Chapter 195: Bronze Mirror

The place where this strange thing was found is located in the very center of the entire excavation site, at this time basically all the bones have been excavated, it can be said that this thing is located under all the corpses, we leaned over and looked at the thing, it was not buried with these dead people at random, and it cannot be said that it was a burial object brought into the cemetery by a person who was buried alive, there was a square pedestal about half a meter long on the ground, and I don't know what it was inlaid on it. Now that thing has been taken out by the excavators, it is not because it was taken down by force, but because it has been a long time, the thing has loosened and fallen off on its own.

"It seems that this thing is the key to this mass grave, it doesn't seem like a mass killing, maybe these people were tricked into jumping down, maybe the reason is a sacrifice or a ritual, but they don't know that they are already dying." I analyzed.

"Yin Yin, how do you know so clearly?" Professor Nan asked curiously.

"I've always wanted to know why those unjust spirits gathered here and turned into ghosts. They told me that they were all from the Princess's Mansion, but one morning they were all killed and buried here, so they must have known something, or maybe they were going to know something, so it was a murder, a collective murder, in order to kill the mouth. I said.

"It seems to make a lot of sense to say that, but we don't know exactly what happened at the time." Professor Nan agreed.

"Professor. Stuff is coming up. The staff carefully carried a large cardboard box, the kind of special box for cultural relics. We opened the box and began to take a closer look. It was a bronze artifact, round in shape, with a concave and convex surface, which, although it had been buried for many years, was still lustrous and almost half a meter in diameter.

"It's a bronze mirror!" Professor Nan and I said in unison.

Bronze mirrors are generally cast in bronze with a high tin content. In ancient times, the earliest Shang Dynasty was used to sacrifice ritual vessels, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qin Dynasty, it was generally enjoyed by kings and nobles, and at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the bronze mirror slowly went to the people. It is an indispensable household utensil.

"Is a bronze mirror just a mirror made of copper?" Dazhe began to be white again.

"Bronze Mirror!" Yun Ximing did not miss any opportunity to crush the great philosopher in terms of knowledge. "Bronze mirrors are mirrors made of copper in ancient times. Bronze mirror, also known as bronze mirror. In ancient times, people used water to shine on their faces, after the invention of bronze. Take a picture of the water in a copper basin. In pre-Qin works such as "Shangshu", "Chinese", and "Zhuangzi". The ancients were mentioned "in view of water". "Sayings. The "Golden Ministry" interprets "Jian" as "basin". Therefore, it can be said that the basin (jian) that holds water is the earliest mirror. With the advent of alloy technology, the history of making copper mirrors using copper and tin or silver-lead, among others, began. Copper mirrors are generally made round or square. The back is decorated with an inscription and a button to wear it, and the front is polished with lead and tin to shine brightly, so that the face can be clearly illuminated. A small bronze mirror with a history of more than 4,000 years unearthed in the tomb of Qijia culture is relatively primitive in shape and decoration, and it should be the earliest bronze mirror known in the archaeological data at present. The bronze mirrors of the Shang, Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods were found sporadically, and the Warring States period began to prevail, and the output increased greatly. In the Han Dynasty, due to the large demand of daily life and the rapid economic prosperity after the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the production of copper mirrors made a qualitative leap. The copper mirror made is well-made, the texture is heavy, and the inscriptions and patterns on the back of the mirror are rich and diverse. After two development peaks in the Tang and Song dynasties, to the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the birth of modern glass, the bronze mirror gradually faded out of the historical stage. ”

"Brother Gongzi, you are exactly what Baidu Encyclopedia said, be careful that people say that you are pirated!" Dazhe said unwillingly.

"It's because I'm knowledgeable." Yun Ximing said proudly.

"The bronze mirror has many uses in our field of yin-yang arts." I said, "Mirrors are relatively ancient in the Qin Dynasty, and the Qin mirrors that have been handed down to today are all unearthed things, and the mirrors are more ancient to Qin, but the Qin mirrors that have been handed down to this day are all unearthed things, and they are not available." Because in ancient times, the dead would use a mirror to give to the undertaker, that is, to use the mirror to be buried, taking the meaning of the netherworld, and the times have become a trend. Therefore, most of the famous mirrors in ancient times are buried in the earth. However, the ancient mirror is of good copper quality, and it will not lose its beautiful texture after being in the soil for many years. The names of famous mirrors in ancient times include the Sun and Moon Mirror, the Twelfth Birthday Mirror, the Shangfang Imperial Mirror, the Evil Mirror, the Immortal Mirror, the Divine Mirror, the Yiguan Mirror, etc., which are innumerable. Presumably, they are all written with inscriptions or names given to them by the author. In the Tang Dynasty, there were translucent mirrors, and the characters on the back of the mirror could be clearly reflected on the wall when facing the sun or light. I said, "In other words, this may be a way to suppress the soul or ward off evil spirits." ”

"I also remembered that in the process of trading ancient cultural relics, there are many famous ones, such as the sea beast grape bronze mirror with a very high transaction price, the bronze mirror of the four-breasted divine beast, the bronze mirror of the running beast over the full moon of the Ming Dynasty, and the bronze mirror of the magpie monkey of the Warring States period, which are mostly related to sacrifices. Since ancient times, it has been said that the soul is summoned by the mirror. Yun Ximing said.

"So, this bronze mirror also appeared here because of what kind of ritual is going to be done?" Uncle Lu asked.

"That's right, it's a collective murder, it's a murder, it's a sacrificial ritual. Or, it just so happens that such a sacrifice requires some people to make a living sacrifice, and it just so happens that these people should die, so it has evolved like this. I said.

"But there's something strange about this bronze mirror." Yun Ximing looked at the huge bronze mirror, "This bronze mirror does not have any patterns, nor does it have any surrounding decorations, and there is no inscription on it, so I can't find out the specific purpose of this bronze mirror." ”

"Maybe this bronze mirror is just a medium." I analyzed, "Anyway, this bronze mirror will stay here first, let's go and see the unearthed bones first." ”

Uncle Lu took the bronze mirror back and put it in the tent we set up during the research and excavation, and we began to study the piles of bones, but the progress was not great, although there were many bones, there was not much value that could be seen. The bones were male and female, old and young, ranging in age from sixteen to sixty. I looked at the bones, but they were just ordinary bones like mass burials, and I already knew that they were the descendants of the princess's mansion, and the preserved pieces of clothing were of little value.

When I got back to the tent, it was late afternoon, and I was supposed to go straight back to the guest house to rest, but I still wanted to take another look at the bronze mirror to see if I could find any clues, after all, it was now the most valuable thing we had ever found.

The bronze mirror is placed on the table, occupying half of the table, it looks unpretentious, although the gloss is still the same, but there is nothing special, if you say it is a copper mirror, if you say it is a copper plate, you can not tell the difference. I walked in front of the bronze mirror, and the bronze mirror began to reflect my figure, and I was used to seeing the current mercury mirror, and I was a little uncomfortable to see my blurred self. I wondered, could it be like in those horror movies, when the protagonist looks in the mirror, in addition to the shadow of the protagonist, there will be another shadow in the mirror? Or the person who looks in the mirror realizes that what appears in the mirror is not his own shadow at all, but another person. But nothing happened, I stood in front of the mirror in a daze, looking at my blurred self in the mirror, with mixed feelings. What's the problem? What secrets are hidden in this mirror?

I was still in a daze, and Dazhe suddenly opened the curtain and came to me.

"Yin Yin, why are you in a daze here, in the evening, the boy of the Yun family said that he was too tired in the past few days, and he finally rested, so he had to make up for it quickly, we made an appointment to go to Sanlitun together, how about it? Do you want to be together? Dazhe said.

"I'd better not go yet, I want to study this mirror again." I say.

"Oh, don't, I'm just tentatively saying, you really don't go, go, you don't go, how embarrassed are we to go, besides, everyone is waiting for you." Dazhe said.

"Okay then." I said and turned around and followed Dazhe out of the tent, opened the curtain of the tent, the sunset just shone in, I seemed to see the bronze mirror flashed, I quickly turned around to check, but nothing abnormal, the bronze mirror was lying on the table. Maybe it's because I'm dazzled, I thought so, and walked out with Dazhe.

Beijing at night, Sanlitun at night, bars at night, rock music, and writhing crowds. It's a place for young people to party. I originally thought that only Yun Xian, Xi Ming, Da Zhe and Min Lan would enjoy this kind of place, but I didn't expect Yun Ning to be very happy. Uncle Lu turned out to be a master of break dancing, and at his instigation, Sister Wang Na also walked onto the dance floor. I've never brought Arrow to this kind of place, she feels new to everything, and she has long since disappeared. This night, I was the only one who stayed sullenly in the booth of the box, Yun Ximing called me a few times, I didn't get out of the box, all I thought about was the bronze mirror.

I don't know what the scientific name of this glass is, but it reflects the light coming in from the outside and softens the light throughout the room.

I looked at the door of the private room and suddenly felt as if something had come to mind, something was struggling in my mind to get out, what was it? People are often like this, when you want to say something, the more you think about it, the more you can't remember it. You want to introduce someone to a movie or a piece of music, and the more anxious you are, the more you can't remember the name. I am, I feel like I'm inspired, but I just can't remember it.

Yun Ximing walked in and looked at me, "Are you still thinking about that broken mirror?" What are you doing to this door? Turning the door into a mirror? ”

Door! Mirror! That's right, this is it. Ignoring Yun Ximing's surprised eyes, I rushed out of the private room. (To be continued......)