Emotion is emotion, but the business cannot be delayed.

After a brief period of thought, Chen Han quickly continued to devote himself to the intense excavation work.

The newly excavated tomb M-168 is so rich in funerary goods!

Although it is definitely incomparable with the royal tombs, compared with the ordinary tombs of the Western Han Dynasty, it is definitely a "thick burial".

Chen Han is responsible for cleaning the side box, and it is estimated that it will take at least half a month to clean the upper layer of lacquerware.

The first to be cleaned out were one lacquered fungus cup after another.

These two utensils were placed on the top of the side crates, and they were very numerous, a hundred cups and twenty-six plates.

"This is probably the utensils used by the owner of the tomb to entertain guests, right?"

Chen Han casually picked up a cup that had been cleaned and looked at it carefully.

The ear cup, also known as the "feather bud", is actually a kind of wine glass.

The shape of the ear cup is oval, shallow belly, flat bottom, and there are half-moon shaped ears on both sides, which is quite different from the modern cup style.

The most obvious difference is that modern cups are very deep, while ear cups are very shallow, more like a basin.

This is because in ancient times, especially from the Warring States period to the Qin and Han dynasties, the wine cup with high feet and deep cups was called "Jue".

Jue can be said to be the earliest wine vessel, but this thing was a kind of ritual vessel in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and it was not available to non-princes and the Son of Heaven.

Even in the Western Han Dynasty, the Jue was also a high-standard ritual weapon that could only be used by nobles above the rank of marquis.

Ordinary people and small and medium-sized nobles can only use shallow-bellied ear cups.

This is a part of Chinese culture and etiquette, and it is absolutely insurmountable.

Compared with the "Jue", the ear cup is actually a little more convenient to use.

Along with the ear cups, there are also some lacquered spoons.

When the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty drank, they first let the maids use these lacquer spoons to drink the wine into the ear cup, and then hold the ear cup with both hands and drink it in one gulp.

It's also very refreshing and comfortable.

Just when Chen Han was taking protective measures for these cleaned up ear cups.

Next to him, Su Sa, who continued to extract lacquerware from the coffin, suddenly exclaimed:

"Senior Brother Chen, look!"

"These two ear cups are obviously more beautiful than the others!"

Chen Han heard the sound and looked over.

I saw that Su Sa was using the buoyancy of the water and the power of the tray to carefully hold up the two lacquered fungus cups stacked together.

As she lifted it, two ear cups, which were very bright and beautiful, slowly emerged from the stagnant water in the coffin.

"Hey, indeed!" Chen Han took two steps and one step, and stepped forward in a hurry, looking at the tray in Su Sa's hand with stunned eyes.

These two ear cups are really special!

Although they are basically the same shape as other ear cups, they are also the same size.

However, most of the other ear cups are simply painted with black on the outside and red on the inside.

The two ear cups in Su Sa's hands were painted with red lacquer on the inside and outside of the ears and the rim of the mouth.

And the inner bottom is also painted with red paint on three smart fat fish, and there is a four-leaf pattern embellishment in the middle.

And the shape of the fish and the pattern of the scales are also made with gold and yellow lacquer.

The color of the whole ear cup is harmonious, the image is realistic and lifelike.

The difference from other ear cups is as obvious as the difference between a pure white porcelain and a porcelain painted with many colors.

People can't take their eyes off it at a glance.

However, when these two ear cups were fished out of the water and came into contact with the air, the vivid colors had begun to fade and fall off.

Fortunately, this is not a big problem, and the level of lacquerware restoration in China is now very high.

A little color oxidation can be easily solved by cultural relics restoration experts.

Of course, in order to prevent further shrinkage, deformation and cracking of the water lacquerware, Chen Han and Su Sa couldn't care about continuing to appreciate it.

The lacquerware itself is actually very difficult to damage.

When lacquerware is made, the carcass is very strong and durable after repeated coating, and can theoretically guarantee that it will not be damaged for tens of thousands of years.

However, you can't say it too absolutely.

As the saying goes, dry for a thousand years, wet for 10,000 years, and half a year if you don't dry or wet.

This refers to lacquerware.

The reason why most of the lacquerware from tomb M-168 is well preserved is that the lacquerware has been soaked in water for a long time, which has absorbed enough water.

But it's different when you get out of the water.

The difference in temperature and humidity will cause these water-soaked lacquerware to start to dehydrate and dry.

If you leave it alone, it won't take half a year, and it may have to crack and deform in a few days.

As a professional archaeologist, Chen Han will definitely not let it go.

As for how to properly preserve all kinds of excavated objects, Chen Han has long learned clearly in school, and he has practiced it during his internship in college, and he is still very experienced.

The excavation site has also prepared a large number of items needed for cultural relics protection.

In fact, the method is very simple.

Chen Han walked to the side of the tomb, took out some wet cloth and wet styrofoam from an oversized foam box, wrapped the two special three-fish ear cups, and then put them into a plastic bag with a little pure water, and it was done.

As long as you can continue to keep these excavated lacquerware in a relatively humid environment and do not allow them to dry, they will not deteriorate quickly.

Of course, if the situation at the excavation site is relatively sudden and you do not prepare a damp cloth in advance, you can also just find a bucket and fill it with water before submerging the lacquerware in water, which is also a way to preserve it.

In the sixties and seventies of the last century, this was done, and the effect was quite good.

As for the future, it is natural to send these lacquerware to the cultural relics restoration institutions in Jingzhou City, so that the group of cultural relics conservators who sit in the office every day will be professionally dehydrated and dried.

Once the dehydration is dry, they move on to the next step of restoration.

Anyway, these things have nothing to do with Chen Han's field archaeological work.

The people of the archaeological team of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences only dig up, don't repair it!

After pasting a handwritten piece of [Lacquerware-Ear Cup-No. 101] on the plastic bag, Chen Han put the pair of three-fish ear cups into the foam box, and there were no more protective measures.

Unearthed artifacts are a very special thing.

They are indeed fragile and fragile when they are unearthed, and they need to be treated with care, and if they are not careful, they may be wiped out.

But you have to say that they are fragile, they have been buried in the ground for hundreds of thousands of years, and they can still be preserved after being buried in the wind, rain, water, and earth!

So, sometimes, the conservation of cultural relics is so unpretentious, and simple and crude.

There is no high-tech equipment as imagined by the outside world, and there is no need for high-end oxygen-free sterile containers.

All they need to do is create an environment similar to when they were buried in the ground.

They are already a full-fledged artifact, and some things will overcome on their own~