Archaeological poster slogan of mound tomb in Mengjiang village

We often see on TV that archaeologists will clean up cultural relics with small brushes after opening ancient tombs. They should be very careful in this process to avoid being damaged, but there is one thing that even archaeologists dare not touch, and that is eggs. Why can't this common food be eaten directly?

Although eggs are common in our daily life, they are very rare in ancient tombs. In Ma 'anshan Village, Shuanglu Town, Fengdu County, 23 ancient tombs of Han Dynasty were discovered. Strangely, they were completely displayed in front of people without being excavated by the exploration team for a long time.

What surprised the experts was not all kinds of gold, silver and jewels, but eggs from more than 2,000 years ago were still preserved in the tomb. Someone reached out and touched them, but what I didn't expect was that the shell of the egg was very fragile, and the yolk and egg white inside were empty and broke at once, so they had to take the pieces back and study the splicing again.

But not all eggs are so fragile. 1974, an ancient egg was found in the tomb of the Western Zhou Dynasty. This time it's a whole can. Different from the previous one, the egg is very hard, just like a stone. Don't touch it, it won't crack even if you hit the ground.

Scientists were also curious, so they brought them back. Someone asked if these eggs had any research value. Needless to say, with the development of modern science and technology, DNA can be extracted from eggs, which may restore the appearance of ancient chickens, which has great research value.

Friends who are interested in seeing ancient eggs can go to Nanjing Museum, where the Western Zhou egg basket is still there!

A few years ago, in an ancient tomb in Shangxing Town, Liyang, Jiangsu Province, the archaeological team found several pottery pots. After they carefully opened the lid of the clay pot, they accidentally found a clay pot with earth eggs. This time, the number found was quite large, almost exceeding 20. But when the archaeological team saw that it was an egg, they quickly closed the broken lid. Why?

They are not excited or happy, but feel that this clay pot is a bit tricky, because in the archaeological community, they know that the most feared thing in ancient tombs is to find eggs. But for us, eggs are so delicious, why are archaeologists most afraid of touching eggs? We will mention it below, and now let's talk about why it is a double discovery.

Throughout the world, archaeological circles have found many kinds of cultural relics, but the food found is very few, because it is difficult to preserve food for more than a thousand years. Even if it is well preserved under closed conditions, the ancient tomb has been opened and will soon disappear or change rapidly, especially the food such as eggs, which is very rare in archaeological excavation, but once it is encountered, it will become a problem for archaeological teams and increase the difficulty coefficient of archaeological excavation. However, in the archaeology of mound tombs in Jiangsu, it is the first time that 4. These eggs with a history of more than 2,000 years were later sent to Nanjing Museum, Zhenjiang Museum, Jurong Museum and Nanjing Agricultural University Museum respectively.

This time, another clay pot egg was found. Together with the previous findings, a total of five clay pot eggs were unearthed, which is the first record. In order to know how rare these eggs are, I compare them with an archaeological study abroad, or everyone will know something about them.

June 20 19, 10, 2065438, 2065438, 2065438, 2065438.

Because for them, finding an egg thousands of years ago, even if there are cracks in the egg, is a very important discovery. Even they use the adjective "amazing". For them, it is great to see an Israeli Millennium egg found, which is described by the words "amazing" and "rare".

But if they knew that China had unearthed five clay pots, and there were more than 20 eggs in the fifth clay pot, how would they feel about the eggs 2500 years ago now? This incident also witnessed the value of the eggs in this pot from the side, which is immeasurable and immeasurable.

After the above-mentioned situation, why did archaeologists immediately cover the eggs in this clay pot? Is it a terrible thing to find eggs in ancient tombs?

Let me talk about the excavation of this nest of eggs first. At that time, the mound tombs in the Spring and Autumn Period were excavated in Liyang, Jiangsu Province. Experts continued to dig for a long time and found that these tombs were not as large as the cultural relics unearthed from the Prince's Tomb, but they could reflect people's lives at that time. How come,

In an archaeology, this jar of earth eggs was accidentally unearthed in a place called Ziwudun. At that time, when they carefully excavated the ancient tomb, they found a large number of jars and kettles with printed hard pottery, cups and kettles of primitive celadon, three-legged plates of mud-gray pottery, as well as containers, cookers and food containers.

Archaeologists will open the crock as usual to see if there are any other objects in it. To their surprise, they found a jar full of eggs. The eggs unearthed this time, in appearance, are about the same size as the grass eggs now. When they were first discovered, eggshells were slightly blue in color. According to the speculation of the archaeological team, they are probably wild eggs that were picked up outdoors by Jiangsu ancestors at that time, but it is not excluded that they are farmed domestic eggs.

This can of eggs has rotted for 2500 years, but because the eggshell is calcium, it is relatively stable and protected by clay pots, so it has been preserved. To be exact, it is only 2500 young "eggshells". But it is this can of egg shells that makes the team feel very embarrassed and tricky. The team is afraid of encountering eggs. According to reports, there are several main reasons:

First: because the precious cultural relics or funerary objects buried in ancient tombs or outdoor sites have been eroded for a long time, they are very fragile. If there are eggs buried for more than 1000 years in the archaeological process, we must be especially cautious and focused, because if we don't pay attention, the eggs may be broken at the touch and become piles of fragments. And many ancient objects want to be completely restored by modern technology. In fact, it is not difficult, especially if the egg is broken and there is only a pile of eggshells, it will take experts a long time to repair it carefully.

For example, just like the Israeli archaeological team mentioned above, they encountered eggs thousands of years ago. Although they were very careful, they dug it up and needed to be reassembled and disposed of. In an archaeological process in China, the team didn't know it was an ancient egg. When sweeping with a broom, the eggs are broken and can only be picked up slowly and put together later. However, this kind of work did take a long time.

Second: Besides being cautious and taking time to recover, more importantly, the eggs encountered by the archaeological team are worried about another thing. Because the eggs buried for more than 2000 years are completely intact, but they are empty, but no one can guarantee that there will be any bacteria in them. Because of the existence of egg shell, it is easy to leave a lot of bacteria in it. Then, if you encounter a poorly ventilated tomb and space, the eggshell will suddenly break and pop up.

Thirdly, even if the eggs are intact and not broken, it is difficult to ensure that the eggs of 2000 years ago are finally sent to the museum safely, sealed and kept with advanced technology, because this process requires a large number of people to be very cautious and meticulous in transshipment, and special instruments and tools are also needed when digging the earth.

More importantly, as cultural relics, the identity of these eggs is somewhat embarrassing, because they are neither like pottery and bronze ware, nor ancient clothes and decorations. Because of their special age and shape, as well as the inscriptions and records inside, they can bring certain historical and cultural reference value to future generations. Although eggs have gone through thousands of years of history, they are similar to modern eggs.

So are these ancient eggs chicken ribs?

The ancient eggs more than two thousand years ago are actually rare and precious cultural relics. They provide material basis and sufficient information for us to study the history and development of ancient diet now. Many cans of ancient eggs were unearthed in China, which revealed a lot of information about people's diet and life during the Warring States period.

According to the current speculation, people who could afford eggs in ancient times were all people with certain status and status, because eggs were also a luxury in ancient times, and because eggs were delicious, some people liked them very much when they were alive. So after his death, his family will put some eggs in the tomb, mainly to let him continue to have eggs to eat in another world.

From domestic archaeology, it can be seen that eggs can be used as funerary objects in the Spring and Autumn Period, which has another meaning, which means that the tomb owner has certain economic strength. It is also a symbol of status and identity, because ancient tombs have certain rules and etiquette, and you won't put anything you want.

The earliest ancient egg cultural relic discovered in China is a Western Zhou tomb 2,800 years ago. After the egg was laid, it was lucky to be put in an earthenware pot. When the archaeologist found this egg, he was surprised to find that it could be preserved so completely, which is really commendable. And this egg is also the oldest and best preserved ancient egg in existence.

The value and significance of antique eggs

Domestication of poultry provided all kinds of eggs, meat and other foods for ancient ancestors, and provided high-quality protein. According to relevant historical records, the domestication history of poultry has been more than 4000 years. According to previous speculation, before 1800 years ago, a large number of eggs and poultry were raised in China, forming a certain scale and being widely eaten.

China's cooking is also world-famous, and eggs are an indispensable food in China's diet. The discovery of eggs 2,500 years ago overthrew the speculation of experts at that time, and pushed the history of extensive use of eggs in China to 1000 years, which proved the long history of China culture.

Summary:

After a lapse of 2500 years, it is really rare that ancient eggs can be preserved and unearthed again. These discoveries are of great significance, because these ancient eggs are rich in meaning and strongly prove the unique history and culture of Chinese civilization. Compared with the handed down bronzes and paintings found in archaeology, it pays attention to artistic value and collection value. The excavation of ancient eggs is of great value for studying the life and diet development of ancient people today, and it is also an important witness to the history of human development. Therefore, the earth eggs in these 2500-year-old tombs can't be measured by money. They are priceless treasures of mankind.

Some time ago, at the Jinwan site of Chishui River in Guizhou, people found the remains of a settlement of the Han nationality 2,000 years ago. After the archaeologists arrived, they unearthed many clay pots and animal bones. What surprised archaeologists most was that they found an egg more than 2000 years ago.

This egg was slightly swept by their archaeological brush and broke a small corner, because after years of changes, all the yolk and egg white in it disappeared, leaving only a thin fragile eggshell. After the eggs were destroyed, archaeologists immediately stopped their work and they protected the place.

After discussion, they originally planned to use the traditional gypsum wrapping method, but for various reasons, they finally gave up this method and adopted a very strange and mysterious method to extract eggs and put them into the research room to analyze the ingredients inside.

At this time, the problem came. What changes and gains can this egg bring us after extracting its ingredients?

In fact, I think it is no good to study the composition of this egg in a practical sense, because although 2000 includes countless dynasties for us, almost all our recorded history is in 2000.

However, for the evolution of living things, this is only a trivial fragment. It takes millions of years for organisms to form. The time changes in 2000 are basically the same, but the body shape is slightly different.

Not to mention whether chicken genes before 2000 can be extracted from these calcium carbonate shells, even if they are extracted, it is another question whether they can be reflected by then. Even if the chicken genes before 2000 are transferred to modern chickens, what's the use? Maybe the chicken in those days was not as delicious as the modern chicken, and it was not as big as the chicken now, so for us ordinary people, this egg is of little value.

The value of research is different for archaeologists, because for them, the practical significance is not very important, the most important thing is knowledge and research significance.

Archaeologists can study the genes and living conditions of previous chickens through eggs, and then compare them with modern chickens to understand the changes of chickens in the past 2000 years, and then analyze what caused these differences. This is the job of archaeologists. In their eyes, knowledge represents everything.

Therefore, the value of this egg before 2000 should be viewed from two aspects. For example, in my layman's view, this old egg is completely worthless. If I see it, I may be tempted to crush it into a turbid gas and accumulate it in my chest, but it is different for archaeologists. This can provide them with a lot of knowledge, and even supplement some historical faults by comparing with other knowledge, which is of great significance.

It is not strict enough to say that this egg is an egg, because it only looks like the size and appearance of eggs we see in our lives, and there are large bones near the "egg". Without expert analysis, the final result can't be asserted that this is an egg.

This archaeological event originated from the excavation of Han Dynasty tombs in Jinwan, Tucheng Town, Xishui County by Zunyi Archaeological Team, Guizhou Province, which found a large number of pottery pots and a few suspected animal bones, and found something suspected of eggs during the excavation.

When this substance was discovered, experts also speculated that it was an egg. After carefully moving it to the laboratory, they made a chemical analysis. Although they are very careful when moving, some shell materials will still fall off. The expert analyzed the composition of the falling material, and the result was consistent with the expert's previous guess. This is indeed an egg, and the eggshell contains calcium carbonate. However, because it was an egg substance before 2000, the substance in eggs had almost evaporated and solidified. At present, experts are doing their best.

After testing, this solidified substance does contain nutrients: minerals, vitamins, phospholipids and other ingredients. You can be sure it is an egg, but you can't be sure it must be an egg. It may also be that animals found nearby were in a proxy state when they were buried. Finally, after the meat rotted, blood flowed out and eggs were exposed. Because the egg itself is protected by calcium carbonate, it has been preserved so far and has important research value. Experts choose to temporarily seal these eggs and protect them.

Through the scientific analysis of this egg, the experts have gained a lot of knowledge about the ancient culture of the Han Dynasty:

1, reproductive capacity of animals

2. The nutritional level of the people buried with him.

3. The clan habits of the buried people and so on.

More value needs scientific confirmation.

There is no way to answer this question. Eggs can be measured by price. As a highly nutritious food, eggs are a necessity for most families, and they are also the first gift that people give or visit patients.

If it was an egg 2000 years ago, it lost these meanings and was given another meaning. Through the research of archaeologists, the social background and environment at that time were revealed, and the living environment and natural ecology of ancient people were inferred by combining the research of other unearthed cultural relics. In this sense, it is priceless. The museum also provides a platform for people to understand the living conditions and living environment of ancient people through collection and display. These functions are not attached to the egg itself, nor can they be reflected by the price.

Eggs are a very common food. Eggs two thousand years ago, to put it bluntly, are very valuable for studying the lives of the ancients. At the same time, with the development of science and technology, it is possible to restore the appearance of ancient chickens and extract DNA from eggs. At the same time, eggs unearthed in ancient tombs are actually very rare. So far, only a few tombs have unearthed eggs, so they have historical value and are rare. After all, scarcity is precious.

For ordinary people, this thing is actually worthless. If you go to the museum to see eggs, even though you know they are thousands of years ago, they are actually a fresh look. Unlike archaeologists, they can restore the lives of the ancients through eggs and guess their living habits. This is their archaeological value. Archaeological work is very time consuming. Simple as it is, it is actually very complicated. The cultural relics you saw in the museum are very beautiful, but they were not like this when they were unearthed, which needs careful cleaning by archaeologists.

It is normal for a cultural relic to be cleaned for more than one year, and the eggs unearthed in the ancient tomb are even more interesting. Archaeologists found eggs in ancient tombs for the first time, which is very interesting. Everyone doesn't know what it is. Someone just touched eggs and broke them, which caused regret in the archaeological community. When the egg was unearthed for the second time, someone touched it gently with a brush, and the egg was broken again, which was very embarrassing. What was originally precious was broken twice.

So far, in ancient tombs, except for egg fossils, the rest are broken at the touch, and there is no way. Everything that everyone saw in the museum was pieced together later. It is worth mentioning that in ancient times, most people could not afford to buy eggs for burial, at least only rich people would bury them with eggs.

Seeing the value of a cultural relic doesn't mean how much it is worth. In the eyes of archaeologists, every cultural relic can't be measured by money. They will study this cultural relic and its historical value, even a small egg. Interestingly, some experts have said that if this technology is realized, ancient chickens can be recovered with unearthed eggs. Do you think this is possible?

Before Cao Cao advocated thin burial, funerals were particularly grand and heavy during the Qin and Han Dynasties and even during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

This has a lot to do with the cultural customs at that time. People at that time, whether kings, governors or ordinary people, firmly believed that they would only live in another place after death.

Therefore, wedding and funeral are the two most important things in a person's life.

At that time, they not only did not shy away from the funeral, but also began preparations when they were still young. They feel that they will be more practical and at ease if they focus on building a mausoleum.

This is not difficult to understand, just like now, when a girl is born, some parents will start preparing a dowry, because this time can be arranged comfortably enough to cover everything.

And the funeral is as important as marriage, and people can't be wronged below.

Judging from the location of the mausoleum, we must consider it in every way, look at Feng Shui and predict good or bad luck. The funerary objects must be loved and needed by the tomb owner before his death. Therefore, many tombs unearthed in contemporary archaeology contain toys and clothes, as well as a wide variety of food.

Of course, with the accumulation of years, food has already dried, which does not affect future generations' research.

Among them, the most overwhelming thing is the eggs dug up in the ancient tomb. Because its cultural value is too great, but it is fragile and difficult to protect, it attracts experts all over the world to be particularly anxious.

So how valuable were the eggs in the ancient tomb two thousand years ago?

First of all, this egg comes from an ancient tomb two thousand years ago, and it has a rich historical and cultural aura.

If the calculated year is 2000, it can probably be traced back to the Han Dynasty. If it is around 2000, it will be more flexible, and the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period and even the previous week can be verified.

From this egg, people can study people's eating habits at that time. After all, it is not certain whether the egg is pure raw or cooked, or whether it is wrapped in gypsum, so as to study whether there was a process of pickling and changing the egg at that time.

According to textual research, the mysterious history of two thousand years ago seems to have narrowed the distance and brought their living habits to their eyes.

From this egg, we can also study the burial habits of various dynasties two thousand years ago. For example, this egg is a routine recipe of the tomb owner before his death. Should it be put into the tomb after his death, or should it be rare as a precious burial object like the treasure in the tomb and enter the tomb?

The former at least shows that eggs were common two thousand years ago, and pheasants were rare after all. Did people domesticate chickens at that time to lay eggs for themselves?

The latter shows that the actual functions of eggs, including eating, may not be taken for granted. What if they are decorations?

Whether these dug eggs are laid by chickens requires professional research.

If it is found to come from any rare or extinct birds in modern times, it will be a major breakthrough in the field of biological research.

After all, in the long course of two thousand years, many species have been domesticated like chickens and ducks, but they have all been extinct in the long river of time because of the changes in climate and geographical environment.

Moreover, even if the eggs laid two thousand years ago were really laid by chickens, they are valuable materials to study whether the chicken genes have evolved over the years, but if a point has a breakthrough research, its value will be immeasurable.

However, the above values are hard to be measured by secular money, because eggs are not like toys or calligraphy and painting. As long as they are properly restored, these items will be perfectly preserved, auctioned or collected in museums, and they can be visited and studied for a long time.

After all, if you are not careful, a fresh egg may be broken, not to mention an old egg that has been laid for 2000 years. It can be said that delicate eggshells will stimulate cracks.

Jiangsu Haoyang once found a mound tomb in the Spring and Autumn Period in Ziwudun, where a jar full of eggs was unearthed. When the archaeologist opened the old jar carefully, some eggs on the surface had already appeared tiny cracks.

It can also be seen that these eggs are of little value in money except for the cultural research value attached to the history prize.

In other words, they can't be measured by money.

They can't even be auctioned intact Even if the price is estimated, people who love its historical value can be allowed to take it home for collection, so the eggs that professionals can't protect are difficult for laymen to reach.

In addition, after the archaeologists swept away the dust with a gentle brush, they found that the color of egg shells was slightly blue, so these eggs could not be put into the museum exhibition, because if they were accidentally broken, there might be a lot of time to precipitate unknown bacteria, which is very dangerous for staff and tourists without special protection.

Therefore, it is unlikely to even be put into a museum to collect tickets for the visit.

Of course there are exceptions. If the eggshell is opened by professional archaeologists and it is determined that there are no harmful substances in it, it will still be valuable to put the safe and pollution-free eggshell into the museum.

It can be seen that the value of these eggs in ancient tombs more than 2,000 years ago is mainly reflected in historical details and cultural customs. It will prove or tell many unsolved mysteries and undiscovered species historical materials from a certain dimension.

When you get a clear answer, maybe many inherent cognition will be changed by these "things" from the distant past.

For example, contact the identity of the tomb owner and explore the significance of burying his eggs with him, so as to confirm how long ago Germans began to eat eggs and whether the reason for eating eggs was because of their convenience or high nutritional value.

Such a comparison, now a few dollars a catty of eggs is of great significance.

Perhaps two thousand years ago, when Confucius discussed Confucianism with his students, breakfast was just a few eggs, which is the same as that of most office workers and students now. It seems that after a thousand years, there is a wonderful collision with these masters, and the value of human spirit is still sublimating.

Therefore, when archaeologists from all over the world dug up eggs, they were shocked by their value beyond words. For example, an Israeli archaeologist holds an old egg in his hand, and he thinks that "a complete egg is really rare".

After all, when it arrived at the institute smoothly, many people had already made a lot of efforts and sweat for it. It is necessary to take extra care to prevent it from being broken and put a lot of energy into the transportation process.

Well, it's really worthless. This is just an ancient egg archaeology. The difference between archaeology and grave robbery is that archaeology requires that the information of underground cultural relics be preserved as much as possible. So after digging, all kinds of things should be recorded and found, and then dug layer by layer with a small shovel and a small brush shovel.

The excavated things should also be preserved as much as possible.

When robbing a tomb, the first thing you need is gold, silver and jade. Ancient grave robbers didn't want bronzes. That thing is too heavy for anyone to take.

Therefore, anything new found in archaeology can make archaeologists be elated, cautious, hold their breath and finally gain something.

For example, once in Qinghai, a group of noodles 4,000 years ago were dug up.

In this regard, the history of eating noodles in China can be advanced to 4000 years ago. Then, write a paper, which is our ancestors' great contribution to nutrition.

For example, in a Han tomb in Shandong, a can of eggs was dug up. Because it is the earliest egg discovered in China, it was treasured and put in the museum more than 2,000 years ago.

Some people say that this thing can extract genes and so on. I can only say hehe.

Because the ancestor of the chicken, the original chicken is still alive. Primitive chickens exist in the forests of Yunnan, Guangxi and Hainan in China.

This kind of pheasant has a low egg production, with a dozen eggs a year, and eats in the wild.

Primitive chicken is the ancestor of modern chicken. Modern chickens are gradually cultivated by people catching and raising primitive chickens. Improve the egg production rate.

If we really want to extract genes, the original chicken is there, and so is the modern chicken. Why not put the two together and draw a tube of blood from a chicken?

Still using genes to make this can of eggs? It's nothing. I am looking for cigarettes.

Let's stop here.

Eggs are a very common food. Eggs two thousand years ago, to put it bluntly, are to study the historical value of the ancients after their lives. At the same time, with the development of science and technology, it is possible to restore the appearance of ancient chickens and extract DNA from eggs. At the same time, eggs unearthed in ancient tombs are actually very rare. So far, as long as eggs are unearthed in several ancient tombs, they have historical value and are very rare. After all, scarcity is precious.

For ordinary people, this thing is actually worthless. Going to the museum to see eggs, even if you know that they are thousands of years ago, is actually a novelty. Archaeologists are different. They can restore the life of the ancients through eggs and guess their living habits. This is their archaeological value. Archaeological work is very time consuming. Simple as it is, it is actually very complicated. The cultural relics you see in the museum are very beautiful, but they were not unearthed in this way, which needs careful accounting by archaeologists.

It is normal for a cultural relic to be liquidated for more than one year, and the eggs unearthed in the ancient tomb are more and more interesting. It is of great significance for archaeologists to find eggs in ancient tombs for the first time. Nobody knows what it is. Someone just touched the egg and broke it, forming an archaeological regret. When the egg was unearthed for the second time, someone touched it quietly with a brush, and the egg was broken again, which was very embarrassing. What was originally precious was broken twice.

So far, in ancient tombs, except for egg fossils, the rest are broken at the touch, and there is no way. Everything that everyone saw in the museum was pieced together later. It is worth mentioning that in ancient times, ordinary people could not afford to bury eggs, at least the rich would bury them with eggs.

Seeing the value of a cultural relic doesn't mean how much it is worth. In the eyes of archaeologists, every cultural relic can't be measured by money. They will study this cultural relic and its historical value, even a small egg. Interestingly, some experts have said that if the technology is in place, ancient chickens can be restored with unearthed eggs. Do you think this is possible?

Take copper as a mirror to dress, people as a mirror to know the gains and losses, and history as a mirror to know the rise and fall!