In ancient times, when science was underdeveloped, people thought that the human soul was attached to the human body. If the soul left the body, it would mean the coming of death. The former emperor ate a panacea and dreamed of immortality; If you can't live forever, you will try your best to preserve your body. They believe that as long as the body does not rot, the soul can live forever and continue to rule the ghosts of the underworld. Mercury and cinnabar can sometimes be found in the excavation of tombs in Liao Dynasty, which may be related to the preservation of corpses.
However, the mummies found at the Niya site are different. The body has not undergone any antiseptic treatment, and it is completely formed by natural conditions.
The No.1 tomb excavated by Xinjiang Museum 1959 is the burial tomb of the Eastern Han couple, with both men and women mummified. The bodies of men and women are shriveled and scrawny, but their hair and beard are intact and have not fallen off, and the clothes they wear are still as new.
1993, during the investigation in niya, three "single wooden coffins" were found in the cemetery north of Baotaying, and the bodies in the coffins were all mummified to varying degrees. In the arched "wooden coffin", there is a young girl lying on her side. Her dress is clearly visible, with a silk shirt inside and a red wool skirt outside. Most of her body was intact and was called "the girl in red" by the expedition.
Mummies were also found in another cemetery east of the stupa. Among them, a female corpse is well preserved. She is a young woman in her twenties, with black hair and shawl, delicate facial features and slender arch eyebrows. The facial muscles don't change much and look elastic. Another male corpse, which has rotted from the chest down, is a middle-aged man with a well-preserved head, thick eyebrows, beard and black hair.
Mummies are often found in Niya, and locals are used to it, but experts and scholars from other places attach great importance to it. Why there are so many mummies in Niya and why mummies are preserved well and badly are all important topics in scientific research.
The decay of corpses, like the decay of food, is the result of the action of bacteria and microorganisms. The existence and activity of bacteria and microorganisms must have a certain temperature, humidity and air. At room temperature, bacteria and microorganisms can survive, but in particularly dry places, where there is no air, it is difficult for bacteria and microorganisms to survive. The female corpse in Mawangdui Western Han Tomb in Changsha, Hubei Province is a wet corpse. The reason why it has not rotted for more than 265,438+000 years is that the tomb is deep, tightly closed and isolated from the air. The existence of ancient mummies in Niya was caused by the dry climate in Taklimakan Desert.
Because the Taklimakan desert is extremely dry, under the action of strong wind, strong light and high temperature, the body quickly dehydrates. So the body is shriveled, scrawny, and the cortex shrinks and clings to the skeleton, which is the result of dehydration of the body. Before bacteria and microorganisms were produced, the corpse was completely dehydrated, which made the bacteria and microorganisms lose their living conditions, so the corpse became a mummy and was preserved. Except for the corpse, other cultural relics in Niya area can be preserved intact today, all of which are related to the extremely dry climate.
The mummy in Niya's tomb is a part of the body, and some bodies have completely rotted, leaving only bones and black hair. Why are they all so different in Nia? There are many reasons for this. Generally speaking, the climate in Taklimakan Desert is very dry, with little rainfall. However, the annual rainfall is not exactly the same, some years have more rainfall, and some years have little rainfall. According to the investigation of modern meteorologists, the average annual rainfall in Taklimakan desert is only 25 ~ 50 mm, but in some years, the rainfall reaches 25.2 mm a day, and at most it reaches 73.5 mm. In the years with little rainfall, buried bodies are easy to become mummified bodies. In years with heavy rainfall, buried bodies are prone to decay. In a year, whether it is dry season burial or wet season burial, the preservation effect of the remains is different.
As far as the specific situation of each body is concerned, it is not exactly the same. Some people are obese and have high water content in their bodies; Some people are thin and have low water content in their bodies. Under the same climatic conditions, corpses with high water content are easy to rot, while corpses with low water content are not easy to rot and easy to preserve. The results of field observation in the cemetery show that the preservation results of different parts of the same corpse are also very different. Some bodies have completely rotted in the chest and abdomen, but their heads and limbs are well preserved. This is because the water content in the chest and abdomen is higher than that in the head and limbs. It is for this reason that when making "mummies" in ancient Egypt, the internal organs should be taken out. Even in modern times when science is highly developed, it is necessary to remove the internal organs in order to preserve the remains of great men for a long time.
Due to the above reasons, the bodies in ancient Niya tombs are very different. Some bodies became mummified, some were completely decomposed, some were semi-mummified, and not all bodies became mummified.