Deadly organ in the ancient tomb of tomb robbery

I. Xuanhuo Cave

It is said that it can spray huge fireballs or long fire dragons. Most people think this is just a fabrication of novelists

So what is the principle of the fire cave tomb? It is well known that in the process of decay, organic matter will produce a large amount of combustible gas - methane, that is, biogas. When the tomb is particularly well closed, especially when the coffin is tightly sealed, the gas is gathered in the coffin for a long time. When the coffin is suddenly opened, if the biogas encounters an open fire, of course, it will be a little. This is the fire hole often referred to in tomb robbery. Although digging a fire hole is very dangerous, many gravediggers are very willing to encounter a fire hole. The appearance of a fire hole means that the tomb is well preserved.

II. Corpse Poison

I believe that friends who have seen Hong Kong zombie films will be deeply impressed by the corpse poison. People infected with corpse poison will not only have ulcerated skin and lose their feelings, but also become live jumping corpses. It is said that this kind of thing can only be removed with items such as glutinous rice and cinnabar, and ordinary drugs are useless to it. It is also mentioned many times in the novel "Ghost Blows Out the Light" that grave robbers will bring a lot of protective equipment when entering ancient tombs to prevent infection with corpse poison. So does corpse poison really exist? It is said that at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a group of grave robbers in Luoyang, whose surname was Zhu. This person had a nickname called "Zhu Qi's Face". Why did he have this nickname?

It turned out that he encountered a strange thing when he excavated the Yongchang Mausoleum of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin: after he pried open the coffin, he found that Zhao Kuangyin's body was not decomposed. He wanted to take off the jade belt tied on Zhao Kuangyin's body, but the body was too heavy to take it out, so he came up with a way, with a rope tied under the shoulder of the body. He put his head on his body, pulled the body up in front of him, and took advantage of the situation to untie the jade belt. Unexpectedly, the body sprayed a stream of black mucus on his face at this time. From then on, it could not be washed off and turned into a "painted face". This is a special kind of legend about corpse poison in history books. So what's going on? It is said that in order to prevent embalming, the ancients often took highly toxic drugs before death, which was helpful for the preservation of corpses. This highly toxic drug will corrode the entire internal organs in the human body and turn it into liquid and remain in the body. When a grave robber moves the body, the body is squeezed, and ** will spray out of the mouth, which will burn people's skin, forming the so-called "red paint face".

III. Liusand machine crossbow

There has never been a clear record of ancient tomb organs in all archaeological reports in China, so have our archaeologists really never encountered these institutions? In fact, this is not the case. In the program, Professor Wang revealed that according to an archaeologist in Lianyungang, he had encountered a crossbow during the excavation and described the situation at that time. But for some reason, these situations were not included in the archaeological report at that time.

In addition, there is indeed flow sand in the ancient tomb. The tomb of Guozhuang Chu in Shangcai County, Henan Province, uses strange anti-theft techniques. It adopts the method of accumulating sand and stone. When the grave robber digs a hole to the sand layer, the sand will flow into the hole, and the flow of sand will drive the stone to collapse. The sand layer is carefully buried with the smallest of only 3 kilograms and the largest of 165 kilograms. These stones have different shapes and sharp corners, and the location of the stones is also carefully designed. They can be roughly divided into random stone layer, top stone layer, top stone layer, waist block stone layer and undercover stone layer, which can prevent thieves from entering from different parts. After the top floor of the tomb collapsed, a large amount of sand and stone piled up in the coffin, effectively preventing theft.

"suspment" and "virtual tomb" confuse tomb robbers

The author of the monograph, Wang Zijin, a professor at the School of History of Beijing Normal University, is also an expert specializing in the history of the Qin and Han Dynasties. He told the reporter that in fact, the most common way to fight against tomb robbery is to hide tomb sites so that tomb robbers do not know where they are. This is an effective means to fight against tomb robbery.

"But this way of handling is not in line with the psychological routine of the emperors and nobles pursuing illustriousness." Wang Zijin said that there was another form of not only showing off his authority and wealth, but also trying to "let the latter not know where he is". This is the legendary "suspicious tomb" of Cao Cao, most of which are not used as real burial places, but also known as "virtual tombs". The so-called "clothed tomb", which is often seen in historical records, is sometimes actually a kind of "virtual tomb".

"In addition to hidden tombs, tombs generally strive to be strong. For example, stone coffins have been widely used as anti-theft measures. And ancient tombstones may be a more common and effective way. Professor Wang Zijin said.

According to the introduction, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the four corners of the tomb were placed at a depth of about 1 meter, with a large stone weighing about 50 kilograms. This phenomenon continued until the filling near the upper part of the chamber. These stones were obviously deliberately placed when filling the tomb. The chamber is surrounded by piles of compact gravel. There is also a layer of gravel about 1.2 meters thick in the tomb. These gravels should be the remaining stones used around the wood, which are consciously filled in the mouth of the tomb. Archaeologists judge that its role is that the stone is very easy to collapse, making it difficult for grave robbers to enter. Many grave robbers died in the stones.

Theft measures of the First Emperor of the Qin Mausoleum are strict and horrible

It is understood that the First Emperor of Qin also worked hard to prevent tomb robbery. The internal structure of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty is said to have an unprecedented and complex form: "Let the craftsman make a crossbow, and those who come close to it will shoot it. Take mercury as a hundred rivers and seas, and the machine is indoctrinated. Wang Zijin believes that the way to shoot the thief with the machine's arrow should be said to focus on the highest level of mechanical design ideas and mechanical production technology at that time.

In addition, Sima Qian's record of storing a large amount of mercury in the underground palace of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. In addition to historical records, some people did find it through tomb robbery in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Today, this fact has been confirmed by archaeologists and geologists using new geochemical prospecting methods.

Professor Wang Zijin believes that a large amount of mercury stored in the underground palace may also have the motivation to kill the thief with highly toxic mercury vapor. In terms of people's understanding of the chemical properties of mercury at that time, they would not have noticed the phenomenon of mercury poisoning, and it is natural to use this property of mercury for anti-theft design.

Additional

The mysterious Mawangdui Han Tomb is a famous fire-breathing ancient tomb. According to reports, in 1971, the PLA garrison near Changsha was digging fortifications. When a bomb shelter was carried out, when it was inserted with steel braze, an inexplicable gas was ejected from the soil. A soldier was curious and tried to take a match, but he didn't expect it to burn at all. , and there is a blue flame, and the firepower is very strong. Later, the famous Ma Wangdui Xin's tomb was found here.