Lake water drops 100 meters overnight, experts come to excavate, unexpectedly encounter '6 golden dragons'

The lake suddenly dropped 100 meters in just one night, and archaeologists unexpectedly found "6 golden dragons".

In the summer of 1978, a severe drought occurred in Xichuan County, Nanyang City, Henan Province (China). Due to the drought, a local reservoir suddenly sank 100 meters overnight. This phenomenon surprised many people, especially the lake bed, which was exposed.

The children in the small village nearby saw that the lake had dried up, so they ran to play in the remaining mud and water. While playing, one of the boys suddenly discovered something and turned back to call for help. The adults ran to dig around, revealing a bit of green brass. They all thought they had discovered some ancient relics, so they immediately reported it to the authorities.

The lake dried up due to drought, accidentally revealing a thousand-year-old treasure.

Experts immediately went to the scene and sealed it off. Through their investigation, they initially concluded that there was an ancient tomb beneath the lake. Because the lake had dried up due to drought, experts began to excavate. They found many cultural relics, including the surprising discovery of 6 golden dragons. This made the experts extremely excited.

After cleaning off the outer layer of dirt and rocks, the six golden dragons revealed their true form. It turned out that they were mounted on a three-legged bronze cauldron . This cauldron was relatively intact and not too damaged. The six golden dragons were exquisitely crafted on the cauldron with lifelike shapes. After appraisal, experts have tentatively concluded that this is a very valuable treasure.

The golden dragon is a mascot representing people of extremely noble status. (Illustration photo).

Who is the owner of the treasure with the dragon pattern?

This bronze tripod belonged to a nobleman of the Chu state, son of King Zhuang of Chu, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period.

On this treasure, in addition to the 6 golden dragons, experts also discovered some inscriptions engraved on it. After reading them, the experts discovered the true identity of the tomb owner. This person was Prince Ngo of the Spring and Autumn period . He was the son of King Zhuang of Chu (? – 591 BC), the 25th king of the Chu state, a vassal of the Zhou dynasty. During his reign (613 BC – 591 BC), the Chu state flourished. This made King Zhuang of Chu one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period.

Because the tomb owner's status was extremely noble, this 2,500-year-old bronze cauldron was naturally very valuable. This bronze cauldron is a treasure measuring 76 cm in height and 66 cm in diameter, with 6 dragons carved in relief and exquisitely decorated around it.

In ancient times, bronze tripods were often considered important sacrificial items and symbols of status for noble people.

Many bronze objects were found in the ancient tomb.

Due to his noble status, Prince Ngo's family placed a large number of burial objects in his tomb after his death. The giant bronze cauldron surrounded by six golden dragons was just one of them.

What surprised experts was that the process of making the golden dragon on this three-legged bronze tripod was the wax casting method that had been lost since the Spring and Autumn period.

According to experts, this method is very superior in that it can create many treasures with extremely complex structures. Unfortunately, it has been lost for many years. Although modern technology has made great advances, it is still impossible to copy or create versions of these thousand-year-old treasures.

The inscriptions on the bronze top were ancient Chinese characters. Thanks to these characters, experts were able to find the owner of the tomb.

The bronze cauldron above is a national treasure and is currently on display and preserved at the Henan Provincial Museum (China).

On the lid, neck and inner wall of the cauldron are engraved 84 characters. The content of these characters is written in seal script to express remembrance of ancestors, praise the merits of Prince Ngo, and from there educate future generations.

This treasure is currently on display at the Henan Provincial Museum (China).

What impressed experts was the craftsmanship of the craftsmen about 2,500 years ago, which was excellent, reaching the top level at that time.

In addition to the bronze cauldron above, archaeologists also found 6 others with similar shape and structure, but different in size and weight in the ancient tomb under the lake.