If the seal is intact, it should still be wine. If the seal is not good, it may become watery or dry.
(News Weekly reported on August 12) Modern domestic famous liquors Moutai and Wuliangye can only be stored for about 50 years under normal bottle sealing conditions. The ancient wine of the Western Han Dynasty has been eroded for more than 2,000 years, but the wine still has a long and mellow aroma. The ancient wine contains more than a dozen strange substances that cannot be deciphered to this day. The excavation of ancient wine has raised many new research topics for the cultural relics and archeology community.
A historian once said with emotion that Shaanxi is really a treasure land of Feng Shui. If you are not careful, you will find a treasure that will cause a sensation across the country and even the world. In January this year, 27 national treasure-level bronzes from the Western Zhou Dynasty were unearthed in Baoji, Shaanxi (this newspaper once specially reported). In June, 52 kilograms of ancient Western Han wine with a fragrant aroma of more than 2,000 years was unearthed in Xi'an, Shaanxi.
Qiu Xinyin, a senior wine taster at Xi’an Winery, was the first person to have the honor of tasting ancient wine from the Western Han Dynasty. He excitedly told the author: “It’s a miracle that wine from more than 2,000 years ago can be completely preserved to this day. This is completely a miracle, and even modern wine-making technology and preservation technology are difficult to compare with it. This shows that the wine-making technology and preservation technology at that time were quite developed and had many unique features. If some lost methods and techniques in wine-making technology are discovered, the significance of this archaeological discovery will be great."
According to relevant sources, the ancient wine is still being studied by relevant departments in Beijing, and it contains ten kinds of wine. Several strange substances cannot be deciphered, and the ancient wine is still shrouded in mystery. For example, is the green color of the ancient wine the original color or metal contamination? How can it be preserved for two thousand years? Is ancient wine considered a cultural relic? How long can ancient wine be kept? While a large number of mysteries have yet to be solved, the emergence of ancient wine of the Western Han Dynasty has also raised many new topics for the cultural relics and archeology community, and many businesses have begun to target this business opportunity.
Unexpected discoveries in ancient tombs
Shaanxi is one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation and its long civilization. 14 dynasties including Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang once established their capitals here. , so this land carries too many historical memories and is known as the Natural History Museum.
On March 20 this year, in the middle section of Wenjing Road in the northern suburbs of Xi'an (one kilometer southeast of the Han Chang'an City ruins), construction workers from a real estate development company suddenly discovered an ancient tomb during construction. , the person in charge of the construction site ordered an immediate stop to the work, sealed the site, and quickly reported it to the Xi'an Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau. After receiving the report, Xi'an Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau sent people to explore. Since hundreds of ancient tombs from the Western Han Dynasty have been excavated in the northern suburbs of Xi'an in recent years, most of which were civilian tombs, with basically no valuable discoveries, the archaeologists thought there would be no unexpected gains this time.
However, the preliminary exploration results delighted the archaeologists. They found that there were exactly three Western Han Dynasty tombs here. Judging from the shape of the tombs, one of them was not an ordinary civilian tomb, but an early Western Han Dynasty tomb. A large charcoal tomb. The archaeologists immediately reported the situation to the leaders of the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau. After discussion, the Xi'an Cultural Relics Protection and Archeology Institute dispatched elite troops to carry out key archaeological excavations of this large carbon-deposited tomb of the Western Han Dynasty.
However, during subsequent excavations, only the skull of the tomb owner and 100 pieces of jade were found. The archaeologists were disappointed. Based on the more than ten holes in the tomb passage, it is estimated that this tomb has been stolen more than ten times. A large number of valuable cultural relics have been looted by tomb thieves during the changes of more than two thousand years.
Without much hope, in early June this year, archaeologists opened the only side room in the tomb and conducted routine cleaning of the side room.
After entering the side room, the on-site archaeologists couldn't help but be overjoyed. Because this side room was relatively private, the funerary objects in the room were fortunately protected from tomb robbers and were well preserved. They were 3 meters long and 3 meters wide. In the 1.5-meter-high side room, which is nearly 2 meters high, there are 18 large-scale bronzes including 2 bronze bells, 4 tripods, 2 basins, and 1 jian, as well as 5 exquisite pottery pots. , it is rare for so many bronzes to be unearthed from ancient tombs of the Western Han Dynasty at one time.
After years of wear and tear, these cultural relics are rusty and vicissitudes of life, but they still retain the noble charm of the past, especially the two 80-centimeter-high copper bells, which are huge and gilded. The sealed top cover is also cast. There is a very beautiful red bird with beads in its beak. It is the largest bronze vessel from the Western Han Dynasty discovered in China. The covers of the two bronze bells are sealed with raw lacquer. When the archaeologists carefully cleaned and moved these cultural relics, they felt that one of the bronze bells (hereinafter referred to as Bell A) was extremely heavy and had liquid sloshing inside. The other bronze bell (hereinafter referred to as Bell B) had several cracks on its belly. , it is very light to move, and the liquid inside may have leaked. Since the bell was a very noble bronze vessel for holding wine during the Han and Tang Dynasties, will there be any earth-shattering discoveries in the Jia Zhong? It has suddenly become the secret that cultural relics workers are most concerned about and most eager to unravel...
The magical appearance of ancient wine
After these cultural relics were transferred to the Xi'an Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeological Institute, cultural relics workers immediately began to clean up the cultural relics carefully. The first thing to clean was the two eye-catching bronze bells. As the patina and soil on the bells slowly peeled off, everyone found that the slightly thinner outer wall of the bells had some leakage and a faint aroma of wine emitted. " There may be wine inside the bell..." This inference made everyone at the archaeological institute very excited. In the 1970s, the archaeological community discovered ancient wine from the Shang Dynasty in Gaochengtai, Hebei Province. However, because it lasted for too long, the wine taste was very weak, and the stock of the wine was too small, losing its research value. Therefore, experts from all walks of life were asked to Extremely regretful. According to historical records, my country's wine-making technology was quite mature during the Western Han Dynasty, and the drinking culture was very popular. So, can this archaeological discovery allow contemporary people to appreciate the delicious food handed down by their ancestors in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago?
On the afternoon of June 21, many experts gathered at the Xi'an Cultural Relics Protection and Archeology Institute to prepare to decipher the secrets inside the bronze bell. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the technicians began to clean the patina of the bell cover of B Bell, which had cracks in the bell belly. Then they carefully removed the raw paint on the seal of the bell cover. After 2 minutes, the top cover of Bell B was gently opened, but the bell inside Empty, nothing. After 3 minutes, under the expectant eyes of everyone, the bell cover of Jia Zhong was gently opened. In an instant, a strong aroma of wine came to the nostrils, "Wine, it is the fine wine of the Western Han Dynasty!" Experts and cultural relics workers present Everyone was ecstatic. But the bell is filled with green and translucent ancient wine, which is emerald green in color, mellow and refreshing. Amid people's excited discussions, the staff quickly inserted the straw into the copper bell, slowly sucked the aged ancient wine into the prepared medicinal glass container, and finally filled 5 large bottles, with a total stock of 26 kilograms.
That evening, the Xi'an Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau invited sommeliers and brewing experts from Xi'an to come to the Archaeological Institute to conduct a preliminary appraisal of the unearthed ancient wine. Qiu Xinyin, a senior engineer at Xi'an Winery, was honored to be the first person to taste the fine wine of the Western Han Dynasty. He took 40 ml of wine in a glass very solemnly and tasted it carefully. Due to the high copper content in the wine, it took a few minutes to Finally, he spit out the wine in his mouth. With the aroma of wine in his mouth, he couldn't wait to describe the taste of the wine to everyone: "Due to the corrosion of copper salts, etc., the wine has an obvious irritation. The alcohol taste is very light, but It is still soft, sweet and refreshing, with no traces of corruption and a certain sugar content. It is not like many modern wines with heavy flavors. It is really a good wine.”
In order to ensure the safe storage of Western Han Dynasty wines, we listened to experts! After receiving their opinions, the archaeologists wrapped the medicinal glassware used to store the ancient wine in black plastic bags and placed it in the basement to ensure that the ancient wine would not decompose when exposed to light. In order to control the temperature, humidity, and luminosity of the ancient wine during storage, the archaeological institute specially purchased it. Freezer.
Since Shaanxi Province currently does not have precision instruments such as heavy ion accelerators that can determine the age of cultural relics, and at the same time, provincial institutions are still deficient in testing technology for wine brewing raw materials, purity, and precise content of methanol and ethanol. Therefore, on June 23, six staff members from the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology went to Beijing for technical testing with samples of unearthed ancient wine. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage attaches great importance to this test. In order to obtain the most scientific test results, the relevant parties finally decided that the Alcohol Testing and Research Center of the China Institute of Food and Fermentation Industry will work with other relevant institutions to jointly conduct testing and analysis of ancient wines of the Western Han Dynasty. .
Half a month later, according to the preliminary test results of the national authority, the liquid in the bronze bell was indeed ancient wine, but the ancient wine contained more than a dozen unique free organic acids that are not included in modern wines. , at present, these free organic acids cannot be deciphered; at the same time, some ingredients that should be present in modern wines are not found in ancient wines. Experts from the China Institute of Food and Fermentation Industry said: Due to various reasons such as technology and time, the current testing of unearthed ancient wines is still at the initial stage, and a large number of mysteries have not yet been solved. Scientific researchers are stepping up efforts to study the composition and content of ancient wines from the Western Han Dynasty. In-depth study of the production process.
It will take three years to see the outcome?
On July 23, Xi'an held a large-scale expert seminar on ancient wines of the Western Han Dynasty. More than 30 experts and scholars from across the country in cultural relics and archeology, food testing, and wine-making technology gathered together to conduct extensive research on ancient wines of the Western Han Dynasty. and in-depth research.
This seminar solved some mysteries that have attracted widespread attention from all walks of life -
First, is the value of ancient wine of the Western Han Dynasty great? Experts and scholars from all walks of life unanimously believe that the ancient wine of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Xi'an this time is unprecedentedly well-preserved and in large quantity. It is the best-preserved and largest ancient wine discovered in China so far. The unearthing of the ancient wine of the Western Han Dynasty is a major discovery in the Chinese archaeological, technological and wine-making circles. It provides rare physical evidence for the study of the history and customs of the Western Han Dynasty, as well as the wine-making technology and wine culture of ancient China. It is regarded as one of the best in the country. Treasure. The unearthing of the ancient wine of the Western Han Dynasty will also solve many controversial issues in the history of ancient Chinese wine making.