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.

The people of the Han Dynasty, especially the Western Han people, seem to be very fond of eating melon seeds.

Before the tomb of the Marquis of Haiding, the melon seeds left in the body of the tomb owner were found in many Western Han tombs all over the country.

Even, there is a speculation that Mrs. Xin Chai's death is related to melon.

Some medical scientists speculated that Mrs. Xin Chai may have eaten too much at once because she was eating melon because she was too anxious, and as a result, the melon was cold, which caused Mrs. Xin Chai's acute abdominal colic, and then indirectly caused coronary heart disease, which led to her sudden death.

Even because the death was too urgent, the melon seeds that I ate in my stomach didn't have time to digest.

The discovery of melon seeds in the stomach of the Marquis of Haiyang undoubtedly made Chen Han and Kong Jianwen have some guesses about the cause of the death of the Marquis of Haiding.

Since the melon seeds that he ate had not been digested, it was obvious that the Marquis of Haidun had a sudden acute illness after eating the melon seeds, and then died quickly.

Only then will his stomach stop working, and the melon seeds will not be digested and will be preserved for more than two thousand years.

Otherwise, if he dies in bed for a long time, it is estimated that there will only be a belly of medicine or porridge in his stomach.

Although it is said that as long as he dies, there will be more or less undigested residues left in the stomach.

But if you die of a long-term illness, there may be porridge in the stomach, there may be normal meals, but it is absolutely impossible to have melon seeds...

What kind of patient, when lying in bed, can't speak well, and is out of breath, can still have the appetite and appetite to eat melon?

You must be in good spirits and no major physical problems to eat melon!

The bones are rotten, but the melon seeds are still there.

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

Although Kong Jianwen also thought that it was melon seeds after reading it, after all, there were past unearthed examples to refer to.

But science is rigorous.

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

I'm going to compare them one by one.

Muskmelon, also known as melon, is a very general classification.

In modern China, there are many varieties of melons.

What Lanzhou white melon, Jiangxi pear melon, encrypted melon and other varieties, everything.

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, the germplasm resources of Chinese melon are abundant, and the cultivation and domestication history are long, according to research, at least more than 3000 years, and it is also the secondary origin of melon.

Archaeological excavations in recent decades have proved that as early as the Qin and Han dynasties more than 2,000 years ago, traces of thin-skinned melons were found in Shaopingdian, a suburb of the imperial capital Chang'an, and Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan.

According to the "Taiping Guangji", the Yin nobles of the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (58 AD) dreamed of eating melons, and sometimes there were Dunhuang different melon seeds called "vaults".

This is similar to the pronunciation of modern melons in Turkic language "Kehong", indicating that the thick-skinned melons in the XJ-Gansu area were already quite influential at that time.

Therefore, although the introduction of watermelons to China is very short, only one or two hundred years.

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

Especially in the Han and Han dynasties, melon was the best fruit that only high-ranking nobles could enjoy.

After all, in that era, it was not easy to cultivate melons, not to mention the occupation of farmland, and at that time, "sugar" was a very high-grade condiment, which ordinary people could not eat.

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

This sweet melon is naturally the best source of sugar.

Of course, the melons in the Western Han Dynasty are definitely not as sweet as the modern melons, and they taste a little sweet, more refreshing.

A melon seed with a very high sugar content like a modern melon is impossible to eat in the Western Han Dynasty.

After selling a bunch of melons, Kong Jianwen cut up each variety of melons, took some seeds, and talked to Liu He (this chapter is not finished!). )

Chapter 283: It's really a melon

The melon seeds extracted from the body are carefully compared.

Sure enough, one of the melon varieties called "golden melon" has the shape of its seeds almost exactly the same 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 once ate was a close relative or ancestor of this "golden melon".

And the golden melon happens to be a thin-skinned melon seed planted in the Huanghuai and Yangtze River basins!

Jiangxi is within the range of the Huanghuai and Yangtze River basins!

Obviously, what Liu He ate should be the local melon varieties of the Western Han Dynasty!

When he was dying, Liu He should have eaten a local tribute melon.

In the Nanchang area, melons are generally marketed in July.

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

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

Generally speaking, melons can only be stored for a month from ripeness to rottenness, and the taste is not good for a long time.

The exact time of Liu He's death was unexpected, because of the melons found in his stomach, there was a certainty.

This is the charm of archaeology.

The members of the archaeological team, no one could have imagined that they would be able to know the exact time of Liu He's death because of a few melon seeds in Liu He's stomach.

It's an amazing feeling!

......

Because of the discovery of the melon seeds in the abdomen, the excavation of the abdomen should be suspended for the time being.

The excavation plan has been adjusted again.

But Chen Han didn't mind at all.

Only if there is an accident during the excavation process, the excavation plan will be adjusted.

If it has been going according to plan, it means that there is nothing unexpected about the situation in the inner coffin, which is not a good thing.

After excavating and overturning the case, Kong Jianwen led everyone and decided to extract all the jade stacked on Liu He's chest first.

These jade bi are actually the earliest burial goods in the coffin seen after the coffin is opened.

But because it was all broken, I didn't rush to extract it.

Now, finally, it's their turn.

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

X-ray fluoroscopy showed that there were many jade pieces, which were stacked underneath and could not be seen by the naked eye.

Generally speaking, jade has two functions.

The first is to preserve the immortality of the bones, which is the central argument of jade burial in the Han Dynasty, and the Han people believe that jade can preserve the body.

The second is to attract the soul so that it does not go away.

He has a concept of coming back from the dead.

The people of the Han Dynasty believed that jade was warm and elegant, and it could preserve the soul of people, that is, the soul of people could borrow jade and stay in the world.

Liu He's tomb is actually no different from the house built in the yang world, which is meant to be for Liu He to continue to live in after his death.

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

Chapter 283: It's really a melon