The bronze pot found in the Han tomb in Luoyang contains "mysterious" liquid. What is this?
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20 19 10. Although autumn came early, the weather was still sultry. In Luoyang cotton mill, because of the working characteristics, it is even sultry. However, on this day, the outside of the factory was very lively, because the cotton mill had to carry out construction and expansion, build a factory building, and various construction vehicles kept shuttling. After cleaning up the debris on the ground, a forklift came and began to dig. When the machine rumbled, suddenly, the master who was driving the excavator was stopped. The master climbed down from the machine in surprise and planned to ask the commander a question. But when he looked in the direction of the commander's amazing eyes, he found that a bronze device had appeared underground. Apparently, they dug up the antiquities, and the person in charge immediately contacted the Archaeological Institute. Subsequently, a large hollow brick tomb of the Western Han Dynasty was excavated, in which a large number of jade treasures, jade clothes and jade pendants were unearthed to study the jade burial culture in the Western Han Dynasty.
In addition to a large number of jade unearthed, there are many bronzes in the tomb. One of them, a beautifully made bronze lamp, can be regarded as the representative of the highest artistic achievement in it. However, the experts were attracted by a seemingly ordinary bronze pot. From the appearance alone, there is nothing special about this bronze pot. It has a cylindrical structure with a thin mouth and a thick body. Copper rings are hung on both sides of the pot body, and there are covers on it, but there are no.
As long as the expert shakes the pot body, the liquid inside will "crash". Experts all agree that bronze pots should be filled with wine. Bronzes in the Han dynasty are very common, but ancient wines in the Han dynasty are not common. The expert returned to the laboratory, carefully opened the kettle and poured about 3.5 liters of liquid into a transparent flask. You know, it was liquid thousands of years ago, and it was already yellow-brown.
The composition of this pot of liquid can only be roughly estimated. Some experts said, "I think it's good wine." The expert's guess is by no means groundless. As early as 1977, when the tomb of King Zhongshan was excavated, ancient wine was found in two bronze pots unearthed inside. One of them is dark green, and the other is emerald, which is very beautiful. "Du Wei Fu" has a cloud: "Drinking Zhongshan, indulging for a thousand days." It can be seen that Zhongshan wine is notoriously good. In addition, there are many records about wine in tombs, so it is not surprising that wine is buried in coffins. So, the expert intends to have a taste. He dipped his finger in the liquid and put it on his nose to smell. He found a pungent smell, not alcohol, but like a chemical.
Experts dare not make a move at the moment. He immediately sent the copper pot and several other cultural relics to the cultural relics laboratory with other colleagues, intending to conduct a detailed study. The laboratory staff poured the liquid into the beaker and found that the liquid was turbid, with a faint pungent smell and an earthy smell. Basically, no one dares to taste it again, because it is probably highly toxic, because the tools in the unit are not complete. They immediately went to the relevant units and transferred a large number of experimental devices, protective clothing and professional chemists. You know, a little negligence in scientific experiments can be fatal and careless.
When all kinds of equipment and personnel were ready, the institute began a detailed test. After a lot of experiments, research and textual research, they finally came to the conclusion that this is not wine at all, but the legendary "fairy water", which is the raw material for the ancients to aspire to immortality and practice alchemy. The composition is generally composed of impurities such as potassium nitrate, alum and soil. The ancient book "Thirty-six Water Laws" records that alum and nitrate are mixed. In our opinion, these are really ridiculous. We should know that most of the ancient Dan medicines contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead and copper, which are harmful or even fatal to human body.
It is said that more people died by Dan medicine than by the sword. People see swords and guns and know to avoid them, but they forget the danger in the face of the temptation of immortality. Eating the "Dan medicine" of the tiger and the wolf is sweeter than eating honey, and finally it is poisoned. No one can really dislike it.
Ironically, these "fanatics", even if poisoned, will take this raw material to the coffin, as if to say that even if I go to another world, I will make an alchemist. It can be seen that it is very important to popularize scientific knowledge. After all, people only have one life, and ignorance comes at a price.