "sugar" was a very high-end condiment, which ordinary people could not eat.

Even nobles can only rely on bees to get some sweets to eat.

This cantaloupe with its own sweetness is naturally the best source of sugar.

Of course, the cantaloupe in the Western Han Dynasty was definitely not as sweet as modern cantaloupe, and it tasted slightly sweeter, more refreshing.

It is impossible to eat melon seeds with very high sugar content like modern cantaloupe in the Western Han Dynasty.

After selling a bunch of cantaloupe, Kong Jianwen cut up each variety of cantaloupe, took some seeds, and compared them carefully with the melon seeds extracted from Liu He's body.

Sure enough, one of the cantaloupe varieties called "Golden Melon" had almost exactly the same seed shape as the melon seeds in the tomb.

Except that one is yellow and the other has turned black over time, there is no difference.

If nothing else, what Liu He used to eat was the close relatives or ancestors of this "golden melon".

The golden melon happens to be the kind of thin-skinned melon grown in the Huanghuai and Yangtze River basins!

Jiangxi is within the scope of the Huanghuai and Yangtze River basins!
Obviously, what Liu He ate should be the local cantaloupe variety in the Western Han Dynasty!

When he was dying, Liu He should have eaten the muskmelon that the locals paid tribute to.

In Nanchang, cantaloupes are generally on the market in July.

In ancient times, there was no greenhouse technology, and there would be no off-season crops.

So if nothing else happens, if these are really fragrant melon seeds, then the time of Liu He's death can also be determined to be between July and August.

Generally speaking, cantaloupe can only be stored for one month from maturity to rot, and the taste will not be good after a long time.

The exact time of Liu He's death was unexpected, because the cantaloupe found in the stomach had been confirmed.

This is where the charm of archeology lies.

Members of the archaeological team, no one could have imagined that the exact time of Liu He's death could be known because of a few sweet melon seeds in Liu He's stomach.

This feeling is simply amazing!
Because of the discovery of the melon seeds in the abdomen, the excavation of the abdomen has to be suspended for the time being.

The excavation plan was adjusted again.

But Chen Han didn't mind at all.

The excavation plan will only be adjusted if an accident occurs during the excavation process.

If you have been going step by step, it means that there is nothing unexpected about the situation in the inner coffin, which is not a good thing.

After the excavation and adjustment, Kong Jianwen led everyone and decided to first extract all the jade bis that were stacked on Liu He's chest.

These jade biscuits are actually the first funerary objects seen in the coffin after the coffin was opened.

But because they were all broken, there was no rush to extract them.

Now, it's finally their turn.

Four vertical and three horizontal, a total of seven jade discs were placed on Liu He's chest.

X-ray perspective shows that there are still many pieces of jade, which are stacked underneath and cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Jade bi, generally speaking, has two functions.

One is to preserve the immortality of the corpse, which is the core argument of jade burial in the Han Dynasty. The Han people believed that jade could preserve the corpse.

Two, it is to attract the soul so that it will not go away.

He has a concept of resurrection from the dead.

People in the Han Dynasty believed that jade is gentle and elegant, and it can preserve the soul of a person, that is to say, the soul of a person can borrow jade to stay in the world.

This large tomb of Liu He is actually no different from the house in Yangjian, it is meant to be used for Liu He to continue to live after his death.

And whether Liu He can continue to live underground after death depends on these jades!