3500 years ago, people living in the ancient Xiaohe River in the hinterland of Lop Nur had a bad living environment, rough and hard food and a large amount of labor. However, the ancient Xiaohe people were very clever. They will make cheese with fermented milk, make adhesive with boiled bovine bone glue, and even successfully perform craniotomy.
65438, 20 14 10. On October 30th, Hong Chu, a professor at the Frontier Archaeological Research Center of Jilin University, and Yang Yimin, an associate professor at the Department of Science and Technology Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, published their latest achievements in science and technology archaeology. They studied the ancient demography, anthropometry, paleoanthropology, paleopathology and other aspects of the human bones unearthed in Xiaohe cemetery, and made a scientific and technological analysis of the relics unearthed in Xiaohe cemetery to restore the Xiaohe to people.
Xiaohe Cemetery is a public cemetery of an ancient tribe in Lop Nur about 3500-4000 years ago. It was once called "the tomb of thousands of coffins". It is located in the desert about 60 kilometers south of the lower reaches of Peacock River in Lop Nur, east of Loulan ancient city ruins 175 kilometers, and 36 kilometers southwest of Alagan town.
Starting from 1934, Swedish archaeologist Begemann began his first excavation. By 2005, the whole cemetery had been excavated. 167 tombs were excavated in Xiaohe cemetery, and a large number of precious cultural relics were unearthed. It was once rated as "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2004".
□ Study on Unearthed Human Bones
The average life expectancy of Xiaohe ancients was 33.29 years.
Hong Chu, a professor at the Frontier Archaeological Research Center of Jilin University, has been studying the human bones unearthed in Xiaohe Cemetery. He and his research group hope to understand the physical characteristics, ethnic types, genetic composition, average life expectancy, health status and population migration of the early population in Lop Nur area through this study.
Researchers collected 130 human bones when studying the ancient population of Xiaohe cemetery. After identification and research, researchers found that the age of death of these ancient residents was mostly concentrated in the prime of life and middle age. Their average life expectancy is only 33.29 years, 33.80 years for men and 32.88 years for women.
Hong Chu analyzed that this may be related to the poor living conditions, insufficient nutrition intake and low medical level of the ancient residents of Xiaohe Cemetery. The average life expectancy of women is lower than that of men, which may be due to the higher mortality rate during childbirth, which leads to women's death in their prime.
Compared with other ancient people in northwest China, the researchers found that the average life expectancy of ancient residents in Xiaohe was higher than that in other areas.
Hong Chu analysis, the emergence of such statistical results may be related to the fact that the ancients in Xiaohe did not bury dead babies in adult tombs. "Because we found in the study that the infant mortality rate of Xiaohe ancients was only 5. 17%, this result was almost impossible in the living environment at that time."
Tooth wear is much higher than other areas.
When the researchers studied the paleopathology of 80 human bones, they found that the ancient people in Xiaohe had very serious dental diseases, especially the degree of tooth wear was much higher than that of ancient residents in other different times and regions.
"This aspect is related to their backward food processing technology and rough and hard food; On the other hand, it may be related to the living environment with frequent sandstorms. Food may often be mixed with sand grains, and the wear of teeth by time and other substances in sand grains is much greater than that of other substances. " Zhu analyzed.
After analyzing the above-mentioned human dental calculus diseases, the researchers think that the dental calculus diseases of Xiaohe people may be related to food and water. "Their food is rich in protein and carbohydrates, and the water quality of the Peacock River on which they live is hard. These factors have led to their extremely serious dental calculus disease. " Zhu said to:
In addition, the researchers also found that the incidence of osteoarthritis in Xiaohe ancients was also very high, especially the spondyloarthropathy was very serious. "These diseases have a lot to do with overload and overwork, which can reflect that their lives are more difficult and their labor load is relatively large." Zhu said to:
I performed a craniotomy on a woman.
In this study, the researchers also found a typical female individual who had undergone trephine surgery. Female human bones are between 40 and 45 years old, and there is a circular hole with a diameter of about 6 cm in the head (the left side was damaged after excavation). The section of the drilled hole is smooth and dull, with obvious healing marks.
"It shows that this woman survived the skull drilling operation for at least one month." Hong Chu analyzed that this phenomenon was relatively rare 3500 years ago.
Many skull-drilling human bones have been found in Xinjiang before, and there are two explanations for this phenomenon in academic circles. One explanation is that skull drilling was done by the ancients to save lives and relieve pain; Another explanation is that skull drilling is an ancient witchcraft, which is related to people's religious beliefs at that time.
According to Zhu Hong's analysis, combined with the situation of this woman in Xiaohe Cemetery, she should belong to the former situation. However, how the little black man successfully performed this operation under the extremely low medical conditions and level at that time remains to be further verified.
In the intact human bone specimen of the hand bone, the researchers also found four female individuals with thumb carpometacarpal joint disease. According to the researchers' analysis, this disease may be related to some activities or occupations of the ancients.
Hong Chu said that previous academic studies believed that the disease was mostly related to the long-term engagement of the ancients in the pottery industry, and the long-term overstretching of the thumb of both hands led to the deformation of the wrist and metacarpal joint of the thumb.
However, there are no pottery unearthed from Xiaohe cemetery, only containers such as straw baskets. "Therefore, we speculate that these four women with serious diseases of thumb, wrist and metacarpal joints are likely to be engaged in weaving handicraft industry for a long time, which also shows that there may be a division of labor between men and women in Xiaohe people's daily life and production at that time."
□ Study on funerary objects
Making cheese with fermented milk
Yang Yimin, an associate professor in the Department of History of Science and Technology and Archaeology of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that when they scientifically appraised the funerary objects in Xiaohe Cemetery, they found that the ancients of Xiaohe had already made cheese as early as 3,600 years ago.
The researchers found that the ancients in the river fermented milk with Kefir lactic acid bacteria and yeast to make a special fermented milk, and then made cheese after a certain degree of degreasing and whey separation. This kind of cheese has low lactose content, long shelf life and is easy to carry, especially suitable for nomadic life.
Invented the earliest gelatin in China.
Yang Yimin said that they found a yellowish substance in the groove where a piece of wood was inlaid and fell off, which was unearthed in Xiaohe cemetery. After identification, this substance is bovine glue, and the main component is bovine collagen.
"Niujiao is actually a kind of gelatin. This is the earliest adhesive used in China confirmed by scientific and technical analysis so far. It traces the history of using animal glue in China back to 3,500 years ago. " Yang Yimin said.
He said that this scientific and technological achievement also confirmed the important position of cattle in the life of ancestors in Xiaohe cemetery.
According to reports, the application of animal glue has strongly promoted the development of composite tools and is of great significance to human civilization. However, because animal glue is an organic substance, it will often degrade after long-term burial, so its scientific and technological analysis has always been a worldwide problem. The unique natural conditions of Xiaohe cemetery make this animal glue not degraded, and the scientific and technological analysis can be carried out smoothly.
Previously, the earliest known gelatin in China was used in the Han Dynasty, and beeswax was used as an adhesive in the Warring States period.
Make a brush with a cow heart.
In the skin of a female mummy buried in Xiaohe cemetery, researchers found a red block of ochre. "We thought it was a pigment block at first." Yang Yimin said that later analysis found that it was not, "The surface of the block is inorganic, which was identified as a kind of hematite powder; It is organic, and it was found to be the heart of a cow after identification. "
When further analyzing the use of the wood block, Yang Yimin said that they preliminarily speculated that the wood block might be a brush made by the ancient Xiaohe people. Why did ancient Xiaohe people use animal viscera to make writing brushes? What was the use of writing brushes? This has yet to be confirmed by further research by researchers.