Xin Zhui: The 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Mummy Whose Veins Still House Blood
Public DomainXin Zhui, or Lady Dai, died of a heart attack in 163 B.C.E. just moments after eating some melon.
In 1971, workers digging near an air raid shelter in Changsha, China unearthed a massive Han Dynasty tomb containing more than 1,000 stunning artifacts, including makeup, toiletries, lacquerware, and wooden figures.
It also contained the mummified corpse of Xin Zhui, also known as Lady Dai, whose head was still covered in hair, whose skin was soft to the touch, and whose ligaments could still bend much like a person who is still alive.
Despite being more than 2,000 years old, dying in 163 B.C.E., she was in a similar condition to that of a person who had died recently. Incredibly, scientists were able to perform an autopsy on her.
They found that Type-A blood was still in her veins, and they could even identify an official cause of death for the woman: a heart attack.
Sadly, once her skin came into contact with oxygen, she began to decompose. Pictures of her current condition don’t quite do her justice.
DeAgostini/Getty ImagesAn illustration depicting the burial chamber in which Lady Dai was placed.
Still, she remained in near-perfect condition for about two millennia, and researchers attribute that amazing feat to the airtight seal of her tomb.
She had been sealed away in a small pine box, which was in turn placed inside three increasingly larger pine boxes. Her body had also been wrapped in 20 layers of silk and soaked in 21 gallons of a slightly acidic “unknown liquid” that was found to have traces of magnesium in it.
The chamber was also packed with charcoal to absorb moisture and sealed with clay. This ensured that oxygen and decay-inducing bacteria would be unable to penetrate the coffin and get to the corpse. Additionally, the top of the tomb was sealed with three feet of clay, keeping water out.
But despite the immaculate preservation of her body, we know little about her life. Researchers know that Lady Dai was the wife of a high-ranking Han official named Li Cang and that she died around age 50. Her heart attack was likely brought about by obesity, lack of exercise, and over-indulgence.
Beyond that, all that remains of her is her corpse.
The Tollund Man: The 2,400-Year-Old Sacrificial European Bog Body
Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesThe Tollund Man was one of many “bog bodies” found in a peat bog in Denmark.
In 1950, two Danish brothers were collecting peat in a bog near Silkeborg. But buried within the peat was something terrifying — a human body so well-preserved they believed the man had recently been murdered.
When police investigated, however, they found that the body had been buried beneath six feet of peat, with no signs of recent digging. After they turned the body over to archaeologists, radiological tests revealed that the man had actually died well over 2,000 years ago, between 375 and 210 B.C.E.
As it turned out, the “Tollund Man” — named after the village that the Danish brothers were from — had been a victim of human sacrifice.
For centuries, people have been unearthing bog bodies — often victims of human sacrifice or execution — who were naturally preserved by the acidic water, low temperatures, and scarce oxygen in peat bogs.
Through the ages, this combination has helped preserve the bodies’ hair, fingernails, and even some of their internal organs.
Wikimedia CommonsAnother bog body, Windeby I, a teenage boy found near Schleswig, Germany.
But the Tollund Man is one of the most well-preserved. Eerily, the noose that was used to hang him still sat around his neck.
While each of the bog bodies has its own unique story, researchers have come to understand that to Iron Age societies, the bogs were important spiritual sites. And it’s believed that hanging people as a sacrifice was done in order to ensure a bountiful harvest for the season.
However, there are many bog bodies of people who had been stabbed, bludgeoned, beaten, and strangled to death as well.
Not all mummies, it seems, were honorably preserved.
