When you speak about Mummies, instantly the image of a darkened corpse with shredded skin and grimacing smile come to mind. Or, you could be thinking of a corpse wrapped in cloth, yet one mummy exists in the world today very much intact and it is 2100 years old.
The mummified body of a Chinese woman Xin Hui who died in 163 BC was discovered in 1971 surprisingly intact with hair on her head and even her skin soft to touch. It was astonishing for scientists to find a 2100-year-old Chinese mummy in such exceptional state of preservation. Even her veins still had blood in them which turned out to be type A.
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Xin Zhui is also known as Lady Dai and nicknamed the Diva mummy. Now almost 2000 years old, she was found to belong to the Chinese Western Han dynasty that existed between 206-220 BC. The mummy was found in an incredible condition which is why she is also known as the most well-preserved mummy ever in human history.
Even her skin was soft when touched. Her ligaments were still flexible which is unusual for a corpse that resembles more a living person fast asleep instead.
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Lady Dai’s mummy was discovered in 1971 during a time when laborers were digging close to a bomb shelter near Changsa. Her tomb was a huge crypt which the workers stumbled upon while digging. It yielded a treasure trove of precious artifacts that numbered almost a thousand consisting of makeup kits, toiletries, 162 wooden hands carved figurines which presumably represented her servants and 182 pieces of lacquerware. Even a meal was found in the burial chamber which was meant for her consumption in the afterlife.
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Because of the nature of the artifacts and associated items and inscriptions on the tomb, researchers found her to be Xin Hui, the wife of ruler of the Han imperial fiefdom of Dai. She was 50 years old at the time of death. Researchers digitally reconstructed her looks and came up with this image.
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Although the burial chamber and the discovery of the artifacts were an important find, it was the well-preserved condition of Lady Dai that fascinated researchers the most. When her mummy was excavated, her skin was found to be fully intact like that of a living person. It felt soft when touched and seemed to have retained moisture and elasticity.
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Even her hair was well preserved where she had hair inside her nostrils, on her eyebrows and eyelashes. That was extremely puzzling. How was it possible for a mummy to have such features intact even after 2000 years of burial? An autopsy conducted on Lady Dai revealed that although she died in 163 BC, her mummified body resembled a recently buried corpse.
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It was unfortunate that Xin Zhui’s well-preserved mummy soon started deteriorating once it came into contact with surface air and oxygen. The images that you see here are not entirely indicative of the mummy in its original condition. Here are some of the artifacts discovered in the tomb.
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What puzzled scientists, even more, was the type A blood found flowing through her veins. There were also blood clots in certain places that proved she died from a heart attack. Her body showed signs of other illnesses such as gallstones, high levels of cholesterol, high blood pressure and liver degradation. Pathologists even found no less than 138 melon seeds inside her stomach which was most probably her last meal she had eaten before dying as melon seeds aren’t easily digestible. She might have eaten those before the heart attack.
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Scientists are of the opinion that it was the airtight and impressive tomb that was responsible for Lady Dai’s well-preserved state. The 2000-year-old Chinese mummy was discovered buried 40 feet underground and placed within a pine coffin that was the smallest among a set of four pine boxes. Each box rested within the other. The casket was placed in a funnel-shaped clay lined cypress burial vault. Packed around it was five tons of charcoal that absorbed moisture from the air. The top of the vault was found to be lined with an additional three feet layer of clay to prevent water entering the vault.
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The Chinese Mummy was also wrapped in intricate layers of silk cloth. The body was also found immersed in 21 gallons of a liquid unknown to researchers. When tested, it was found to be acidic and there were traces of magnesium present within it. The floor of her tomb was also covered in a thick layer of white paste.
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Researchers were not able to find out much about lady Dai’s life except that her name was Xin Zhui and she was the wife of the ruling Lord of Dai. The fact that she had died at a young age was presumably the result of poor lifestyle, bad diet, and unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Among the artifacts, researchers found the lacquerware the most precious that included plates, bowls, vases, basins and other types of crockery. The food found buried along with lady Dai was an interesting assortment. The food was stored in bamboo cases and included wheat, lotus roots, lentils, strawberries, pork, plum, venison, beef, lamb, dog, goose, chicken, duck, pheasant, turtledove, crane, sparrow, fish eggs and owl. Now that’s what you call a huge Chinese banquet meal.
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The 2100-year-old Chinese mummy happens to be the world’s best-preserved mummy in history where Xin Zhui or Lady Dai can now be seen at the Hunan Provincia museum. She is also a subject of current research for corpse preservation.
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