Chapter 127 Opening the Coffin
Lin Xi was fine, but Chen Qianyu became even more frightened when she saw the dean burning paper money himself, and she grabbed Lin Xi's arm tightly.
After the ceremony was completed, the excavation officially began.
Participating in the excavation were not only members of the archaeological team, but also migrant workers hired from nearby villages.
How the migrant workers dig depends on how the archaeological team directs them.
Captain Hu and his team had been here for two days and had already figured out the approximate distribution of the cemetery, dividing it into four areas.
We plan to start excavating from area one.
This side was easier to dig, and the coffin was buried shallower. When digging the roadbed, the coffin was found, and the workers quickly reported it to the cultural relics department.
After exploration, it was discovered that there was more than one cemetery nearby, and the Archaeological Institute was short of staff, so Director Xu was asked to lead a team to provide support.
Lin Xi and the others wore masks and gloves. Once something was dug out, they were responsible for taking photos, sorting, cleaning and classifying.
Area No. 1 is where the coffin was first dug out.
A corner of the coffin was exposed, and we had to dig it out.
A dozen migrant workers dug for a whole morning and basically dug out the soil around the coffin.
After lunch, we prepared to open the museum.
The wooden coffin lid was already rotten, so the staff of the institute first used a crowbar to pry open the two sides of the coffin, stuffed in wooden blocks, and tied ropes.
Six migrant workers stood on both sides of the coffin, and with the sound of "one, two, three", the coffin lid was lifted up.
The coffin lid was placed in an open space to the side.
The members of the archaeological team quickly gathered around.
Lin Xi pulled Chen Qianyu over and stood over.
Seeing this, Chen Qianyu almost vomited out the food he had just eaten.
The coffin was filled with yellow-black water, and a blackened corpse was soaked in it.
Chen Qianyu's face turned pale, his whole body was shaking, and he held Lin Xi's arms tightly with both hands.
She now regrets very much why she came to join in the fun.
She had originally planned to pursue a master's degree in identification in the future, and at this moment, she became even more determined in her belief.
Dean Xu and Captain Hu took a quick look, and after the team members finished taking pictures, they began to clean the bones in the coffin.
Dean Xu first gently took out the skull. There was a small piece of gold on the skull. Fang Han quickly picked it up with tweezers and placed it in an enamel basin on the side.
Dean Xu turned the skull over and over, saying, "Judging from the teeth, this person should not be very old."
He added, "However, judging age by teeth is not very accurate. You should still look at the pelvis to determine age."
After he said that, he glanced at Lin Xi and Chen Qianyu.
Lin Xi's eyes lit up as she stared at the skull in his hand, while Chen Qianyu's face turned pale and her head turned to the side.
Dean Xu was both pleased and regretful. He was pleased that Lin Xi was brave and had the talent to do this job.
Unfortunately, my old classmate’s granddaughter is a little spoiled, and I guess she will end up in a museum like her grandfather in the future.
Captain Hu lay beside the coffin and observed it for a while before speaking, "She's about 158cm tall and weighs about 100kg. Judging by the shape of her skull and pelvis, she's probably a female."
He pondered for a moment, "When he died, he was probably around forty years old."
Lin Xi looked at Captain Hu with admiration. He was able to analyze so many things based on just one corpse. It was really amazing.
She had also recently read about human bone identification in the "Archaeological Work Manual", but it was only book knowledge and it was difficult to make an accurate judgment.
Then Dean Xu placed the skull in a plastic basket and pointed to a small, dark piece of spine and said, "This patient has a bone disease."
He simply reached out and picked up the section of spine and showed it to the students. "See? Her vertebrae are growing together. This is caused by bone hyperplasia. This disease is called DISH."
Dean Xu glanced at Lin Xi and said, "DISH is also known as diffuse idiopathic hyperplasia."
Lin Xi was also convinced. It seemed that she had to study medicine in order to do archaeology?
Dean Xu and Captain Hu took out the bones piece by piece.
Dean Xu picked up a dark yellow leg bone and said, "She must be well-nourished. She eats a lot of meat, so her bones are strong."
Lin Xi stared at the bone. Oh my god, it was amazing that you could still tell that this black bone was strong.
Fang Han and another boy kept taking pictures nearby.
There were people at the Institute of Archaeology recording the video.
The bones were neatly placed in a plastic plate.
It took an hour or two to clean out more than half of the bones in the coffin, leaving only yellow-black sewage and some black sticky stuff. It was not known whether it was silt, silk fabric, or the result of rotten human tissue.
Dean Xu took a spray bottle and rinsed the front of the coffin for a few seconds. Someone nearby shouted, "There's gold!"
As Dean Xu continued to flush, Captain Hu took a brush and carefully moved away the mud. The object in the black mud gradually revealed its true appearance: a golden hairpin.
Everyone became excited, "It seems that her status is not low."
Dean Xu carefully took out the gold hairpin, rinsed it, and placed it in a plate.
Even after so many years, gold is still gold and still shines, but there is an obvious hole on the hairpin, which must have been inlaid with pearls or gems before.
Dean Xu took a look at the style of the gold hairpin and said, "Preliminary judgment shows that the tomb owner lived in the early Ming Dynasty."
Then the researchers from the institute also started to work. After taking out the bones, they carefully searched inside the coffin for burial objects.
Lin Xi took the time to carefully observe Fang Han's work process.
After the burial objects were taken out, they were simply rinsed with water and then photographed with a ruler next to them.
Then record it in a notebook.
Lin Xi simply stood next to Fang Han and watched her take notes.
In her notebook, she drew the approximate shape of the object, marked its dimensions, and noted the location where it was found.
Fang Han glanced at Lin Xi and said nothing.
There were quite a few burial objects inside. In addition to the gold hairpin, there were also gold hairpins, gold heart-pins, a gold earring, and a large number of copper coins.
The members of the archaeological team touched the black mud in the coffin over and over again, and after repeated washing, the bottom of the coffin was finally exposed.
Lin Xi also took a notebook and learned to take notes.
Chen Qianyu was much better than before. Seeing that no one was afraid and didn't feel disgusted, she forced herself to adjust quickly.
After cleaning up the things in the coffin, it was almost dark. The members of the archaeological team washed their hands, disinfected them, and then sat together to eat dinner happily.
We had a good harvest today and everyone was in a good mood.
Lin Xi saw Dean Xu happily gnawing on the ribs with the hand that had held the skull.
She turned her head silently.
She knew that she still had a long way to go before she could become like Dean Xu.
(End of this chapter)
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